This course covers the fundamentals of medical billing, coding, and reimbursement by explaining how all of these components work together. Emphasis will be placed on the practical application of the latest industry knowledge and standards, with the goal of helping those who work with medical claims and claims data stay ahead of the game.
Participants will learn about the following:
The claim flow process from registration through adjudication and payment
How physicians and hospitals set and manage charges
Critical data elements on the two major claim forms and what they mean
How and why the major coding systems are utilized
How various reimbursement methods are used by payors
AAPC Continuing Education Units Available.
This program meets AAPC guidelines for 6.0 Core A continuing education units.
Why you should attend
This course is organized into three sections: The life cycle of a claim, coding systems, and reimbursement.
Life cycle of a claim
Many people understand a portion of the claim adjudication process, but they may not have a complete understanding of all steps necessary to generate and adjudicate claims. We walk through the entire life cycle of a medical claim, from patient registration through provision of services, from claim generation to adjudication, from payment to posting. This is useful for anyone new to the healthcare industry or for persons who want a more complete understanding of the entire claim life cycle.
Coding systems
Medical coding is the foundation of the US healthcare system. Medical codes are essential for billing and claims, reimbursement, healthcare analytics, risk scoring, physician compensation, among many other uses. Every claim includes multiple codes from various coding systems. In this course, we explain the use of five of the most common schemes in use today: CPT and HCPCS codes, ICD-10 codes, DRGs, and APCs.
For each system, we discuss how codes are assigned; where they appear on the claim; how they are used for billing and reimbursement; which types of claims are subject to each coding scheme; and other features of each system. We also provide tips for analyzing data containing these codes.
Reimbursement explained
Healthcare reimbursement systems can be complex and difficult to understand. Each payor may use a different method to reimburse providers, or they may use a variation of a commonly used method. In the third portion of this course, we discuss the common reimbursement systems in use today. We start with Medicare's reimbursement systems of RBRVS, DRGs, and APCs because many other payors use modified versions of these systems. We then discuss other payor types such as HMOs, PPOs, and ACOs and how these organizations use other reimbursement methods such as capitation, per diems, and carve outs. Finally, we discuss the key data elements needed to adjudicate claims according to each scheme, and we discuss the financial incentives (and disincentives) associated with each method.
Who Will Benefit
Health Information Managers
CFOs
Medical Billers
Analysts
Physicians and other Medical professionals
Provider Contract Managers
Medical Coders
Claim Examiners
Reimbursement Directors
Payment Integrity Managers
Quality Managers and Revenue Managers