Maximize practice revenue

By Christine Taxin

If you examine your patient demographics carefully, you will find that a number of patients have chronic conditions. In some cases, these conditions lend themselves well to additional treatments or testing services in an office setting. While you will not get paid more for office visits, you can increase your revenue by using add-on codes that work in conjunction with office visit codes. Typically, our diagnosis for patients becomes routine, which leaves out the diagnostic testing we can add to our visits. By adding these treatments not only can we bill additional services, but we can move our practice into the medical world.

Before you simply start providing additional services, you should make it a point to conduct a policy and feasibility study. In particular, by using the proper coding resources, you should build a framework that can be used to justify expansion of services.

What to include as new services

This will depend on what vision you establish, the types of treatments you and your team are able to treatment plan, and having the ability to work with new types of equipment. (Soft tissue laser, 2-D and 3-D scans, implants, and periodontal treatments will allow you into the new world.)

When you want to use add-on codes for office visits, you should start by investigating medical insurance guidelines. From there, you should develop a written policy that defines the characteristics of patients to whom you will provide expanded services. As soon as you have this in place, you should make sure that patient chart notes have some type of checklist that enables you to document criteria eligibility. Regardless of whether you use manual tests or physical observation, your notes for any of the treatments listed above should reflect a current need for the expanded service. Remember, medical necessity is one of the keys to ensuring that the procedure you’re providing will be covered when you submit the claim.

Assessing costs for your practice

If you have enough patients that qualify for specific expanded services, you may need to purchase equipment as well as revise scheduling to accommodate these services. Ideally, you should check to find out how long it will take you to recapture your initial investment, as well as how long it will take to make a profit.

This includes an assessment of the costs associated with items that need to be replaced on a regular basis, or big-ticket items that will have monthly payments. Understanding what the costs are will increase your ability to track your billing needs and the use of new codes.

Do your homework and make sure you’re ready for the task at hand. If you make the right choice, adding on to the practice will be very successful for you and will become a significant profit center within your practice.

If you are interested in capturing thousands of dollars more in revenue with your coding techniques, check out www.links2success.biz today.

Author bio
Christine Taxin has more than 20 years as a practice-management professional. Her passion for communication, team training, vision, and goal setting has helped many practices meet their potential and increase their profitability. She helps each team member and doctor develop latent strengths to improve performance and effectiveness. Contact her by e-mail at [email protected] or visit her Web site at http://www.Links2success.biz.