Accounting is an essential component of any operating medical office due to the nature of appointment bookings, service charges, and more. With bookkeeping and coding playing a major role as a medical office administrator, these concepts, techniques, and processes are important to learn and become comfortable with for a successful career.
At Medix College, students earning their Medical Office Administrator diplomas cover a number of applicable topics for life on the job. Some of these include billing patient services to the Ministry of Health or patient as required, health information management, patient data collection, keyboarding skills, medical transcription, and more. If you want to get a grasp on how to approach accounting and billing as an office administrator, then keep reading for 3 tips to help you on your way.
1. Encourage Your Office to Go Paperless
In any medical office, there is a considerable amount of administration to be done when it comes to bookkeeping, reporting, scheduling, and more. With paperless operations, not only will the office save money on paper, ink, and other printing costs, but the office will also be able to benefit from seamless online operations as a result.
After you complete medical office admin training, it may be a good idea to urge your office to go paperless. This will increase efficiency around the office while creating less of an impact on the environment. It will also show your dedication to smooth operations and your ability to contribute to the betterment of the office.
2. Stay Up-to-Date with the Collections Process
Oftentimes, if you wait until there is a backlog of transactions to be made and billings to be processed, you’ve already created an issue. Staying up to date with payment collections is crucial to the overall success of the medical office you work in. One tip for staying up-to-date on these involves making sure each and every patient seen has provided the office with the necessary billing information. This may include personal information, health card information, health insurance information, and more.
If these pieces of info are left undocumented, then when it comes time to collect payment, you’ll find yourself caught in a web of missing communications. This will impede your efficiency and slow down office operations while you try to sort out each issue with each patient. Another tip here is to stay informed. Billing codes and regulations change periodically, and not keeping up with the changes may result in the inability to collect payment from an individual or the Ministry of Health. Staying up-to-date with billing best practices will save your office time, money, and resources in the long run.
3. Minimize Billing and Coding Errors with Medical Office Administration Training
One thing is for certain after medical office administration training, and that is that you want to avoid as many billing and coding errors as possible. When you’re brand new on the job, it may take some time getting used to these processes, especially when they do change from time to time. However, familiarizing yourself with the billing process during your training at Medix will significantly improve your skills for day-to-day tasks on the job.
Many billing codes are now digitized, meaning you can search and locate the most up-to-date codes for various procedures, services, and claims. One important tip here is to be thorough and to always double check your selections. If you send the wrong code for an invoice, then it may result in a delay in processing and lack of funds coming into the office. With plenty of practice in the medical office simulator with Medix College, you’ll have experience working and problem solving in an environment that mimics your future workplace. With careful attention to detail, you can avoid mistakes that would otherwise set you back.
Interested in taking a medical office administration course?
Contact Medix College for more information!
