There’s no doubt that anyone starting with ABA therapy billing has wondered how to bill insurance for ABA therapy. Regardless of whether you’ve been running an ABA therapy practice for years or you’ve just started your own, ABA therapy billing can be an extremely complex process.
There are many difficulties associated with the billing aspect of running a practice, including learning everything you need to know to ensure accurate billing and staying on top of the ever-changing ABA therapy billing codes. But there are some guidelines for making this process easier, regardless of whether you’re practicing ABA as a behavioral therapist, occupational therapist, a dedicated ABA therapist, or any other health practitioner associated with the practice.
Here are five ways to save time on ABA therapy billing.
1. Do data capture and data entry accurately
One of the easiest ways to save time when processing ABA claims is by ensuring that the data capture and entry processes are completed correctly. The incorrect capture or entry of vital information, such as a person’s personal information, or the use of incorrect or incomplete billing codes can lead to a denial which will slow down the billing process. Ensuring that you and your staff are trained correctly in data capture and entry can help avoid insurers asking for claims to be resubmitted due to incorrect information. It will also mitigate any potential stress associated with these resubmissions.
2. Ensure you are up to date with the latest ABA therapy codes
As healthcare regulations evolve, so do the ABA therapy codes you need to use to process your ABA therapy billing correctly. Before 2019, generic billing codes were used, but these caused many problems, which led to the introduction of CPT codes in 2019, specifically designed for ABA therapy. This system is expected to be refined, with more CPT codes to be added in the future for even more accurate billing. This is why it’s more important than ever to ensure that you stay on top of this aspect of billing so that you can avoid unnecessary issues with processing claims.
3. Process claims and denials as quickly as possible
Whether it’s putting a claim through or resolving a denial, you have a window of opportunity to complete this process before a claim becomes invalid. This can be anywhere between 60 and 90 days for claims while appealing a denial can take as little as a week (both of these deadlines may vary depending on the insurer). As a rule of thumb, make sure you know what the deadlines are for various claims and resubmissions and that both are processed as quickly as possible in order to avoid missing deadlines.
4. Make use of the right ABA therapy billing software
While there’s little doubt that having ABA therapy practice billing software can help you save time, that’s only if you choose the right software. This is because not all ABA therapy management tools are created equal.
For example, some software solutions might lack cloud features, meaning that information is inaccessible from anywhere but your practice. This could make resolving problems more difficult than needed if you could just access the information you need wherever you are.
Ultimately, you need to choose billing software that allows you to more quickly and efficiently handle various aspects of your practice’s billing, such as being able to access your practice information online, receive automated notifications as well as process any ABA audits you receive, so that you can run your practice more efficiently.
5. Find the right ABA therapy billing partner to assist you
One of the best ways to save time on ABA therapy billing is by outsourcing it to dedicated ABA therapy and insurance billing services. While it’s possible to handle all your own billing, or hire a specialist, or even create a small team dedicated to doing it in-house, the reality is that you’ll likely face difficulties as your practice grows.
For example, if you’re trying to handle billing yourself, you will likely spend as much time (if not more) on billing as on actual treatments. Similarly, an in-house team may start off fine but could eventually start to struggle due to a growing workload, meaning you’ll have to take time away from your clients to assist them with billing or hire an additional staff member for your team.
By choosing the right ABA therapy billing partner, you can avoid these and many other difficulties because ABA insurance billing service providers will, among other things, stay on top of the latest ABA codes, provide you with the right amount of resources to have your billing done correctly and on time, and streamline your billing process.
Save time on ABA therapy billing with Missing Piece
While implementing these tips can help you save time, the best way to improve the efficiency of your ABA therapy billing is by partnering with Missing Piece. We’ve been providing billing services to ABA therapy and other health practices for more than 10 years, helping these practices to save resources which, in turn, allows them to focus on their core mandate, namely to provide the best care and health services to their clients.
Contact us to find out more about how Missing Piece can help your organization.