Dental Practices
Dental Practices
How Dental ICD-10 codes are able to tell a story
Telling the story in Dental ICD-10 Codes
Not all medical aid schemes require external cause codes: however, correct use of the codes will allow you to “tell the story” and get paid faster, without providing a narrative.
Good use of external cause codes (how did the injury occur, what was the patient’s activity at the time of the injury, where did the injury occur and what was the patient’s status at the time of the injury). By using correct coding the dentist can tell an entire story to a medical aid scheme without having to send in a narrative.
Here’s one such scenario:
A 12-year-old boy fell at home in his yard while riding his bike.
When he fell, he landed on a tree root and cut his lower lip.
The patient now presents for evaluation.
What are the ICD-10 codes?
– S01.541A Puncture wound with foreign body of lip, initial encounter
– V18.0xxA Pedal cycle driver injured in non-collision transport accident in non-traffic accident.
– Y92.017 Garden or yard in single family (private) house as place of occurrence for external cause
– Y93.55 Activity, bike riding
– Y99.8 Other external cause status (includes leisure activity)
The dentist is able to tell the medical aid scheme why the patient was treated, how the injury occurred, where the injury occurred, what the patient was doing at the time the injury occurred and why they were doing it (i.e. civilian, military or work related).
This is pretty cool and the effort that is put in up front before the claim is submitted is going to prevent lots of headaches and paperwork later on.
Make your practice more efficient with Medical Billing Software.
Medical practice management software
What is medical practice management software?
Medical practice management software covers all the administrative tasks a healthcare provider or facility requires.
Medical practice management software is designed to help healthcare provider facilities run more efficiently. It’s a IT solution that can be used for scheduling appointments, tracking appointment times, managing billing cycles and managing patient information.
Medical practice management software is an essential component of any modern medical facility, as it allows healthcare providers to stay organised and ensure high-level patient care. By consolidating all information related to patients and providers into a single platform, healthcare professionals can easily navigate important details about patients and other information.
Without this software, organising any medical practice would be labour-intensive and subject to significant human error.
Top features of medical practice management software
Medical practice management software covers patient information tracking, billing and reporting, which are all key functions of running a healthcare practice as a business.
Intuitive and effective practice management software is central to a practice’s workflow.
Here are some features to look out for and why they’re important:
Patient information tracking
The most basic and arguably most important feature for medical practice management software is the ability to maintain up-to-date information on patients, including medical history, family history, next-of-kin, medications, allergies and test results.
You can also use medical practice management software to verify the status of a patient’s medical benefits, confirming whether it is still intact and estimating co-payments, out-of-pocket expenses, and/or prior authorisations.
Most medical practice management software includes a calendar tool that allows front-office staff to schedule patients by healthcare provider and date, making it quick and easy to review patient information prior to a visit.
Practice billing
Good medical practice management software will allow you to process payments and record billing history all on one platform with built-in electronic submission (EDI) capabilities. Front-office staff can capture patient payments upfront when a patient arrives for an appointment, and back-office staff can code claims for reimbursement and submit them to payers (such as medical aid schemes), managing those that are denied or rejected. The ability to handle credit control is an important consideration.
Reports
Heathcare providers and other medical professionals need patient data to be effective at their jobs. Medical practice management software allows you to generate important reports on your patients for other healthcare personnel. This can improve patient care and ensure your practice gives patients, doctors and other providers accurate, useful information.
Similarly, medical practice management software should be able to generate financial reports that help you track the profitability of your practice as a business. These reports include information like accounts receivable (A/R), the days claims spend in A/R, and total billing versus expected reimbursements.
Medinol Practice Management Software
Kodak files for bankruptcy
Wonder what effect this will have on our dentists using Kodak equipment and software at their practices.
“Photography and camera giant Kodak has finally filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States, following months of speculation.
“The board of directors and the entire senior management team unanimously believe this is a necessary step and the right thing to do for the future of Kodak,” chairman and chief executive Antonio M Perez said in a statement.
Kodak announced the company, and its subsidiaries, had filed for Chapter reorganisation but that international subsidiaries and entities were not impacted.
The company has attempted to restructure its business for quite some time. Although it has focused more on printers and, the downturn in traditional photography has hurt the company.
The bankruptcy provision would assist the company to use its patents, according to its announcement.”
Top 5 Bank-Breaking Surgery IT Melt-Downs
When your computers or software aren’t functioning properly, your practice can suffer. You depend heavily on technology these days, and when something goes wrong, it can have a huge impact on your practice — whether failing to communicate with medical aids, patients, missing deadlines, or not being able to make online payments.
Your practice is affected when:
…you lose Internet connectivity due to viruses, malware or other malicious attacks on your computers (accidental or otherwise). Even though you might think “connectivity” is a telecom problem, it often starts with individual computers. Viruses and malware can take over your connection and render browsers useless.
…your email goes down — whether it’s Microsoft Outlook, Google, or some other cloud- or server-based system. These communications programs can become corrupted or be improperly backed-up.
…your local network files are misplaced or lost due to not having online backup or other miscues. Files are often disorganized and prone to access confusion because data resides on different computers or employees save them to the wrong places.
…your office productivity programs — like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or Pastel — fail to load properly or crash frequently.
…your billing and claiming applications fail, putting you hours or days behind. Many practices are impacted negatively when their Medical or Dental Practice Management Software or other applications experience downtime due to a variety of computer issues.
When these incidents crop up, the costs can be devastating to your day-to-day productivity, communication and cash-flow. You lose time, patients, standing with the medical aids, trust, and real money.
So, how do you defend yourself against these common risk factors without spending tons of money on an in-house IT staff or calling an expensive consultant? Is there an alternative to packing up your computer and taking it to a computer retailer for a three-day repair turn-around? Do you need to waste three hours of your afternoon (or late night!) on hold with tech support and then talking with an impatient IT support person?
Fortunately there are sane alternatives. In addition to Emergency Computer Tech Support, Computer Repair Cape Town offers cost-effective remote tech support plans designed specifically for medical and dental practices. Whether you are a practice manager or own your own practice, our expert gurus get you up-and-running fast — without the “geek speak.” We handle every type of computer and virtually every software problem imaginable. We fix it quickly and efficiently so you can get your practice back on track. Give us a try today at Computer Repair Cape Town.
2019 Discovery Health Medical Aid Fees
2019 Discovery Health Medical Aid Fees
Date: 7 November 2019
Discovery Health Medical Scheme is the largest open medical scheme in South Africa, covering nearly 2.8 million beneficiaries at 31 December 2017, and with an open medical scheme market share of approximately 56%.
According to Discovery, it estimates total medical inflation for 2018 at between 11.2% and 12.2%, with the variance due to utilisation trends in different health plan options.
However, risk management by Discovery Health and the ongoing positive impact of the Vitality wellness programme on members’ health, will reduce medical inflation by 2%, resulting in contribution increases that are within the corridor of 3% to 4% above CPI after allowing for the required adjustment for VAT,” it said.
With CPI sitting at 5.1% in July, a CPI + 4% increase puts the industry range at 9.1%.
The new prices for all 27 of Discovery’s plans for 2019 are detailed in the tables below, along with how much they have increased.
The tables show the total contribution (including for medical saving, where applicable) for the main member.
Executive
Comprehensive
Priority
Saver
Smart
Core
KeyCare
The KeyCare Plus ranges have changed from R0 to R12,200 and R12,201+, to R0 to R13,050 and R13,051+, while the Access product has been dropped and a Start product has been added.
Therefore no price increases are shown below, just the new fees for 2019.
MEDINOL MEDICAL BILLING | PRACTICE MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE
Medinol is one of the few purpose-built practice management application to meet the unique needs of independent private healthcare providers.
Today Medinol helps over 130 providers throughout South Africa run more efficient and profitable practices, while delivering outstanding patient care.
As an on-premise software, Medinol and the data it manages, is fully under your control. This enhances your independence and privacy: what happens in your rooms, stays in your rooms.
Medinol helps manage your patient information, generates your billings, submits your claims, controls your outstanding debtors, and get your accounts paid quickly.
Medinol has been in operation since 1984, demonstrating its proven efficacy.
Medinol’s mission is to help independent practices succeed in an ever-changing healthcare environment.
More information can be found at https://medinol.co.za.
Contact:
Fudley Bezuidenhout Pr.Eng.
Founder and CEO
Email: info@medinol.co.za
Ph: 021-906-2296
Cell: 082-688-9610
