Three tips to save health care firms big bucks

Health care providers don’t anticipate the reimbursement rates they get from insurance companies or the federal government to take a giant leap any time soon.

So they’re looking to collect every dollar they’re entitled to under current contracts.

And Bob Stevens, CEO of Crescent Springs-based Bottom Line Systems, is helping them. His company looks for cases where providers have been underpaid.

Bottom Line Systems collected more than $70 million in additional reimbursement for clients over the last year.

The 14-year-old company has 200 employees and serves clients, including hospitals, physician practices and infusion companies, in 20 states. It’s recently been growing revenue by 10 percent to 20 percent per year.

Stevens, who also is a partner in the Crestview Hills-based law firm Dressman Benzinger LaVelle, offers several tips for providers seeking to maximize their revenue in the new year:

• Review contracts carefully. Nearly every dollar that passes through a hospital is covered by a contract or a regulatory system. Knowing the fine print in every agreement is the only way providers can know whether they’re being reimbursed properly.

• Test every payment. Nowadays, periodic audits and sampling are not enough, Stevens said. “There’s so much complexity and opportunity that when you go ahead and review all the claims, the payoff is more than worth the effort.”

• Don’t be afraid to seek outside help. Stevens’ firm operates almost entirely on a contingency basis. “We’re at risk, so I wouldn’t be doing the review if I didn’t think it was worth it,” he said.

A typical hospital, Stevens said, can increase its net revenue between 1 percent and 3 percent by implementing such a review process.

Source http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/blog/2010/12/three-tips-to-save-health-care.html