EMS

Delays in EMS ambulance dispatch disrupt the entire EMS patient care process.  What begins as a non-issue can easily expand and impact crew resources, transport vehicle resources, patient satisfaction scores, referring agency satisfaction, and above all, patient care. Certainly, some delays are unavoidable due to traffic or other uncontrollable influences.

However, given that EMS dispatch call delays can completely destroy the successful flow of EMS response to emergency and non-emergency scheduled and non-scheduled patient transport requests, the ambulance system must aim to minimize delays.

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EMS agencies have been talking about if/when to move away from paper EMS trip reports to electronic EMS trip reports for ages. In the past, the cost comparison between purchasing base computers or ruggedized laptops and handwritten EMS trip reports or scannable forms proved formidable barriers for so many EMS agencies.

Thankfully, in recent years as EMS agencies have begun using ePCR software to document EMS trip reports with more frequency, discussions have moved away from paper versus electronic to the benefits of moving to Online EMS software versus on-site software.

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Creating a clinically solid, medically sound, and billing-compliant EMS patient care record is critical not just to patient health, but EMS operational health as well. How is your EMS operations measuring up? How do you use key metrics to improve your EMS data entry and documentation?

A complete and detailed EMS patient care record starts with entering valid EMS data from the point of dispatch.  Once the crew completes the patient interaction and care, the process continues with the patient care report (PCR).  A patient care report, whether hand-written or entered in ePCR software, serves as an evaluation system of EMS data. The PCR should list the patient’s demographics, location of treatment, symptoms, pertinent negatives (significant symptoms the patient does not exhibit), complete medical history, provided treatments, unprovided standard treatment (and why), and the patient’s billing information.

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The holy grail of successful ambulance billing is an efficient EMS workflow that includes the entire ambulance service staff, from dispatch to first responders, EMTs, and medics to billers, all working together, and all on the same page. Clearly, open and effective communications, and EMS workflow between these key EMS operational areas will minimize the amount of time between dispatch, patient care and transport, billing, and receiving payment for services rendered.

Effective internal communications can also help minimize communication obstacles with external sources as well, such as hospitals and nursing homes. If EMS dispatchers, crews, and billers are united in the way they communicate with external partners, not only is the ambulance billing submission quicker, it’s of a much higher quality. If your ambulance billing operation faces an audit or review, the supporting documentation is less likely to have contradictions if EMS dispatchers, crew, and billers are communicating with one another on a consistent basis.

EMS Crews are an important link between dispatch and billing communications since they are the ones closest to the patient and the only ones that can paint a picture of the care rendered. Here are some effective EMS crew communication and workflow tips that can improve ambulance billing:

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EMS-oriented groups continue to lobby on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. and other major capitols to improve EMS reimbursement rates. Although we remain hopeful that government change will work in our favor, EMS administrators and managers continue to negotiate rates with private insurance companies and look for ways to increase billing efficiency. After all, what kind of EMS administrator or manager wouldn’t want faster and higher reimbursement on EMS insurance claims?

Thankfully, there are easy, surefire ways to gain that. By ensuring that the EMS billing operation is carried out with as few mistakes as possible in an expedient manner, faster and more reliable reimbursement becomes possible.

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Inevitably, senior ambulance billers will (and should) influence EMS billing software decisions. EMS billers are constantly under fire when it comes to compliance, rejection/denial rates, and efficiency.

It’s not easy for EMS billers to manage all the demands of ambulance billing while still maintaining quality. In order to meet the high demands of ambulance billing, EMS billers need a software that works for them and not against them.

This post addresses what EMS billers need in an EMS billing software in order to make ambulance claims processing as efficient as possible.

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