AUDITING
Steps To Take When You’ve Lost Your Data
Medical auditing entails conducting internal or external reviews of coding accuracy, policies, and procedures to ensure you are running an efficient and hopefully liability-free operation.
There are many reasons to perform medical audits:
- To determine outliers before large payers find them in their claims software and request an internal audit be done.
- To protect against fraudulent claims and billing activity
- To reveal whether there is variation from national averages due to inappropriate coding, insufficient documentation, or lost revenue.
- To help identify and correct problem areas before insurance or government payers challenge inappropriate coding
- To help prevent governmental investigational auditors like recovery audit contractors (RACs) or zone program integrity contractors (ZPICs) from knocking at your door
- To remedy undercoding, bad unbundling habits, and code overuse and to bill appropriately for documented procedures
- To identify reimbursement deficiencies and opportunities for appropriate reimbursement.
- To stop the use of outdated or incorrect codes for procedures
- To verify ICD-10-CM and electronic health record (EHR) meaningful use readiness