Note: In medical billing, people often use different terms to refer to the same thing. Here are some of the most commonly used variations:

A Doctor is also referred to as a Physician or Provider.
A Doctor’s Clinic is also called a Doctor’s Office, Physician’s Office, Provider’s Practice, or Provider’s Facility. The terms facility, practice, clinic, and office all refer to the place where a patient meets with a doctor.
Insurance is also referred to as a Payer or Carrier.

Use Case 1: In-House Billing

A patient calls or walks into the Physician’s (Doctor’s or Provider’s) office to schedule an appointment.

On the appointment day, the patient checks in, provides demographic details (name, DOB, address, etc.), and gives insurance information.

The doctor reviews previous medical records and prescribes treatment.

ICD Codes (Diagnosis Codes)

Each disease is represented by an ICD Code (also called Dx Codes, Problems, or Diagnosis Codes).
ICD codes help classify diseases, symptoms, and causes of death.

CPT Codes (Procedure Codes)

Each treatment is represented by a CPT Code (also called Procedure Codes).
CPT codes describe the procedures performed on the patient.

After the consultation, the patient leaves, and the doctor’s office submits a claim to the insurance company for payment.

Use Case 2: In-House Billing with Two Insurances

Some patients have multiple insurance policies:

The first insurance billed is the Primary Insurance.
The second insurance is the Secondary Insurance.
If applicable, the third is the Tertiary Insurance.

Once the primary insurance pays its portion, the balance is sent to the secondary insurance for further processing.

Use Case 3: Self-Pay

Patients without insurance are considered self-pay and must pay for services out-of-pocket.

The clinic generates a statement and sends it to the patient for payment.

Use Case 4: Patient Responsibility

Some insurance policies only cover a percentage (e.g., 80%). The remaining amount is the patient's responsibility.

The balance is billed to the patient after the insurance company processes the claim.

Use Case 5: Clearinghouse Workflow

After submitting a claim, the billing team sends an EDI 837 file to the clearinghouse.

The clearinghouse validates the claim and forwards it to the appropriate insurance company.

Once processed, the insurance company generates an EDI 835 file (electronic remittance advice) and sends it along with the Explanation of Benefits (EOB).

Use Case 6: Co-Pay Workflow

A co-pay is a fixed amount the patient must pay at the time of service.

Co-pay details are verified through the patient's insurance card or an eligibility check.

Use Case 7: Deductible Workflow

A deductible is the amount a patient must pay before insurance coverage begins.

For example, if a patient has a $500 deductible, they must pay that amount first before the insurance covers any costs.

Use Case 8: Lab Billing

If a doctor requests lab tests, the samples are sent to a laboratory.

Once results are ready, the lab's billing department submits a claim to the insurance company for payment.

Example Patient Conversation

Jake: Calls the MyFirstHealth clinic.

Linda: Hello, this is Linda from MyFirstHealth Clinic. How can I help you?

Jake: Hi, I’d like to book an appointment with Dr. John for today at 5:30 PM.

Linda: Sure! Have you visited our clinic before?

Jake: No, this is my first time.

Linda: Okay. May I have your last name, first name, and date of birth?

Jake: My last name is Jake, my first name is Mike, and my DOB is XX/XX/XXXX.

Linda: Got it! Please arrive 15 minutes early to complete the check-in process.

Jake: Will do. Thanks!

At 5:15 PM, Jake arrives at the clinic and checks in.

Jake: Hi, I have an appointment with Dr. John at 5:30 PM.

Linda: Welcome, Jake! Do you have insurance?

Jake: Yes, my employer provides insurance. Do you need that information?

Linda: Yes, please.

Jake: Apart from my employer’s insurance, I also have a family insurance plan.

Linda: Great! We’ll list your employer’s insurance as primary and your family plan as secondary.

Jake: That makes sense. Thanks!

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Many patients only have one insurance plan but it is possible for a patient to have two or three medical insurance policies. The first insurance billed would be the primary insurance. The next one billed would be the secondary, and the last would be the tertiary.

After payment is received from the primary insurance, the secondary is then billed on a new claim with the information regarding payment from the primary insurance in the form of a photocopy of the explanation of benefits. If there is a tertiary insurance, it would be billed after payment from both the primary and secondary insurances is received. Copies of both
the primary and secondary eobs would be attached to a new claim with the tertiary insurance information on it.

Another example of a person having two insurances is when both the husband and the wife work and both are eligible for health benefits from their employers. Their own policy would be primary and the spouse’s would be secondary. If they have children there are rules that determine which policy is prime for the children.

How patient insurances are maintained in the EMR/PMS software's ?

Today, software's are maintaining the patient insurance in difference ways. Each method has its own cons and pros. I will list those methods which i found in my past experience.

Before getting into detail, let us see the terms "Primary", Secondary, Tertiary and 4th Insurance". In some software, instead of calling 4th Insurance, they will call as Quaternary Insurance.

Actually, there is no defined process or method to identify which is patient primary insurance , and which is patient secondary insurance, and so on. For more details, please download this article and you will know how it has been identified. Since there is no defined way, most of the time, reception people will enter the secondary insurance information into primary and vice versa. That's the reason, all the software's providing swapping option for the insurance

And also, we should know how secondary insurance billed and get paid. Please download this document to know more on that.

Now let us see how software's are maintaining the patient insurance.

Method 1 : Maintain 2 or 4 insurance at the Patient Level

Here you can always maintain 2 or 4 insurance at active state. Give important to the word "Active" here. But, HIPAA EDI 837 Transaction allow up to 11 insurance. So what happens, at one point of time, the existing insurance get expired and patient got new insurance ? Well, you cannot remove that insurance from the system it because it is tightly linked to Billing (Claims) Module. So only the option is to de activate the existing primary insurance and add new insurance in the active state as primary Insurance.

The advantages in this method is : Insurance are maintained only at one place i.e. at the patient level. So any changes done here, it will impact all the claims linked to that. This might be useful when there is error in the data entry and after the correction, they want to re submit all the claims linked to that insurance.

And also, at one point of time, there will be huge number in the inactive state, and no idea which claims are linked to that.

But what happen, if the patient is coming for two different visit types : For example, you may have a patient that is being treated for injuries sustained from an auto accident that is covered under one insurance policy; yet that same patient may receive treatment during the same visit for a condition unrelated to the auto accident where a different policy may be billed. So in this case, you need to maintain two primary insurance dependent on the visit type.In the above method, it is not possible, so that is one of the disadvantage.

Method : 2

Another way is to clone the patient demographics insurance while claim is created and therein after maintain the copy of all insurance at the claim level.

In this method, initially, the insurance are maintained at the patient level. But when the claim is created, software will take a copy of all insurance and will maintain along with part of the claim details. So here, after the claim is created, the insurance at the patient level is plugged off and will not have tightly linked with the claim. If any error in the policy details, of course, first we should correct at the claim level and then at the patient level for error free future claims.

if the patient is coming for two different visit types, then we can easily handle here because, we need to change only at the claim level.

Method : 3

And final method is patient case. This method not only to maintain the insurance, but it can also provide a template kind of stuff to create same kind of claim data for the same patient again and again to save the time.

In order understand, simply you can think patient case is nothing but to maintain group of insurances. Let us see detail now.

EDI Transactions

The HIPAA transactions1 and code set standards are rules that standardize the electronic exchange of health-related administrative information, such as claims forms. The rules are based on electronic data interchange (EDI) standards, which allow for the exchange of information from computer-to-computer without human involvement.

A "transaction" is an electronic business document. Under HIPAA, a handful of standardized transactions will replace hundreds of proprietary, non-standard transactions currently in use. For example, the HCFA 1500 claims form/file will be replaced by the X12 837 claim/encounter transaction. Each of the HIPAA standard transactions has a name, a number, and a business or administrative use. Those of importance in a medical practice are listed in the table below.

Transaction	Number	Business use
Claim/encounter	X12 837	For submitting claim to health plan, insurer, or other payer
Eligibility inquiry and response	X12 270 and 271	For inquiring of a health plan the status of a patient.s eligibility for benefits and details regarding the types of services covered, and for receiving information in response from the health plan or payer.
Claim status inquiry and response	X12 276 and 277	For inquiring about and monitoring outstanding claims (where is the claim? Why haven.t you paid us?) and for receiving information in response from the health plan or payer. Claims status codes are now standardized for all payers.
Referrals and prior authorizations	X12 278	For obtaining referrals and authorizations accurately and quickly, and for receiving prior authorization responses from the payer or utilization management organization (UMO) used by a payer.
Health care payment and remittance advice	X12 835	For replacing paper EOB/EOPs and explaining all adjustment data from payers. Also, permits auto-posting of payments to accounts receivable system.
Health claims attachments (proposed)	X12 275	For sending detailed clinical information in support of claims, in response to payment denials, and other similar uses.

How EDI Works

Doctor diagnosis the patient and provide the treatment for the identified disease. Billing Team prepare the bill(claim) and the claim is transmitted into an EDI Document format called as 837 Health care claim. Then the EDI 837 Document securely transmitted to the insurance company via clearing house.

Then the Insurance company processes the claim which comes in the electronic format and provide the necessary reimbursement for the provider for the treatment given to the patient.

Why You Need EDI – the Benefits

Lower costs
Higher efficiency
Improved accuracy
Enhanced security
Greater management information

Interest to see some sample EDI Documents. Please check here.

837 Professional

Professional billing is responsible for the billing of claims generated for work performed by physicians, suppliers and other non-institutional providers for both outpatient and inpatient services. Professional charges are billed on a CMS-1500 form. The electronic version of the CMS-1500 is called the 837-P, the P standing for the professional format.

837 Institutional
Institutional billing is responsible for the billing of claims generated for work performed by hospitals and skilled nursing facilities. Institutional charges are billed on a UB-04.

Both sets of 837 specifications are same. The only differences would be claim specific data that pertains to a single transaction. All three transactions contain ISA, GS and ST segments but some data and qualifying codes are specific to the type of 837. Another way to quickly identify which type of 837 is being encountered is by the codes sent in the GS-08 or in the ST-03. Professionals use a 005010X222, Institutional uses a 005010X223 and Dental uses a 005010X224.

EDI Tool

Create EDI 270 from JSON

Parse EDI 835 into PDF

Create CMS 1500 Form using JSON

Parse EDI 837p to CMS 1500 Form

For 837 Institutional sample, please check here

Questions or feedback are always welcome. You can email me at vbsenthilinnet@gmail.com.

Health care Coding system

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EDI 270–5010 Documentation– 2000C SUBSCRIBER LEVEL

2000C Hierarchical Level

EDI 270–5010 Documentation–2000B Information Receiver Name

EDI 270–5010 Documentation–2000B Information Receiver Level

EDI 270–5010 Documentation–2100A Information Source Name

2100A Information Source Name

EDI 270–5010 Documentation–2000A Hierarchical Level

HL – Hierarchical Level

EDI 270–5010 Documentation–BHT – Beginning of Hierarchical Transaction

BHT – Beginning of Hierarchical Transaction

EDI 270–5010 Documentation - ST – Transaction Set Header

GS – Functional Group Header

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Java Examples

ISA – Interchange Control Header

The ISA is a fixed record length segment and all positions within each of the data elements must be filled. The first element separator defines the element separator to be used through the entire interchange. The segment terminator used after the ISA defines the segment terminator to be used throughout the entire interchange.This results in the segment terminator always being in position 106.

PMS Product Reference

	Seg ID	Segment Name	Format	Length	Ref#	Req	Value
Header	ISA	Interchange Control Header		3		R	ISA
		Element Separator	AN	1			*
	ISA01	Authorization information qualifier	ID	2/2	101	R	00 or 03 See below for more information
		Element Separator	AN	1			*
	ISA02	Authorization information	AN	10/10	102	R	Will contain User ID if ISA01 is 03. Will Contain 10 Empty spaces if ISA01 is 00
		Element Separator	AN	1			*
	ISA03	Security information qualifier	ID	2/2	103	R	Will Contain 01 if ISA01 is 03. Will Contain 00 if ISA01 Is 00.
		Element Separator	AN	1			*
	ISA04	Security information	AN	10/10	104	R	Will contain Password if ISA01 is 03. Will Contain 10 Empty spaces if ISA01 is 00
		Element Separator	AN	1			*
	ISA05	Interchange ID Qualifier	ID	2/2	105	R	ZZ
		Element Separator	AN	1			*
	ISA06	Interchange Sender ID	AN	2/15	106	R	See below for more information
		Element Separator	AN	1			*
	ISA07	Interchange ID Qualifier	ID	2/2	105	R	01
		Element Separator	AN	1			*
	ISA08	Interchange Receiver ID	AN	15/15	107	R	See below for more information
		Element Separator	AN	1			*
	ISA10	Interchange Time	TM	4/4	109	R	Current Time in HHMM Format
		Element Separator	AN	1			*
	ISA11	Repetition Separator	ID	1/1	110	R	^
		Element Separator	AN	1			*
	ISA12	Interchange Control Version Number	ID	5/5	111	R	00501
		Element Separator	AN	1			*
	ISA13	Interchange Control Number	NO	9/9	112	R	000000001 (See below for more info)
		Element Separator	AN	1			*
	ISA14	Acknowledgement required
		Element Separator	AN	1			*
	ISA15	Usage indicator	ID	1/1	114	R	P or T (See below for more details)
		Element Separator	AN	1			*
	ISA16	Component Element Separator		1/1	115	R	: (semi colon). this value must be different than the data element separator and the segment terminator
		Element Separator	AN	1			*

Sample:

ISA*00* *00* *ZZ*8431 *ZZ*ZIRMED *130215*1234*^*00501*000000001*1*P*:~

Important Note on the above sample:
ISA02
Since ISA is fixed length segment, even though if no values are present, we need to fill up empty spaces. Here ISA02 is filled with 10 empty spaces.

ISA04
Since ISA is fixed length segment, even though if no values are present, we need to fill up empty spaces. Here ISA04 is filled with 10 empty spaces.

ISA06
Since ISA is fixed length segment, if the value is not 15 characters length, then we need to append empty space to make 15 characters string.

ISA08
Since ISA is fixed length segment, if the value is not 15 characters length, then we need to append empty space to make 15 characters string.

Segment Structure

Sample 2
ISA*03*id27032743*01*XYXY2233 *ZZ*XX09211223 *01*030240928 *130829*1102*^*00501*290811021*0*T*:~

User Name and Password
In some clearing house, they might ask to send the user name and password along with each EDI file. That's what Authorization information Information refer ISA01, ISA02,ISA03 and ISA04. After you sign up with the clearing house, ask your user name and password to send along the EDI File if they need. In such case, ISA01 will have the value"03" , ISA02 will have the user id, ISA03 will have the value "01" and ISA04 will have the actual password. Very important, since ISA is fixed length segment, and ISA02 is 10 character, so if your user id is less than 10 characters, then you need to append empty spaces to make it as 10 character word.

Sample with the User id and Password.

Segment Structure

ISA01 - Authorization Information Qualifier
Code to identify the type of information in the Authorization Information

Code	Definition
00	No Authorization information Present(No Meaningful information in 102). Advised unless security requirements Mandate use of Additional identification information.
03	Additional Data Identification.

ISA03 - Security Information Qualifier
Code to identify the type of information in the Security information qualifier

Code	Definition
00	No Security information Present(No Meaningful information in 104). Advised unless security requirements Mandate use of password data.
01	Password

ISA05, ISA07- Interchange ID Qualifier
Code to identify the type of information in the Security information qualifier

Code	Definition
01	Duns(Dun & BradStreet)
14	Duns Plus Suffix
20	Health Industry Number (HIN)
27	Carrier Identification Number
28	Fiscal Intermediary Identification Number.
29	Medicare Provider and Supplier Identification Number
30	U.S Federal Tax Identification Number
33	National Association Of Insurance Commissioners Company Code (NAIC)
ZZ	Mutually Defined

ISA06 – Interchange Sender ID
During the sign up process with clearing house, they will assign a unique ID to the software vendor. So in the practice information setup, software should have a option to enter this value. This is mandatory for all the EDI Files, without this ID, clearing house will not be able to process the file.

ISA08 – Interchange Receiver ID
During the sign up process with clearing house, they will provide this value. Usually, this will be clearing house name. So in the practice information setup, software should have a option to enter this value. This is mandatory for all the EDI Files, without this ID, clearing house will not be able to process the file.

ISA13 – Interchange Control Number
Control Number assigned by the Sender for tracking purpose. This number must be identical to the Interchange Trailer IEA02. Ever time
when creating the EDI File, software can generate a unique number to identify the batch for later case to track.

ISA14 - Acknowledgment Requested.

Code	Definition
0	No Acknowledgment Requested
1	Interchange Acknowledgement Requested

Default to 0. In some cases, if the software vendor integrated to clearing house via web services. then we can ask the clearing house to send the acknowledgment for each EDI File batches.

ISA15 – Usage Indicator.

Code	Definition
P	Production Data
T	Test Data

After the sign up process with clearing house, they will ask the software vendor to send sample files with different use cases. In such cases, all the files should be send as Test Data. So in the practice information setup, software should have this option to select. Once test files are approved, then software admin can change this value to Production.

Questions or feedback are always welcome.

EDI 270 - 5010 Health Care Eligibility/Benefit Inquiry

If you are new to Medical Billing, then please read this article first.

If you are new to EDI, then read the following articles

1. What is an EDI ?
2. EDI Transactions
3. Understanding EDI Structure
4. EDI Instruction

Introduction

For the health care industry to achieve the potential administrative cost savings with Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), standards have been developed and need to be implemented consistently by all organizations. To facilitate a smooth transition into the EDI environment, uniform implementation is critical.
Providers of medical services must currently submit health care eligibility and benefit inquiries in a variety of methods, either on paper, via phone, or electronically. The information requirements vary depending upon:

type of insurance plan

type of service performed

where the service is performed

where the inquiry is initiated

where the inquiry is sent

The Health Care Coverage, Eligibility, and Benefit transactions are designed so that inquiry submitters (information receivers) can determine (a) whether an information source organization (e.g., payer, employer, HMO) has a particular subscriber or dependent on file, and (b) the health care eligibility and/or benefit information about that subscriber and/or dependent(s). The data available through these transaction sets is used to verify an individual’s eligibility and benefits, but cannot provide a history of benefit use.

The purpose of this implementation guide is to explain the developers’ intent when the Health Care Eligibility, Coverage, or Benefit Inquiry (270) and Health Care Eligibility, Coverage, or Benefit Information (271) transaction sets were designed and to give guidance on how they should be implemented in the health care industry. Specifically, this guide defines where data is put and when it is included for the ANSI ASC X12.281 and X12.282 transaction sets for the purpose of conveying health care eligibility and benefit information.

This paired transaction set is comprised of two transactions: the 270, which is used to request (inquire) information, and the 271, which is used to respond with coverage, eligibility, and benefit information. The official names for these transactions are:

ANSI ASC X12.281 - Eligibility, Coverage, or Benefit Inquiry (270)
ANSI ASC X12.282 - Eligibility, Coverage, or Benefit Information (271)

The 270 document typically includes the following:

Details of the sender of the inquiry (name and contact information of the information receiver)

Name of the recipient of the inquiry (the information source)

Details of the plan subscriber about to the inquiry is referring

Description of eligibility or benefit information requested

Create an account in our Nagata EDI Tool and check HIPAA X12 EDI Transactions sets.

Here is the demo link

https://demo.nagatabilling.com/NagataEDITool/login.zhtml

EDI Examples

Please note ; all these examples are tested against WPC First Pass software.

You can download trial version here.

Also, you can download the following trial version software to view/validate EDI File.

1. EDI Notepad
2. HIPPA Document Viewer 2
3. On Line Validator American Coders
4. On Line Validator EDIVance

The following open source converts X12 EDI File to XML and 1500.
OopFactory X12 Parser

The following URL discuss about other open source in EDI Software.
Comparing Open Source EDI Software

Sample EDI 270 5010. For clear understanding, line separator are used between loops

ISA*03*id27032743*01*XYXY2233 *ZZ*XX09211223 *01*030240928 *130829*1102*^*00501*290811021*0*T*:~
GS*HS*XX09211223*030240928*20130829*1102*1*X*005010X279A1~
ST*270*0001*005010X279A1~
BHT*0022*13*0001*20130829*1102~
HL*1**20*1~
NM1*PR*2*FLORIDA BLUE*****PI*BCBSF~
HL*2*1*21*1~
NM1*1P*2*Bella Vista Health Center*****XX*1306849724~
HL*3*2*22*0~
TRN*1*290811021*3030240928~
NM1*IL*1*MULLIN*DANIEL****MI*XJBH12345678~
DMG*D8*19571112~
DTP*291*D8*20130829~
EQ*30~
SE*13*0001~
GE*1*1~
IEA*1*290811021~

Questions or feedback are always welcome. You can email me at vbsenthilinnet@gmail.com.

RESTful Java Web Services wrote in java which takes JSON File as input and gives you the actual EDI Message.

Demo

In your EMR/PMS software, if you need to parse the EDI 271 Response, You can use our API Service which will parse and returns as Human Readable Text. Please contact me via email vbsenthilinnet@gmail.com for more details

I’ve developed Web API in which you can pass the EDI 271 Message and API will return the Human Readable Text.

These RESTful Web Services are developed using Spring Boot.

The following video demo explain how to Make restful web service API for the service.

Parse 271 Message to Text

Enter video caption here

In order to test all the RESTful Web Services , an testing tool also developed and here is the video demo for the same.

Parse EDI 271

Parse 271 Message to JSON Format

Enter video caption here

Parse 271 Message to HTML

Parse 271 Message to HTML

Workflow

1) Patient Books an appointment.
2) Billing team before the appointment date, check the Patient Insurance Eligibility.
3) Software prepares the EDI 270 Message and send to the Payer via Clearing House entity, Payer in turn returns the Response in EDI 271 Message. Here clearing house is the middle man between Health care Organization and Payer
4) Software parse EDI 271 Message and convert into Human Human Readable Text and show to application End User

Another Example for EDI 270 and 271

1. Provider Smith uses ABC Billing Software.
2. Provider Smith already signed up with XYZ Clearing House and an ID has been assigned to Provider Smith by the clearing house.
3. ABC Billing software has the option of generating EDI 270 message and through web service call, it will send the message to the clearing house.
4. XYZ receives message within few seconds and then identify the message for Payer GOLD. Since XYZ already enrolled with the Payer Gold, so it just forward the message to Payer Gold via web service.
5. Payer Gold receives the message and prepare the response 271 and send back to the clearing house. Immediately clearing house forward the response to the Provider Smith’s ABC billing software.

270, 271 healthcare transactions background information

The eligibility 270 Request and 271 Response is the third most utilized transactions in the healthcare industry, after claims submission and remittance advice transactions. Mandates from the Department of Health and Human Services requiring claim and remittance adoption were contributing factors to claim and remit transaction levels less the 270/271 could be the predominate healthcare EDI transaction. Before the 270/271 transactions were adopted, most eligibility verification was handled over the phone. Since the Healthcare 270/271 has been made a standard industry wide, Providers of Service can send the 270 Request to all Insurance Companies and expect to receive the same uniformed 271 Response format across the board.

For Source code or Medical Billing Software Consultation, please contact me at vbsenthilinnet@gmail.com

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Electronic Claim Submission

We know that "Medical Billing is a Process of Submission of Bills/Claims to the Insurance Company in a specified format for the service rendered (for the treatment given) by the doctor for the patient." And also we know that the most widely used form is Health Care Finance Admin-1500 designed by the Health Care Financing Administration (CMS 1500 or HCFA 1500).

But instead of Sending in Paper form, We can also use Electronic transmission of claims. Here are the advantages sending the claim electronically instead of paper claims.

Electronic Submission of Claims (Electronic Data Interchange or EDI) can help reduce paperwork, eliminate printing and mailing expenses, and improve claim payment accuracy.
No concerns of claims being lost in transit, no concerns regarding data entry errors being made by insurance staff while processing claims, less rejections, less turnaround time between the process of data and process of claim by the insurance company.
When you file an electronic claim, you also save valuable time. When a paper claim is filed, the U.S. mail may take a few days to deliver the claim. The insurance company must digitize the information, then it must process the claim and, finally, the company has to mail the statement and reimbursement back to you. With electronic claims, you send the claim through Internet connection. This takes as much time as picking up the telephone and calling the company. The insurance carrier instantly receives the claim, the claim is already digitized and the company can process the claim immediately.

Now you may ask a question, since Electronic claim transmission is acceptable and useful, then why do we need still to use CMS 1500 to send the claims.The answer is : we cannot completely wipe off the Paper format, because there are some scenario, you need to send only by paper claims. We will see later about that scenario

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Medical Billing–Patient Insurance

Patient Insurance

We know that, patient has to give his insurance information to the Doctor before the treatment. Collecting the patient insurance information is very important data entry part to avoid delayed or denials.

Either at the time of appointment or at the time of patient visit the practice(Check in), patient insurance information has to be collected. If it is existing patient, then we need to verify the existing patient insurance information which is already in the file(or computer system).

Very Important. For New Patient, we need to collect signed copy of HIPAA consent form. For more details, please check here.

The following information has to collect from the patient

1. Insurance Company Name

2. Policy No (Unique number to identify the patient within the insurance system)

3. Policy Group No (Identifies in which plan the patient enrolled with the insurance company)

4. Effective Date (From which date, benefits or covered services are allowed)

5. Relationship to the Patient(Patient may have the insurance on his name, or he/she may be covered by one of the family member)

6. Insured details such as first name, last name, etc if the patient is not the same as insurer.

7. Copay and deductible amount

And also, we need to scan the patient insurance card back and front part into the system. Sample Insurance card here.

What are the Billing Entities ?

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Extra Spring Login Parameters.

Different format of Medical Forms

In the last section, we said submission of claims to the insurance company in a specified format. Let us see some important format as follows

1. HCFA(Health Care Financing Administration) 1500 form or CMS(Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) form.
It is a standard form that non-institutional providers use such as your family doctor or specialist used send claims. Mostly individual
Physician charges are billed on the CMS 1500 form

2. UB-04( uniform institutional billing claim form) Form (formerly UB-92 OR CMS-1450)
This form is used to submit claims for institutional providers such as hospitals. Some insurance accepts CMS 1500 form to submit hospital billing. You should always check the insurance company which form they prefer to bill hospital charges.

You can see sample CMS 1500 and UB04 Form here

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