Billing is one of the most challenging parts of managing a mental and behavioral health practice, particularly with reimbursement cuts and insurance requirements. It’s lengthy, time-consuming, and even fully digital systems require frequent manual intervention to stay on top of it. And as too many therapists know, it’s difficult to get back on track once you fall behind. Fortunately, automated billing systems have emerged as a solution, offering several benefits to providers. This blog post will discuss the top five advantages mental and behavioral health providers can enjoy by switching to automated billing.

It’s important to clarify that automated billing systems refer to integrated automated billing from an EHR, such as TheraNest, and not a separate system or just a digital billing system. Make sure that you’re getting true automated billing.

1. Enhanced Efficiency

Automated billing, as the name suggests, automates parts of your billing cycle, eliminating the need for manual intervention in some tasks. Automating your billing system can significantly reduce the amount of time spent on billing, making your billing cycle more efficient, faster, and easier. This allows you to focus on other aspects of your practice that require more attention, such as adding more clients, learning new therapeutic modalities, or taking a break. Automated billing processes also lead to quicker payment turnaround times as there are fewer delays due to errors or missing information. Moreover, it can reduce the barriers to accepting insurance and growing your client base, as the administrative burden of billing clients is minimized.

With TheraNest, the following billing processes can be automated:

• Invoice Creation: unbilled sessions automatically create invoices (baring exclusion rules)
• Processing: All invoices get processed into Claims Awaiting Submission (unless excluded)
• Claim Submission: All Claims Awaiting Submission get automatically submitted to your organization’s clearinghouse (unless blocked by exclusion rules)
• ERA Posting: ERA posting is automated a little differently (at least in TheraNest). You can create rules that determine how ERAs are posted based on their reason code.

If you are looking for an automated billing system, it is important to consider the feature of Exclusion Rules. The purpose of Exclusion Rules is to allow exception handling in cases where you may not want to automate payers or certain aspects of your billing system. This feature enables you to review these exceptions and make necessary changes manually.

2. Minimized Errors

The billing process is often prone to human errors, which can cause delays and result in lower reimbursements. With various deadlines for each step of the process, it is easy to miss them and end up in a lengthy appeal process. This is particularly worrying for practices dealing with multiple payers. Automated billing, on the other hand, helps to reduce claim rejections and denials, ensuring that providers receive timely payment for the services they render.

3. Improved Cash Flow

If you’re running a practice, you know that billing problems can lead to cash flow problems. Unsteady cash flow can create a lot of difficulties, from paying for essentials like bills and salaries to hindering growth. However, there’s a solution: automated billing systems. These systems can help speed up the payment collection process by generating and submitting claims electronically, which accelerates payment cycles and reduces the time it takes to receive reimbursements. With an automated billing process, from invoice to claim submission, you can set it up and forget about it (within reason and barring any exclusions), knowing that your claims will be processed without delays. This frees up your time to focus on improving other aspects of your practice’s financial health or increasing billable hours.

4. Enhanced Compliance

Billing in the mental and behavioral health field requires adherence to numerous regulations and payer requirements. Automated billing systems help providers stay compliant by incorporating regulations and requirements into their software. These systems validate claims before submission, ensuring they meet all necessary criteria and reducing the risk of claim denials or audits. By automating compliance processes, providers can focus on delivering high-quality care without the added burden of managing complex billing guidelines.

5. Increased Revenue and Scalability

Automated systems offer scalability, enabling healthcare providers to manage a larger number of clients without compromising on billing precision or efficiency. Automated billing systems can seamlessly support this growth as mental and behavioral health practices expand. This allows staff to spend more time on billable hours or optimizing your financial workflows to further increase revenue.

The benefits of automated billing systems for mental and behavioral health providers are clear. By adopting these technologies, providers can enhance efficiency, minimize errors, improve cash flow, ensure compliance, and increase revenue. As the industry continues to evolve, providers must embrace technological advancements to streamline their billing processes and focus on providing the best care for their patients.

TheraNest understands the power of technology goes beyond digitizing pen and paper tasks. We heard from providers how much of a struggle billing is, so we created an automated system that goes beyond what other systems can provide. This isn’t an additional option that costs extra; we built it directly into our EHR’s billing component. After all, the best way to save time is to make your EHR do it for you. Check out the power of automated billing for yourself. Start your free 21-day trial today.