“But we’ve always done it that way!” Don’t walk…run! Probably the most dangerous phrase for an EMS system and especially an ambulance billing program is the phrase… “But we’ve always done it that way!” In today’s world, if your EMS agency is going to be successful and remain insulated from big trouble make a point […]
To Bill or Not to Bill? Shakespearian EMS? We can only wonder what the documentation would look like if the great bard Shakespeare would have been a member of the EMS community. “Dispatheth via troubadour to yonder hamlet for a person swooning with the vapors.” Okay…enough of that. But we borrow a take on the […]
Documenting Causation for Illnesses V. Our “Documentation as a Habit” series moves on to Part V this week. In it, we’ll discuss causation or the synonym we use a lot in healthcare terminology, etiology. Last week we talked about mechanism of injury which is basically the trauma part of any causation discussion. This week, we […]
Friday Night Lights, EMS and ICD-10 It all Begins Tonight! Our billing office headquarters is located in Northeastern Pennsylvania and tonight is one of the biggest nights of the year. High school football is king in Pennsylvania and tonight is the kick-off night for the 2016 season. This reminds us that young people everywhere, even […]
3 Things Your Billing Office Staff Wish You Knew “I am a Human Being” Sometimes your billing office staff feels just like the 19th Century’s John Merrick from the classic 1980 movie Elephant Man. We just want to cry out in desperation… “I am not an animal. I am not an animal. I am a […]
ICD-10 Ushers in “New” Concepts Good Day of Training! Last week, in this space, we talked about the importance of training for the billing office. We made the point that the billing office is vital to the success and “health” of your EMS agency and as such training is vital not only maintaining a consistent […]
Why the Billing Office Must Train It’s that time of year Next week, our billing office family here at Enhanced Management Services will pause to train. Every single Enhanced staff member is trained as a Certified Ambulance Coder (CAC) using the curriculum supplied by the National Academy of Ambulance Coding (NAAC). This billing office is […]
Effectively Documenting Cold Weather Emergencies Here in PA This weekend is going to be the coldest weather we’ve experienced here in the area of our home office in Pennsylvania, so we’re taking a break from our ‘Billing for ALS 2’ series. We’ll pick back up with Part II in next week’s blog. Considering the extreme […]
New Year’s Resolutions for a Happy EMS Billing Office It’s 2016! Wow! It’s 2016! It’s hard to believe we’ve entered a New Year. Wasn’t the 4th of July like yesterday? Ready or not, here we are. It’s January and time to make those famous New Year’s resolutions. Of course, in the spirit of all things […]
Behind on PCRs? Focus! Frustration Frustration reigns in the billing office when there are an x-number of your EMS agency’s runs that have yet to be turned into Patient Care Reports (PCRs) for billing submission. As we think about our own field experiences and we watch our colleagues, we find the problem of unwritten Patient […]
