Medical Billing Tips to Aviod Privacy Breaches

As a Professional Medical Biller, I RARELY send ANYTHING in via paper!
It is imperative that you ally with a prominent software company that is AHEAD of today's technological and processing standards. The one that I chose to partner with is DAQBilling owned by Antek Healthware out of MD.
They offer an ASP, thin client model with mulit-server backup every hour of every day, so my data is never in jeopardy.

This article focus is on PAPER claims and the tips that go along with processing medical claims on paper.

Tips to Avoid Privacy Breaches

Protect the health information of recipients during the paper claim billing process.

It is important to protect the health information of recipients. Providers can help in this regard in the paper claim billing process. Accuracy, completeness and clarity of the form are important to ensure that the information is read correctly. Forms can be misread if information is illegible. Illegible information may be corrected manually, which results in a delay of timely processing of claims and also presents the chance of a privacy breach. To avoid protected health information being sent to the wrong providers, thus resulting in health care privacy breaches, please adhere to the following guidelines when submitting paper billing forms:

Avoid printing claim forms using a dot matrix printer. Dot matrix print is not clear and may be misread by the OCR equipment. Laser printers are strongly recommended.
Frequently change the ink cartridges on the printer to avoid light ink. Light printing is not legible and may be misread by the OCR equipment.
Use black film-type or high-quality ribbons. Ribbons should be changed regularly to ensure that a clear, distinct character is printed. The OCR equipment may misread blurred or light printing.
Whenever possible, type all information. Use 10-point font or larger (not to exceed the size of the field). The OCR equipment can only scan typed or computer-printed forms. Do not use script or italic font.
Handwritten forms should be printed neatly and accurately using black ballpoint pen only. All requirements pertaining to typed forms, such as entering data within the text space, apply to handwritten forms.
Type only in areas of the form designated as fields. Be sure the data falls completely within the text space and is properly aligned.
Verify that the billing provider number and beneficiary identification numbers are correct.
Furthermore, providers are encouraged to explore the many benefits of electronic claims submission, funds transfer, remittance and other business transactions. These electronic transactions expedite processing, minimize errors and streamline business office operation. Recent enhancements have expanded the types of electronic services available to the provider community.