In the world of medical reimbursement, urgent care billing is a different animal. Centers operated by hospitals often use their hospital billers for urgent care claims. Standalone facilities often hire a coder with an ED background, but without urgent care experience. Worse yet are the facilities who see coding and billing as a simple clerical job and seek people with accounting, scheduling or other administrative skills. This makes about as much sense as asking your 16-yearold babysitter to do your taxes.
The correct coding, billing and tracking of payments at an urgent care facility is critical to its success. Staffing and clinical care are dependent on revenue stream, and hiccups in coding and billing create disruptions in the revenue cycle. Worse, inappropriate billing can lead to litigation. Medical codes are tricky and hiring a certified professional coder provides some assurances that the basics of medical coding are understood. There is a shortage of experienced urgent billing coders. If you find one, keep him or her happy. If you can’t find a coder with specific urgent care experience, hire a certified coder and be prepared to invest in whatever workshops, audio-seminars or conferences are available to train her specifically for urgent care. Your investment will be returned many times over in clean claims paid quickly.
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