While it is important to provide patients with effective chiropractic treatment, that is only half of the equation of running a successful practice. The other half is the day-to-day business activities that guarantee timely and maximum reimbursement.

Perhaps the biggest boon in this effort has been the emergence of the concept of the "paperless" office. And the means by which this is being accomplished is practice- and business-management software.

A comprehensive billing software program can help chiropractors to both update patient records and create accurate billing profiles easily and efficiently—saving time and making money for the practice.

Complete Software Solutions

Many software manufacturers, such as Life Systems Software, Rockaway, NJ, Future Health, Carroll, Iowa, and Eclipse, Brooksville, Fla, offer multiple products for the chiropractic office, each providing components that integrate seamlessly with one another. For example, Life Systems Software offers the Chiro Suite, which consists of Chiro Office, Chiropad, and Paraphrase software packages. Each component has the ability to bundle together into the Chiro Suite or be purchased separately. However, it is recommended that chiropractors obtain the complete Chiro Suite, which thoroughly syncs documentation with billing. Chiro Suite, which is based on the Microsoft Windows platform, offers intuitive, point-and-click programs.

Intelligent Billing from Future Health Inc also subscribes to the integrated software approach. With Intelligent Billing, available with the Virtual Office Suite, real-time billing entries seamlessly exchange information with the suite's Dashboard Documentation. The ability of Intelligent Billing to fully integrate with Future Health's practice-management system helps chiropractors to bill faster, reduce paperwork, and speed reimbursement.

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The Intelligent Billing software solution, which runs on the Microsoft Windows platform, also can be programmed to run on specific billing cycles and preferences, as well as identify practice trends and print custom reports. With Virtual Office Suite, chiropractors also may utilize a separate, compatible billing product, giving it much versatility.

Billing software from ECLIPSE offers several features, such as electronic billing capabilities, daily notes, an alerts system, electronic medical records (EMR), and security. It is also HIPAA compliant. Users may import frequently used forms and convert them to digital files. Patients can be billed by dollar amount, visits, last visit date, and to selected dates by applying search and sort filters based on your criteria. Additionally, the ECLIPSE billing software automatically prints SOAP notes and EHR documents with single or multiple bills, and allows for customized configuration to complement your practice's needs.

Does billing software have to be of the same brand as your documentation software? Not necessarily. Companies such as EZ Notes Inc, Chicago, and Quick Notes Documentation, Cooper City, Fla, offer documentation software solutions that integrate with different types of billing programs. EZ Notes' documentation system "links" to most current billing programs, saving money for the practitioner. Quick Notes' "Q'Link" interface software links front-end PDA systems with a charge capture and billing link; the software also will link to select outside practice-management solutions.

Matching Documentation with Billing

A key feature to consider when selecting billing software is how it matches patient billings with documentation … a crucial necessity in the insurance-reimbursement game.

"[The lack of a match up] is how insurance companies are destroying doctors," says Paul Bindell, DC, founder of Life Systems Software. "Before billing, you can do a missing documentation search … if there's anything missing in the prebilling, you won't be allowed to create the bill."

Practitioners who utilize billing and documentation software products that seamlessly work together have found that even in difficult billing situations, they have come out ahead. For example, a chiropractor in Iowa who uses Chiro Suite software has found that after being closely scrutinized by Blue Cross/Shield of Iowa because of his practice of bringing in recent grads and students for in-office training, they now tacitly recommend that other chiropractors contact him for help with their billing practices. Another Chiro Suite user—this time in New Jersey—aggressively litigates claims that have been turned down by his insurance company. He has not lost a case in 8 years and now is no longer questioned about his billing practices. This is all thanks to the meticulous clinical and billing documents that can be created.

The advantages of software that can achieve this is that it allows chiropractors to hold the insurance companies accountable, while also saving numerous headaches for the chiropractor and his or her staff.

Legislative Roadblock

A provision in HIPAA allows anyone who has a right to see a patient's records to have access. This may include the patient, their attorney, or another one of their physicians. It also includes any insurance company. According to Bindell, this part of the legislation will take effect in 2014. By this time, all of the HIPAA-mandated security protocols must be in place.

While the legislation makes records more easily accessible to those with a clear need to have it, there is a potentially chilling side effect. "It also means that big insurance companies have full access, and who knows what they will do," Bindell says.

For instance, he adds, the insurance companies will be able to do audits without a chiropractor knowing that they are being done, unlike in the predigital age when discrete paper documents had to be requested and physically recovered. "It is Big Brother," Bindell says. The legislation has bipartisan support.

Because of this, billing software has to take this into account, and this is why it is even more critical that billing and clinical documentation are in perfect alignment.

Paul Nelson is a contributing writer for Chiropractic Products. For more information, contact .