Choosing a practice management and medical billing software is an important decision. With so many variables to consider and so many factors to weigh, the search can be overwhelming. This section of our website is intended to make your search easier by educating you on the benefits of electronic solutions.

For a closer look at how CollaborateMD's hybrid SaaS model results in increased office efficiency at significantly lower costs, download the CollaborateMD hybrid SaaS white paper.

If you’re looking for CollaborateMD product features, benefits, and pricing relevant to your company, simply select your business type from the drop-down box located at the top-right corner of your screen.

Below, we'll give you a big picture overview of how choosing an electronic practice management solution will simplify and speed up payment cycles, increase office efficiencies, preserve environmental resources, and better prepare you for a long future of successful medical billing and practice management. We'll even provide a few Search Tips along the way to help in your quest to find the solution that's right for you.

The most important aspect of medical billing is getting paid, and yet the process for payer reimbursement is one of the most cumbersome in our industry. Electronic billing cuts this month-long process down to roughly seven business days by quickly returning clearinghouse and payer-generated reports. You’ll also enjoy the speed at which you can set up a new patient, locate a patient’s file, edit demographic information, and verify insurance eligibility – all without leaving your chair.

Search Tip: Choose a service-oriented company like CollaborateMD, and you will even eliminate the laborious process of printing, stuffing, addressing, and mailing patient statements from your staff’s to-do list!

As you shop around for the practice management software that best suits your office, you’ll find that any standard practice management software solution can speed up appointment scheduling; however, the more robust, on-demand systems will offer a scheduler that allows access from anywhere, organization by appointment type, time blocking by resource, and multi-provider view settings on the same screen.

Search Tip: The key is to find an on-demand software provider that gives you the top-level features without the top-shelf price tag. CollaborateMD includes a complimentary appointment scheduler, uniquely designed with all the bells and whistles practices need to kick scheduling up a notch, and yet intuitive and simplistic enough for even the novice to learn in minutes.

Another key benefit of on-demand billing software is the option to receive electronic remittance advice (ERA) instead of waiting weeks for the paper EOBs to arrive in the mail.

Search Tip: Choose an on-demand practice management solution that automatically posts payments and adjustments by charge. CollaborateMD offers auto-apply, which improves accuracy, reduces data entry costs, and results in faster patient statement processing.

No matter which practice management software you choose, you will need to go through the process of completing payer agreements requested by governmental payers and certain commercial payers. The application process can be quite extensive, especially if you need to find the agreements on your own.

Search Tip: Try to choose a software provider that eases this process for you. CollaborateMD not only has all updated payer agreements on file, eliminating the need for you to search for them on your own, but we even offer a rules engine that assists you with required fields and expedites the submission process. To make things even easier, we handle payer follow-up on our end to keep the process rolling so you don’t have to waste your time tracking down and waiting for lost or neglected payer agreements!

One of the greatest features of any practice management software solution is the software's capability to track claims and provide reports.

Search Tip: Be sure to investigate the reporting detail and customization options. A more advanced claim tracking tool, such as ours, will first thoroughly scrub your claims for errors before submitting them to the clearinghouse, and then provide detailed reporting via a customizable interface which quickly guides you through making the necessary revisions to accurately submit your claims for adjudication. This translates into knowing which claims were rejected and why, and having the power to correct and resubmit them with the click of a button.

Another advantage of electronic medical billing is that, when you choose a practice management software solution that offers A/R reporting, it becomes easier to keep your account receivables in check.

Search Tip: Be sure to demo the practice management software before you buy, and investigate the reporting functionality in detail to ensure export capability and pre-built report templates.

The environmental impact of choosing practice management software—whichever one you choose— over the paper alternative is undeniable. Though we can't report statistics on other software, we know that CollaborateMD has reduced our customers’ percentage of paper claims from 12% to 9% in the past year. This 3% savings equates to over 100,000 pieces of paper per year, not to mention the envelopes used for mailing, electric powering of USPS offices and machines, and gas used by airplanes and vehicles delivering the mail.

Search Tip: Though the paper vs. electronic environmental effect may seem obvious, you may not realize that your specific choice of Internet-based vs. server-based practice management software solution could mean the difference between 150 kilowatts of energy and 264 pounds of carbon dioxide output each year!

To learn more about the many advantages of Internet-based software, visit Why over the Web, or click on the next tab to learn how we compare to the competition.

When you choose an electronic solution, there are a myriad of other features at your fingertips. From online patient encounters and electronic Rx refills to lab and handheld mobile interfaces, making the switch from paper to electronic billing will open up new opportunities for your practice or billing service.

Search Tip: Even if you’re not ready to take advantage of these added-value services now, you should consider such options for your office down the road. Choosing a comprehensive practice management software solution like CollaborateMD will give you far more flexibility for your future as you continue to grow and increase revenues.

Once you’ve made the decision to bill electronically vs. using a paper system, you are ready to dive in and discover the different software choices available to you. Below, we’ll first provide an overview of your two platform options, and we’ll then explain why choosing CollaborateMD is the smartest choice you can make for your practice or billing service.

The key differences between Internet-based and server-based software is where your data is stored and how you access that data. With server-based software, you will likely need to purchase your own dedicated server to house the software and all data. Furthermore, you will need to back-up your data using the standards set for HIPAA compliance, which may require employing an IT staff and other hardware costs. To access your data with server-based software, each user will typically pay a license fee, and will need to download the software onto the single computer they will use to access their data.

On the other hand, Internet-based software generally requires no dedicated servers be purchased, since the data is housed, maintained, and secured by the software provider. Data is then accessed via the Internet, either by initially downloading a small java application or using your browser to access the system. Depending on your software provider, updates and upgrades may be made available to you via the Internet, either with or without a separate charge.

To make an informed choice between Internet-based and server-based software, you will want to compare them based on the factors most important to you. If you would rank flexibility, affordability, security, and environmental impact at the top of your list, an Internet-based solution is probably best for you. To learn more about these factors, visit Why over the Web.

Our customers choose us for a variety of reasons, but when you do a true apples-to-apples comparison between CollaborateMD and our competition, the four biggest differentiating factors are affordability, service, ease of use, and our unique features.

With a low one-time set-up fee and a low monthly fee, our pricing structure is practically unheard of in our industry. CollaborateMD offers an unlimited number of users to keep costs low for even the largest office. We provide complimentary video training and implementation, not to mention free updates and upgrades throughout the year. With no license fees per computer, no required back-ups, and no maintenance on the database, CollaborateMD is a highly cost-effective solution.

At CollaborateMD, we pride ourselves on maintaining consistent and transparent communication with each of our customers. We encourage users to provide feedback, and we happily take requests for enhancements to improve our product offering. We immediately notify users of software updates and available upgrades, and we keep you in the loop with news from our clearinghouse and new payers. Treating our customers with respect, loyalty, and integrity is more than a job; it’s our Company’s first core value.

Our practice management and medical billing software is known for its intuitive navigation and simplistic usability. We assign each new customer an Implementation Specialist to guide you through a quick set-up, but the support doesn’t end there; you also have access to our highly trained support analysts for questions and software guidance. We have even designed a series of self-paced training videos to make training easy and convenient, and to ensure you always have online resources to help in your daily routine.

To fully explore CollaborateMD and the competitive advantage it will provide to your practice or billing service, please select your business type from the drop-down box located at the top-right corner of your screen.

For highlights on some of our most notable key features, and to understand the greatest advantages and benefits of our software offering, we’ve compiled our customers’ favorite five features below:

• Automatic Claim Submission: CollaborateMD automatically distributes electronic claims to the correct payer on a daily basis. The key advantage to this feature is that you will no longer have to create claim batches (which could take hours with a competing software), or wait for confirmation that your electronic claims have been sent (which could take days with a competing software). Additionally, we provide clearinghouse reports which explain which claims have been acknowledged and which have been excluded, enabling you to immediately make corrections and resend your claims. Our software shortens a typical week-long process down to less than ten hours.
• Appointment Scheduler: CollaborateMD has designed one of the most robust appointment schedulers on the market. Unlike competing scheduler modules, ours allows for customized schedules per resource, custom colors for appointment status, daily and weekly view options, open slot search ability, block times, wait lists, and much more. By customizing your individual office schedules, you can easily manage appointments, add/edit new or existing patients, and verify patient eligibility for multiple physicians in multiple locations. These features greatly enhance your office productivity, efficiency and communication to keep things running smoothly.
• Customizable Patient Statements: If you choose, you can opt to have us perform some of your most tedious labor! At your request, we will send electronic statements to all of your patients, and even give you the flexibility to set the criteria for how each statement will be printed and what information will be included. By taking advantage of this offering, you will reduce labor costs while having more time to focus on what matters most: patient care.
• Real-time Eligibility Verification: Quickly and easily verify patient eligibility with CollaborateMD. Verifications, which can take upwards of 20 minutes via phone inquiry, are now reduced to a simple electronic transmission, delivering instant verification of eligibility, coverage, benefits, and other pertinent patient notes from payers. Benefits include saving hours of time spent on the phones or searching for lost patient eligibility records, and greatly reducing debts due to uncollectible accounts receivable.
• Electronic Remittance Advice (ERA) with Auto-Apply: With ERA, you will receive remittance advice electronically. After quickly reviewing electronic EOBs, automatically post your payments and adjustments individually by charge. Automatic posting improves accuracy, reduces data entry costs, and results in rapid patient statement processing.

Though the above list is far from exhaustive, these system features, coupled with the speed and flexibility offered by our Internet-based software, illustrate how beneficial our solution can be for any practice or medical billing service looking to increase office productivity, reduce costs, and streamline efficiencies.

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