Mental and behavioral health billing can be a difficult field to navigate, as it’s a specialized subset of medical billing that comes with unique challenges such as complex revenue cycle management, unintuitive insurance requirements and payer policies, and much more. These unique billing challenges can put unnecessary strain and additional administrative burdens on behavioral health professionals and providers, who must ensure accurate reimbursement all while maintaining strict compliance.
The good news? These disparate workflows around the billing process can be streamlined with an integrated behavioral health billing software. If your mental health billing team is evaluating potential billing solutions for your behavioral health practice, here are the top features to take into consideration for efficient and streamlined billing, increased revenue, and happier clients and clinicians.
TL;DR
- Some of the most important features to prioritize when looking for behavioral health billing software includes insurance eligibility verification, customizable reporting, integrated payment processing, and claims management tools.
- If you’re a larger practice, advanced features you may need include telehealth billing integration, support for group sessions, and denial management tools.
- Also take into account factors like ease of use, scalability, and total cost of ownership and your long-term ROI to make the most informed decision possible.
Core Features to Prioritize in Behavioral Health Billing Software
Insurance eligibility verification
Insurance eligibility should utilize automation to reduce denied claims, which will ensure both patients and providers better understand the available coverage before any services are rendered. This can reduce admin burdens and additional costs due to outdated information, improving revenue cycle efficiency.
Claims management
Mental health billing software should streamline claim creation, submission, and invoicing. This can include features like template-based claim forms and built-in tools that can flag potential errors.
Integrated payment processing
Make sure you opt for a behavioral healthcare billing software solution that accepts a range of payment options and offers a user-friendly patient portal to use. This flexibility can not only improve patient satisfaction but also empower them to make timely payments.
Customizable reporting and analytics
Your billing software coupled with the best EHR solutions will come with advanced reporting tools so your practice knows exactly what’s working and what isn’t. What bottlenecks are you facing? What factors are driving claim rejection rates? With actionable insights based on the wealth of data in the system, behavioral health providers can take data-driven decisions for better financial health.
Scheduling and appointment management
Linking billing and scheduling modules together can improve invoicing accuracy, minimize missed payment risks, and generate more precise revenue forecasting. And with automated appointment reminders and quick rescheduling options, you can minimize no-shows and operate at maximum efficiency.
Multi-payer support
Patients come from a wide range of backgrounds, so ensure your billing solution can handle billing for private insurance, Medicare, and Medicaid.
Advanced Features for Behavioral Health Practices
Telehealth billing integration
Telehealth has become increasingly commonplace, and with it comes more complex claim submission and reimbursement rules and modifiers. If your practice offers telehealth, make sure your billing services provider offers tools to monitor sessions and ensure compliance with all regulations.
Support for group sessions
If you offer group therapy sessions, check if your practice management software can accommodate that aspect for billing insurance: think session-specific reports to simplify the billing process for more complex sessions with multiple participants.
Customizable templates
Standardizing documentation for treatment plans, invoices, assessments and other common workflows can significantly reduce admin burden, as well as improve accuracy due to less margin for human error. While it may take additional time to set up tailored templates at first, the efficiency gains can be tremendous.
Denial management tools
It may be worthwhile to consider investing in innovative tools that help manage denials, which in turn can improve the chance of a successful appeal. These solutions may also be able to provide insights into typical denial reasons, allowing your practice to address the root causes proactively to improve margins and cash flow.
Ease of Use and Scalability
User-friendly interface
EHR and billing software should have short learning curves and easy-to-understand functionalities so that behavioral and mental health professionals can quickly integrate new software into their daily rhythm. If onboarding and day-to-day navigation of the product is difficult, you’re likely to see a low adoption rate, which could lead to more human error.
Scalable solution
If your practice grows over time and you need to handle more insurance claims and invoices, is the behavioral health billing software you chose able to scale alongside with you? Can it handle multiple locations and languages? Can you choose to pay for add-ons down the road should you need them? If not, you may need to end up looking for a new provider in a few years.
Customer Support and Training
24/7 support availability
The healthcare industry never sleeps, and it’s critical to find a provider that offers around-the-clock support to minimize downtime should any urgent issues arise. A good way to determine this is to look at customer reviews and see how satisfied they feel with the support they received.
Training resources
What does onboarding look like: will your clinicians and admin staff receive training programs to maximize the EHR and billing software’s potential? Are there webinars, user guides, videos, or other resources freely accessible, and how often are they updated so you can stay aware of changes in the behavioral health industry?
Cost and ROI Considerations
Opting for billing software for behavioral health often requires significant upfront costs—with long-term benefits, of course. It’s important to have a good understanding of the total cost of ownership, any hidden fees, and scalability upfront so you can make an informed decision. Then, balance the cost together with the potential ROI: don’t look at it only in terms of revenue recovered, but also time saved and patient satisfaction, all of which can help you build your best practice possible.
Stax Bill can help streamline behavioral health billing by saving your practice time throughout your entire workflow. Just look at how we reduced Instream’s time spent on invoicing and registration by 80%. By prioritizing features such as integrated payment processing, insurance verification, and claims management, you can proactively address challenges rampant in behavioral health billing, while also positioning yourself for sustainable growth.
Learn more about how Stax Bill’s HIPAA-compliant billing software can advance your behavioral health billing experience. Schedule a demo today.
