Bringing Billing In-House Solved a Major Pain Point for This Ohio Treatment Organization
“We provided great care, we got people in the door, we did all the processes you have to do, but at the end of the day, we weren’t getting paid.”
Destigmatizing treatment is a mission we support here at AZZLY®. We were fortunate this January to speak with someone with the same mission, Bill Chrisovergis, in the first full episode of Talking Treatment™.
Bill is the president of Miami Valley Recovery, a treatment organization in Dayton, Ohio. Miami Valley Recovery is an AZZLY client and uses AZZLY Rize™ as their electronic health record (EHR) and revenue cycle management (RCM) solution.
Bill’s journey toward working in addiction treatment is relatable to many of us. Throughout years working in sales in the medical field, he saw firsthand the impact of substance use disorders (SUD) in his community. Additionally, he saw the effect of addiction firsthand with a family member.
Watching a family member suffer from a SUD changed Bill’s perspective on addiction. Seeing that it was impossible to “just stop using” or “pray it away” emphasized to Bill how important it was to change the way people looked at treatment.
Bill began working as a counselor, and eventually made a career shift to start his own treatment organization. It did not take long, though, for Miami Valley Recovery to experience major pain points in billing.
“We provided great care, we got people in the door, we did all the processes you have to do, but at the end of the day, we weren’t getting paid,” Bill shared on Talking Treatment.
Working with a third-party billing service proved to be a problem. For one, the biller claimed 8% of Miami Valley Recovery’s revenue for the first six months and 5% for subsequent months. More importantly, Miami Valley Recovery struggled to get reimbursed in the first place. With the service being handled by a third party, Miami Valley Recovery did not see the day-to-day difficulty that their claims encountered—denial for Medicaid reimbursement, lack of eligibility, and the like. The bottom line was that they were not seeing payment for the services they provided to patients for months.
The priorities of any treatment organization tend to be as follows:
- The safety and care of individuals that they treat
- Retaining the right skill set in providers
- Keep the doors open, which equates to getting paid
Taking billing in-house was crucial to ensuring this third need was met. The revenue cycle management features built into AZZLY Rize, with clearinghouse integration for electronic claim submission and ERA through Availity, the hands-on training and support of the AZZLY RCM team, empowered Bill to take control of his billing. Bill went from never personally billing to taking firsthand responsibility of his billing process so he understands correct clean claim submissions and how to handle rejects and denials. With all staff documentation one click away, Bill verifies his staff is in compliance before he submits his claims. Bill is a hands-on owner, but someday he may relinquish this job to a staff member, knowing he can step in at any time and manage and monitor to make sure his process is being followed.
You too could get paid faster like Bill and have a better understanding of your AR from payers. AZZLY Rize™ is an all-in-one electronic health record (EHR) and revenue cycle management (RCM) solution, specialty-specific to behavioral healthcare and addiction treatment. The software is designed to drive efficiency, support growth, and eliminate the complexity around addiction treatment and behavioral healthcare needs. Fill out this brief form to speak with an AZZLY EHR and Billing Specialist.
Learn more about Miami Valley Recovery by clicking here. Their programs include medication-assisted treatment (MAT) and “mothers on buprenorphine” (MOB). See how AZZLY supports Ohio treatment organizations at azzly.com/ohio.
Our conversation with Bill was made possible by Talking Treatment™, a podcast that highlights best practices and recent news in treatment. Are you interested in becoming a guest? Is there a topic you’d like to hear us discuss? Fill out this brief form.
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