“Thank you” comes few and far between in EMS. Patients occasionally thank first responders, who definitely deserve it. They work in all climates, all environments, and whenever called. Behind the scenes, EMS billers and supporting staff are even less likely to receive recognition for their dedication and hard work.

EMS billing staff require complete, accurate data to submit claims to payers. If crews can’t document and collect all necessary patient care data and forms during a transport, EMS billers will have to play catch-up. These delays will disrupt the entire EMS billing process and later revenue collection.

Sometimes, EMS billing staff ask field providers to help find a copy of a patient care record. This might work out alright… until the field providers get busy with other things. Sure, the PCR ends up where it needs to be, but all the lost time adds up-and it’s expensive. If you want to bypass the delay, ePCR is your answer. Electronic patient care records combine with today’s advancements in data security to give the EMS billing department, the ambulance managers, and all of those involved in the QA/QI process access to patient care records at any time, on almost any type of electronic device.

Inevitably, senior ambulance billers will (and should) influence EMS billing software decisions. EMS billers are constantly under fire when it comes to compliance, rejection/denial rates, and efficiency. It’s not easy for EMS billers to manage all the demands of ambulance billing while still maintaining quality. In order to meet the high demands of ambulance billing, EMS billers need a software that works for them and not against them.

EMS-oriented groups continue to lobby on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. and other major capitols to improve EMS reimbursement rates. Although we remain hopeful that government change will work in our favor, EMS administrators and managers continue to negotiate rates with private insurance companies and look for ways to increase billing efficiency. After all, what kind of EMS administrator or manager wouldn’t want faster and higher reimbursement on EMS insurance claims?

The EMS industry has a knack for using acronyms! We love to have an alphabet soup set of letters represent something important. The problem with that is, not all of the acronyms are common within the medical industry. MLS is not a standardized acronym for Multi-Level Stretcher although that comes together kind of nicely. ePCRs, purposefully only permit standardized medical acronyms which, while it can be frustrating to the MAF, multiple acronym fan, creates a much better medical document that can be used by other healthcare providers along the healthcare continuum as they treat the patient.

The holy grail of successful ambulance billing is an efficient EMS workflow that includes the entire ambulance service staff, from dispatch to first responders, EMTs, and medics to billers, all working together, and all on the same page. Clearly, open and effective communications, and EMS workflow between these key EMS operational areas will minimize the amount of time between dispatch, patient care and transport, billing, and receiving payment for services rendered.

What is your EMS age? Sometimes, gauging your EMS age can be as simple as recalling the model number of your first cardiac monitor. Or, these days, it could be gauged by how you keep track of or store your EMS data.

Creating a clinically solid, medically sound, and billing-compliant EMS patient care record is critical not just to patient health, but EMS operational health as well. How is your EMS operations measuring up? How do you use key metrics to improve your EMS data entry and documentation?

EMS agencies have been talking about if/when to move away from paper EMS trip reports to electronic EMS trip reports for ages. In the past, the cost comparison between purchasing base computers or ruggedized laptops and handwritten EMS trip reports or scannable forms proved formidable barriers for so many EMS agencies. Thankfully, in recent years as EMS agencies have begun using ePCR software to document EMS trip reports with more frequency, discussions have moved away from paper versus electronic to the benefits of moving to Online EMS software versus on-site software.