“Since implementing WRS we have doubled the size of our billing department. Our revenue has increased…due to the increase in our billing staff and their use of WRS.”
Connecticut Behavioral Health Associates’ Billing is Stellar with WRS EMR
Here’s a crucial question for psychiatry and behavioral health practices: do you have peace of mind on the billing front?
For Connecticut Behavioral Health Associates, the answer is a resounding, YES. How is this large 23 provider, 3 location practice achieving financial serenity? They rely on the robust billing capabilities of WRS EMR and Practice Management software.
Founded in New London, CT 25 years ago by Dr. Bassam Awwa, Connecticut Behavioral Health Associates also has offices in Norwich and Stonington, CT. The practice employs 23 providers, including four M.D.s, three APRNs, a Ph.D., 11 LCSWs, two LMFTs and two LPCs.
Connecticut Behavioral Health Associates sees about 600 patients a week. The practice sees patients of all ages and specializes in medication management, as well as therapy services, including individual, family and marriage counseling, as well as trauma-based therapy.
WRS is Connecticut Behavioral Health Associates’ first EMR, according to Diana Adcock, who serves as a practice administrator, as well as their Billing Manager. Adcock, who is based in the New London office, where billing for the three locations is performed, mentions that the practice used SSIMED for practice management and billing prior to WRS. After looking at several integrated PM, RCM and EMR solutions, they chose WRS Behavioral Health EMR in August 2012.
Time is of the Essence
Timesaving features are critical for the medical practice staff, especially one with several locations and a huge roster of providers. Pointing out in her review that she was part of the Behavioral Health EMR search team, Adcock said, “It didn’t make sense to have the EMR with one company and the billing with another company. It made more sense to keep everything integrated instead of billing the claims out through another system.”
Commenting on the benefits of WRS Billing Module, Adcock said, “We have a staff person who creates the claims and bills out. With the size of our practice, it’s a full-time, all day job to bill out claims for us. When the practitioner creates a note in WRS, it automatically creates a claim that you can look at and you just press a button and the claim goes out. If you had two different systems, you would have to do more work reentering the information into a different system. It would take a lot of time.”
Round the Clock EMR Access
Emphasizing in her review that a web-based system topped Connecticut Behavioral Health’s EMR criteria bucket list, Adcock said, “The fact that you can access WRS from everywhere and anywhere is beneficial. That was important. I access WRS from home. Being able to do work from home as far as whatever needs to get done is beneficial.”
Auto-Posting Features
In addition to billing, Adcock is responsible for performing a myriad of practice management functions. It is evident that time is of the essence when she is performing billing functions. Not to worry. WRS Behavioral Health EMR’s auto-posting capability increases her efficiency. “I do a lot of manipulating of the payments that come in. This means payments need to be posted to the accounts and the accounts need to be adjusted. When payments come over electronically from the clearinghouse, they need to be monitored and we need to keep up with them. A lot of payments are auto-posted and that is very helpful,” said Adcock.
Billing Bliss
The strength of an EMR’s Billing Module is revealed by examining a practice’s revenue. “Our revenue has increased. There are not very many rejected claims. Since we implemented WRS we have doubled the size of our billing department. We have four full-time staffers working on billing, so we have more people working on more things. Yes, the boost in revenue is due to the increase in our billing staff and their use of WRS.”
Excellent Training
Mastering a new system can be a harrowing experience. To hear Adcock tell it, training was a breeze. “WRS came here and we did an on-site training. They are very nice people and were fantastic. The WRS Team does help. We contact them and they are good at getting back to us and helping us out if we have an issue,” said Adcock.
Updates are Essential
The success a practice achieves in the billing arena, not only depends on technological tools, it is also directly related to the people who provide these tools and their responsiveness to issues and requests. “I requested WRS create a certain report and they did. Updates are absolutely important. It was really helpful,” said Adcock to conclude her review.