While serving as the administrator of one of the largest orthopedic practices in Richmond, Virginia, Mr. Meza was the first administrator to implement Athenahealth at the practice. He recognized the potential of Athenahealth’s electronic medical record (EMR) and practice management platform to improve the practice’s revenue cycle management (RCM), efficiency, and financial performance.

Building on that experience, Mr. Meza established a relationship with Athenahealth and incorporated the platform into GTM’s practice-startup model. GTM now recommends and implements Athenahealth’s EMR and practice management system for new practices, giving clients a proven technology platform from the start.

GTM also provides targeted billing support for Athenahealth clients, assisting with specific revenue cycle tasks based on each practice’s needs and patient volume. This flexible model lets practices supplement internal staff, improve RCM efficiency, and get specialized support without the cost of adding full-time billing personnel.

Billing System Transition (to Athena)

  • Serve as liaison between previous billing company and Athena
  • Complete all transition tasks required by Athena
  • Provide training to all staff and physicians

Denial Management

  • Work the “Hold” and “Manager Hold” Buckets
  • Work denied claims within two to six days, depending on volume.
  • Prevent unnecessary denials by reviewing causes and trends with Office Manager and Providers.  Educate and train providers and staff to minimize denials.

Time of Service Collection

  • Call on patients with outstanding balances prior to appointment; collect balance or make payment arrangements.
  • Flag accounts ensuring practice staff is aware of amount to be collected from patient at time of visit.

Charge Entry/Missing Slips

  • Review all claims before dropping to ensure accuracy and completeness.
  • Coordinate charge entry with staff for missing slips / services (i.e,, services performed but not billed).

Benefit Verification/Authorizations

  • Work closely with appropriate staff to initiate required authorizations.

Refund Management

  • Review the refund work list on a weekly basis to ensure accuracy and prevent a significant backlog.

Staff Training

  • Train the front desk staff to use the Athena system effectively including how to run and utilize reports.  Proper training can prevent basic denials thus ensuring a more efficient revenue cycle.

Credentialing

  • Provide credentialing services for physicians and mid-level providers with all third-party payers.

Coding

  • Expert review of practice and provider level coding practices to ensure optimal billing and avoid health plan audits.
  • Coding training by an expert coder as needed

Reporting

  • Most practices do not realize how robust Athena’s reporting system is, nor do they have the time to learn and run reports.  We can take care of this for you, running reports as requested and reviewing them together on a routine basis.
  • Review monthly reports with practice management ensuring every dollar is accounted for – whether billed, adjusted, collected or denied.
  • Create reports that monitoring trends in production, E&M coding, collections, provider/department production, RVUs, payer mix, CPT reimbursement, payer reimbursement, patient demographics and much more.