Frequently Asked Questions

Yes! The number one consideration for using an outside billing service should be to increase practice income. PBA typically raises practice income for its clients a minimum of 25% to over 35%. The larger the practice, the greater the increase. Keep in mind that if you do not have time to follow-up on unpaid insurance claims or are not following up on all patient owed balances, then you are losing a significant portion of your income. Co-pays alone can be as much as 20-40% of your income.

Yes! PBA uses a high end practice management system, but it’s not just our computers, it’s our staff expertise in mental health billing that makes the difference. From data input, to tracking insurance claims or slow-paying accounts, it’s our total commitment to your practice that produces the results you want and justifies our services.

It all depends on the size of your practice. PBA replaces your need for billing staff but you may still want to keep administrative help for scheduling, filing, and obtaining authorizations. With less time spent on billing, your employees will be able to focus on these other support tasks.

Many of our clients are solo practictioners with limited or no administrative staff. In that case, our professional staff will coordinate billing directly with the provider.

Yes. We will make a phone call to the insurance company to find out the copay/coinsurance amount, deductible information, claims mailing address and if there are any preauthorization requirements. If preauthorization is needed for initial services, we will obtain that for you.

Yes! With PBA, all insurance and patient payments are mailed directly to you or deposited electronically to your bank account . Our toll-free phone number is on each patient statement and insurance claim so that billing inquiries will come to our office where we handle the problems.

Yes! PBA clients are able to check patient account balances, claim status and print out financial reports through our web-based system. We can also mail out monthly reports, upon request.

Yes. Each practice is assigned a personal account manager who gets to know your practice. You receive the email address and direct telephone extension of the account manager, so if you ever have any questions, you can always get in touch with him or her. When your account manager has questions or needs information, s/he will contact you via phone, email or fax. We believe good communication with our clients is an important part of the billing.

There is a $200 initial registration fee ($300 for group practices) after which we charge a % of monthly income. The fee is negotiated on an individual or practice by practice basis, depending upon the type of practice (individual, group or clinic), billing volume and scope of services.

Our fee covers all expenses for insurance and patient billing, postage, envelopes, clearinghouse fees and software upgrades. The only additional costs would be for optional services such as verification of benefits, patient reminder calls, and credentialing assistance.

Yes. All of our staff follow HIPAA guidelines regarding protected health information (PHI) and patient privacy. Our software vendor and clearinghouse for billing electronic claims are also certified HIPAA compliant. Our HIPAA policies are outlined in the Trading Partner agreement we provide to our clients.

There is no long term contract. If you are dissatisfied for any reason, you may terminate services at any time, provided you give us 30 days notice. We make this offer because most of our clients are extremely satisfied with our services. PBA has been in business since 1994 and has many long term clients.

Clients send us data in several different ways. Most providers upload the billing data (logsheets, superbills, facesheetss, copies of insurance cards) through our client portal which is HIPAA compliant and offers safe and permanent storage of your documents. Other clients use the on-line appointment scheduler to transmit appointment data via the internet. Another option: if you are currently using an EMR/EHR system we can sometimes pull the data from your medical records program. We will suggest the method that would work best for your type of practice.

Call us at 800-650-6334 ext. 947. We will ask questions about your current billing situation and customize a service plan that best meets your needs. We then send you a Letter of Agreement and a New Provider Enrollment Packet. The packet includes a provider information sheet, HIPPA trading partner agreement, electronic authorizations and other paperwork needed to set up your practice.