The Hart Revenue Cycle process is a logical one that begins the moment a patient presents him or herself at a physician's practice. It's the responsibility of the practice to gather all the proper information about the patient – name, address, insurance information, and so on. Once the appointment is concluded, the practice also has to fill out an encounter form describing what the doctor did and what the diagnosis was.

Hart takes over from there. With the information we receive, either on paper or electronically, we process the claim and send it to the appropriate insurance company for payment. We have a host of rules designed to make sure that what we send to the insurer will work. Nonetheless, we know from years of experience that claims are often denied, and that's when we really earn our keep. Of those claims that are denied, the majority occur because a critical piece of information is missing or wrong. Under the leadership of the Account Manager, our team works with the practice to correct the mistake. Once claims are paid, we post those payments to our client's account and report back to the practice on a once-a-month basis:

• The money the practice earned during the time period
• The claims that were denied and why
• An overview of their entire Accounts Receivable process
• How quickly their receivables are turning over

Together, we examine the revenue cycle with the goal of determining ways to make issues disappear. It may be better coding that's required or more thorough information-gathering on the part of the people at the front desk, or stricter attention to the referral process. Whatever the reasons, we at Hart do everything we can to enhance the productivity of the billing practice for our clients.