| Question/Capability | Billing Candidate #1 | Billing Candidate #2 | AMBS, Inc. | Comments |
| Have you been in business for at least 10 years? | | | Ö | You want to know if the company is working out of a basement somewhere because they just purchased billing software and want to work from home, or are they established with a long-term commitment to the business. They answer the phone when you call! |
| Do you have any healthcare background? | | | Ö | Do they truly know your business, did they work as a biller in a practice, or do they really know the “business” of healthcare. Have they ever owned a practice? |
| Do you have more than 10 staff members to support your clients? | | | Ö | This will allow you to quickly assess whether they can perform. With a “mom-pop” staff, you are subject to performance/cash flow delays when someone gets sick, quits, or goes on vacation. |
| Will I have a dedicated team to my account? Will it be more than two people? | | | Ö | Here again you want to understand if one person will be doing your billing, or will a team be assigned – which will provide to you better coverage. |
| Do you have the ability to dedicate a separate team to do “Claim Status” only? | | | Ö | This is key, and the single piece that most billing companies and in-house billers don’t have time to do, or don’t have the staff to dedicate to this function. This is where you differentiate between who is just “pushing” claims out, vs. those that are aggressively chasing them for you. |
| Does your fee include re-filings, secondary insurance & statements? | | | Ö | This should be part of your fee because it is a standard reality of the billing process. |
| Can I send my claims or transmit them to you electronically? | | | Ö | Most good billing companies should be able to accept your claims, via either by mail or electronically, regardless of their location. |
| Do you handle claims data entry, postings, etc.? | | | Ö | You should not have to do any of this in-house, otherwise, you might as well do it all yourself. |
| Do you have Web reporting available? | | | Ö | This will give you closer access to your billing activity. |
