Practice Management Alert

Question: I need to interview candidates for a billing position. The position requires billing as well as follow-up on denials and light collections. Based on these prerequisites, what kinds of questions should I ask the candidates? In the past, we have hired people who said they knew things about billing and office procedure--but after we hired them, we found out they did not.


North Carolina Subscriber

Answer: Unfortunately, not all interviewees are as good as they say they are once you set them to the task of performing their job. 
 
Fortunately, medical office billing professionals can weed out the undesirable applicants. Check out these tips from Catherine Brink, CMM, CPC, president of Health Care Resource Management Inc. in Spring Lake, N.J.:

- Give applicants a coding or billing test comprised of short-answer questions. When writing this test, do not use True/False or multiple-choice formats.

Instead, ask a billing question, and give the applicant space to write out her own answer. You-ll be able to determine more billing and coding knowledge about the interviewee from a short-answer test than you would from a True/False or multiple-choice exam.

Some test questions you may consider include:

- Explain when, why and how you would use modifier 59 on a medical billing claim.

- A patient tells you he is not responsible for his balance after insurance has paid its part of the bill. The patient advises you to talk to the insurer about it. How would you handle this situation?

Skill With Denials a Must

You may also want to ask applicants for this position several questions about handling claim denials. No matter what position you-re hiring for in a medical billing office, make sure to hire a -people person---someone with a friendly personality who is assertive and diplomatic. To get a window into the interviewee's personality, observe the candidate's mannerisms during the interview, paying close attention to how well he communicates ideas.

Ask About Coding Certification

Ask the interviewee if he is a certified professional coder (CPC). If the candidate doesn't possess a CPC certification, you may want to put the applicant in the -No- pile. Even if a CPC is not required for your position, you may want to note which applicants have a coding certification and which ones don-t, because a CPC may be the only thing that separates two qualified candidates.