Medical Billing Companies & Consultants in Lodi, CA

Tokay Medical Billing, Inc. is an independent billing firm based in Lodi, California, a short drive north of Stockton. It has worked with physician offices across the San Joaquin Valley since 1994, which gives it three decades of experience with the payers, practice types and administrative demands common in the region. Doctors who would rather not run billing in-house, and want a nearby partner instead of a distant national vendor, may find it worth a look.

Background and Leadership

Pat Dold, the company's Vice President, started the business after more than twenty years managing the practice side of a Stockton group of cardiothoracic surgeons. Because of that background, the firm was built by someone who had dealt with the financial operations of a surgical specialty practice firsthand, including the paperwork that comes with high-acuity procedures. That practice management experience still shapes how the company handles its clients' accounts.

Services for Physician Practices

The firm's main business is billing for physicians, with a stated emphasis on getting revenue in and dealing with difficult claims. Its site points to a history of recovering money owed to practices and to experience with claims that are more complicated than routine office visits. Based on what the company publishes, its offerings include:

• Full-service medical billing for physician groups and solo doctors
• Revenue recovery on outstanding or underpaid accounts
• Handling of complex and specialty claims
• An assigned billing specialist who works on a single practice's account
• A commitment to timely billing so practices get paid on schedule

How They Work With Clients

A notable feature of the firm's model is that it can assign one staff member to each client practice. That way, physicians and office managers deal with a person who knows their account, rather than a rotating queue or a call center. The company has a team of twelve billing specialists.

That size is big enough to cover several practices with dedicated staff, yet small enough to keep communication direct. The company presents personal, hands-on attention as the basis of how it serves clients.

What Sets Them Apart

For buyers comparing billing vendors in the Stockton area, Tokay Medical Billing has a few clear points in its favor. It has operated continuously since the mid-1990s. Its founder came from surgical practice management rather than a pure software or outsourcing background. It is also rooted locally in San Joaquin County.

Most of its clients are in the valley, but the company says it also takes on physician practices outside the region. It sells no software or hardware products and runs as a service-only firm. Practices that want billing technology bundled with the service should therefore confirm which systems the firm uses.

Practices that mainly want experienced people handling their claims and collections will find that this is what the company is focused on.