Medical Billing Companies & Consultants in Saco, ME

Overview

Alternative Billing Solutions, LLC, often shortened to ABS, LLC, is an outsourced medical billing firm based in Saco, Maine. Its main focus is mental health practitioners, such as counselors and therapists in private practice.

The company says it works with clients in the Greater Portland area and across the whole state, from northern Aroostook County down to York and from the eastern border west to Fryeburg. It describes itself as a fit for practices of any size.

For buyers comparing vendors, its main draw is that it specializes in behavioral health billing, an area where authorizations and session limits create a lot of administrative work.

Services

The firm offers complete billing management, so a practice can hand off most of its insurance and patient billing work. Its services cover the full cycle, from onboarding a new patient to collecting the final balance:

• Credentialing support for providers working with insurance carriers
• Checking each new patient's insurance benefits, including whether services are covered and whether an authorization is needed
• Tracking authorizations and sending providers the right form when more sessions must be requested
• Preparing and sending claims to insurers
• Following each claim until it is paid or denied, and pursuing denials and non-payment
• Calling insurance representatives on the practice's behalf, including long phone waits when a carrier refuses payment
• Sending patients bills for unpaid balances automatically, tracking those statements and re-billing when needed

How They Work With Clients

ABS presents itself as an advocate for the provider, aiming to recover all the money a practice has earned. Statement accuracy is a particular focus. The company says many new clients came to it after a previous billing service sent incorrect bills to patients.

To prevent this, ABS reviews patient statements before they go out so it can catch errors made by its own staff or by the practice. The goal is to let clinicians spend their time on patient care while ABS handles insurers and patient accounts.

Background and Team

Tara Beaudoin-Ambrose founded the company in 2004. She had earlier worked in chiropractic offices in Yarmouth and Portland. At the Portland office, a chiropractor and a mental health counselor shared space, and both struggled with billing. She found she liked the detail-heavy work of getting claims paid correctly. Her first two clients were chiropractors, and many counselors joined soon after.

Her partner, Anthony Ambrose, joined the business in 2007. He first worked evenings while holding a day job at a local chamber of commerce, then came on full time in 2011. He had previously worked as a chef and restaurant manager. The company is still run by the couple.

What Sets Them Apart

The firm has been in business for about two decades and focuses on mental health and chiropractic billing. As a small owner-run business, clients deal directly with its founders. A testimonial on its website comes from a client who has worked with the firm since 2010.

That client has been in private practice for about twenty years and has used several billing companies. These details may appeal to independent clinicians anywhere in Maine who want a long-term billing partner that knows behavioral health insurance.