Medical Billing Companies & Consultants in Canfield, OH

Based in Canfield, Ohio, a short drive from Youngstown, Practice Management & Billing Solutions, Inc. provides revenue cycle and administrative services with a primary emphasis on anesthesiology. Beyond securing payment for anesthesia groups, it also absorbs much of the operational burden those groups would otherwise carry themselves. Tom DeAscentis, who owns the business and serves as a consultant, brings over twenty years of background in healthcare finance and anesthesia reimbursement. According to the company, its team collectively represents more than seven decades of experience in billing and administration.

Anesthesia Billing

Getting paid correctly for anesthesia services is notoriously tricky. Reimbursement hinges on time units and patient acuity, and insurers assign their own values to each. The company's clients range from solo anesthesiologists to large trauma centers, and it accommodates a variety of staffing structures, including care team models, practices staffed solely by physicians, groups made up only of CRNAs, and environments that use residents and SRNAs. Its anesthesia services span documentation and coding compliance, claim submission, oversight of payer contracts, receivables follow-up and provider credentialing. Every month, clients receive a reporting package covering financial performance, statistical summaries, receivables review and reconciliation of deposits, plus provider productivity data when it adds value. An online option lets patients settle balances electronically. The firm runs its operations on PPM Information Systems, a platform built for anesthesia billing that supports electronic data capture, and it collaborates with regional anesthesia practices to satisfy ASA and AANA quality benchmarks along with the particular standards set by individual facilities.

Surgical and Physician Billing

Because surgical procedure codes drive anesthesia charges, the company extends its billing expertise to surgeons and other physicians as well. Specialties on its client roster include:

• Pediatric, orthopedic and general surgery
• Thoracic and cardiac surgery
• Gastroenterology
• Family medicine

Patient records reach the office either by courier delivery or via secure electronic transfer supported by a demographic data interface. Staff verify patient details at multiple points, and certified coders examine each chart before charges are posted. Every business day, claims are keyed in and transmitted electronically to Medicare, Medicaid, Anthem, Highmark and Emdeon. On the anesthesia side, the firm counts trauma centers, hospitals, endoscopy centers, ambulatory surgery centers and dental practices among the organizations it serves.

Practice Management

In addition to claims work, the company is equipped to function as a full administrative department for a medical group. Its services in this area cover:

• Drafting agreements for employees and independent contractors
• Negotiating with hospitals and surgery centers
• Benchmarking insurer contracts against ASA survey figures
• Preparing budgets, projections and monthly financials broken out by facility or service line
• Measuring productivity for physicians, CRNAs and operating rooms
• Handling payroll, payables, and HSA and HRA administration
• Overseeing retirement plans, with Vanguard and Morgan Stanley as well as ADP and Merrill Lynch among the providers used
• Supporting recruitment, new-hire onboarding, RFP preparation and merger activity

The company reports that its coders, certified by the AAPC, carry subspecialty credentials in anesthesiology and also instruct physicians and CRNAs on proper coding and documentation practices. Organizations seeking a single external partner capable of managing both reimbursement and day-to-day operations, particularly anesthesia practices across western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio, may find this blend of services a good fit. Steel City Anesthesia, one of its clients, attributes substantial growth to its work with the firm.