Medical Billing Companies & Consultants in Corpus Christi, TX

Astrid Medical Services, Inc. is a small medical billing and consulting firm based on South Padre Island Drive in Corpus Christi, Texas. It has worked for healthcare providers across the United States for more than two decades. It does not try to cover every specialty.

Its core work is reimbursement for home health care, which has its own payer rules and documentation needs, along with billing for infusion services. Buyers in the Coastal Bend looking for an outsourced partner with long experience in these areas may want to consider it.

Services

The company's services fall into two groups: claims billing for specific payer types and advisory work for provider organizations. Its published focus includes:

• Home health billing for Medicare
• Home health billing for Medicaid
• Billing to commercial and private insurance carriers
• Infusion therapy billing
• Billing support for hospitals
• Medical billing and business consulting

Directory listings also put the firm under medical business administration, bookkeeping and billing consultancy. This suggests its work can reach beyond claim submission into wider back-office support. The company says on its website that it is adding new services, so buyers should ask about the current scope directly.

Who They Serve

Home health agencies are the firm's main clients. These providers often deal with Medicare home health claims, Medicaid programs and private insurance plans at the same time, and a billing partner that already knows these payers can save them a lot of internal effort. According to its president's professional profile, the company has also billed for hospitals around the country.

Infusion providers, whose claims need careful coding of drugs, supplies and nursing visits, are a second specialty. Because it already serves clients nationwide, the firm is not limited to agencies in South Texas.

Background and Leadership

Better Business Bureau records show the business started in 1991, and it was incorporated in Texas as a corporation in 1996. Astrid Olson is president, and Lynn Olson is office manager and the main customer contact. Ms. Olson has led the company since the early 1990s.

The firm has stayed a closely held, owner-run practice and has not grown into a large billing outsourcer. Its office in the Padre Island area of Corpus Christi is open on weekdays and for limited hours on Saturday mornings, according to directory listings.

What Sets Them Apart

The firm has three main traits: a long operating history, a narrow focus on home health and infusion reimbursement, and owner-level involvement in client relationships. A small team like this is likely to suit agencies that want direct contact with the people handling their claims more than those looking for a large, multi-specialty revenue cycle vendor. The company publishes few details about its software, staffing or certifications, so prospective clients should ask about those during evaluation.

Overview

Coastal Medical Billing LLC is a locally owned revenue cycle firm in Corpus Christi, Texas. It helps healthcare providers with billing, insurance enrollment and practice advice. The company says it has been part of the Coastal Bend region for more than 25 years, so it knows the payers, practices and paperwork that South Texas providers deal with. For buyers comparing billing vendors, it offers a smaller, regionally rooted alternative to national outsourcing companies.

Specialties Served

The firm highlights experience with several outpatient specialties. Practices in these fields may find it already understands their claim types and documentation patterns:

• Family practice
• Counseling and behavioral health
• Pediatrics
• Pulmonary medicine
• Psychiatry

Core Services

Its main offering is outsourced medical billing, aimed at helping practices cut administrative costs while collecting more revenue. Beyond handling claims, the company says it analyzes how a practice is performing as a business and recommends strategies to help it stand out from competitors. Billing is treated as part of a wider effort to improve financial results, not just clerical work.

Credentialing is its second major line of work. The team helps both new and established practices enroll with Texas Medicare, Texas Medicaid, managed care organizations (MCOs) and commercial insurance plans. It assists providers who are launching a new practice as well as those who need to change or maintain their current payer enrollments. Delays in this area can hold up reimbursement for months.

The third service area is consulting. Experienced staff give strategic advice and customized recommendations to help healthcare organizations meet their operational and financial goals. Practices can combine consulting with billing and credentialing, so one vendor covers setup, payer enrollment and ongoing revenue management.

Working With Clients and Service Area

New clients start with a free consultation, which they can book through the company's website, to talk through their needs before signing on. The office is in Corpus Christi, but the firm serves providers across a large part of Texas, naming San Antonio, Houston and Laredo along with the communities between those cities. The office is open Monday through Friday, with shorter hours on Fridays.

What sets Coastal Medical Billing apart for many buyers is local ownership, decades in the Coastal Bend, and billing, credentialing and consulting all offered by one firm. The company also stresses affordable pricing. It may be a practical fit for practices in the listed specialties, especially those that are opening, expanding or updating their Texas payer enrollments.

Jennings & Co is a Corpus Christi, Texas firm that handles billing and related back-office work for physicians and other medical providers. The company traces its origins to 1976 and became a corporation in 1985, giving it more than four decades of continuous experience in this field. It presents itself as a practice management partner that takes on the administrative tasks that pull clinicians away from patient care.

Core billing services

Practices can choose between two levels of support. The Batch Processing option covers the fundamentals. The team enters charges the provider has already completed into a computerized system, mails patients their monthly statements, and submits claims to payers either electronically or on paper forms. Clients also receive regular monthly and yearly reports that summarize the financial condition of the practice.

The Expanded Processing option adds more hands-on revenue cycle work. This includes ICD-10 and CPT code assignment when the provider wants it, tracking of claim payments, and appeals of denials where warranted. It also includes direct outreach to patients by phone and letter to set up payment plans.

Beyond these two packages, the firm offers a broader set of administrative capabilities:

• Charge entry and electronic claim filing
• Patient billing statements and collections follow-up
• Appeals of denied claims
• Coding and documentation guidance from certified coders
• Standard and custom financial reports
• Credentialing with government and commercial payers
• Help with payer contract negotiations and license renewals

Specialties served

Jennings & Co works with a wide mix of clinical disciplines. Its published list covers several groups. Primary and hospital care includes family practice, internal medicine, and hospitalists. Specialty fields include anesthesia, cardiology, dermatology, endocrinology, nephrology, oncology and hematology, and psychiatry. Surgical work includes surgery and cosmetic surgery. The list also takes in OB/GYN, physical medicine and rehabilitation, occupational therapy, home house calls, and nurse practitioner and nursing home services.

How the firm works with clients

The company emphasizes accessibility and transparency. Clients can reach staff by phone or online to check on their revenue cycle. The firm also keeps a library of reports that it will tailor to a practice's particular questions. Its certified coders pursue continuing education to keep up with regulatory and payer changes.

They also work with providers on coding and documentation habits so that claims go out complete and accurate. Protecting patient information is treated as a core obligation. The firm follows HIPAA requirements and pays particular attention to the secure destruction of outdated paper records to reduce identity theft risk.

Leadership and culture

The management team brings more than 87 years of combined experience. Jackie Brannigan, BBA, is President and Owner and has 42 years in the field. Tabitha Lugg holds CPC and RMC credentials and has spent 28 years in the profession. Scarlet Robbins holds CPC, RMC, and ASC-AN credentials and has 29 years behind her. The company describes itself as family-oriented.

It invests in growth opportunities for its staff and keeps traditions such as decorating for the holidays, an approach it links to the consistent service its clients count on.