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Our services maximize provider reimbursement while maintaining the letter, spirit & intent of compliance rules.

WHAT WE DO

  • Healthcare Reimbursement Maximization
  • Compliance & Audit Initiatives
  • Special Projects
  • Coding Review
  • Due Diligence
  • Technology Checkup
  • Workflow Management
  • Documentation & Training

We look forward to helping your business.

info@habaneroinc.com

(631) 244-5661

 

We also host a radio show entitled: The Business of Healthcare

Tune into WUSB 90.1fm, online at www.wusb.fm or Sign Up for our email to be notified of our next show and Habanero Hot Topics.

 

 

Testimonials

I would highly recommend

Susan Montana was able to help get our office HIPAA manual up to date and showed us ways to help to use our existing protocols and EMR system more effectively to comply with the new updates.  All forms were customized with the practice logo for uniformity.  Privacy officer and staff training was provided, and she went over all the forms and discussed the proper use and storage of the information.  I would highly recommend her services to any office that does not have an updated HIPAA manual, or how to properly use the manual they currently have.

Dr Joseph Merckling, Merckling Family Chiropractic PC

 

Thanks again.

Susan, I just wanted to express our appreciation for your knowledge and guidance in assisting us with our internal and external payment audit processes.  Besides being able to leverage your tremendous experience and expertise, you allowed us to help us help ourselves.  Your ability to teach as opposed to dictate made what could have been a challenging process, much less strenuous and more easily implemented.  Your continued guidance and driving of the process, while holding our organization accountable to meet deadlines and task determinations has made this tremendously educational and successful on all fronts.   We look forward to your ongoing involvement in a continuous quality improvement process.

Andrew Winakor, Executive Vice President, Managed Care & Payer Relations, National MedTrans Network & IPA

Internal coding audit results

Working with Habanero was a pleasant and very informative experience. You were always available when needed during the internal coding audit.

We were able to identify issues in all facets of our business (from radiologist reports, to the orders and coders).

The report provided were very detailed and easy to follow. I liked that not only the audit gave us the issues but also solutions to the issues.

Director of Revenue Cycle, large Metro New York radiology practice

Thank you for making this process effortless.  I would recommend Habanero, Inc. without hesitation.

My office has been using the services of Habanero, lnc. to increase reimbursement and facilitate office procedures that simplify and organize accounting and payment recording. Their real life experience in these fields has significantly increased payments, decreased billing errors and generally improved the function of the administrative aspects of my practice. I would recommend Habanero, Inc. without hesitation and believe strongly that they would help your organization’s bottom line too.

Mark Gresser DPM, DABPOPPM

 

Valuable, knowledgeable and well-researched information & opinions

Ms. Susan Montana, representing Habanero, Inc., was engaged as a part-time consultant for almost 18 months to assist in several areas; help our coding staff in resolving our coding backlog, work alongside our own coding team to modify and streamline coding processes during the implementation of our electronic EMR, represent us in facilitating our defense during a significant global Medicare audit that significantly impacted our practice reimbursements, assist in educating our coding staff and providers regarding proper coding and LCD guidelines, and investigate reimbursement options for our services, in order to maximize reimbursement.

During her engagement, Susan was highly professional, dedicated, very responsive, always pleasant to work with, sensitive to the work demands of our own staff, and offered valuable, knowledgeable and well-researched information and opinions.

Based upon our experience, we would not hesitate to engage her services again.”

Billing Manager, large ED and multi-facility urgent care/family practice provider

 

It is my pleasure to highly recommend Ms. Montana to all health professional offices.

Sue Montana, of Habanero, Inc., has been working with me over the past few months and in that time she has brought me up to date on my outstanding accounts, has helped me to become linked into the technology available through many insurance websites and has created an office policies and procedure manual that we have dubbed “the good book”.  It contains valuable information regarding all the insurance companies that I deal with in an organized fashion.  It is our goal to use this book as a resource that will be updated as situations change. Ms. Montana handles all situations with professionalism and attention to detail.  Her knowledge of coding, compliance, insurance rules and of many computer programs makes her a valuable asset to any office that needs to update and get things running smoothly.  It is my pleasure to highly recommend Ms. Montana to all health professional offices.

Margaret Schweigert, DC

Within two weeks..the project was under control… the risk of a total default on deliverables was averted.

I brought Habanero in to gain control of a project gone awry. The team assigned to handle a crucial Medicare reimbursement project turned out to be operationally proficient but unable to handle the analytic complexities and project management demands of their assignment.  Habanero’s mission was first to apply rigorous project management discipline to the team’s work: a schedule, a weekly review meeting with a manageable agenda, action planning and follow-up.  Within two weeks of Habanero’s charge, the project was under control from a management standpoint, and the risk of a total default on deliverables was averted. Habanero’s second objective was to develop a data analysis methodology that the team could apply over a vast body of data – achieving orderliness and efficiency without sacrificing creativity and the need to hunt down every revenue opportunity. The framework for this methodology was in place within a few weeks and was perfected shortly thereafter. The first claim produced under Habanero’s management is worth $2.4 million. Total estimate of the project value is $6-8 million or greater. But the really amazing part is that Habanero managed to come in from the outside and implement the above improvements while maintaining and even improving the incumbent team’s esprit de corps.  No politics, no ruffled feathers, straight collaboration, very elegantly handled.

Senior Vice President, nationwide healthcare consulting firm

I was particularly satisfied with her ability to work quickly under pressure.

I have had the opportunity to work with Habanero, Inc. over the past several years and have been pleased with the products and services they have provided. In particular, Susan Montana of Habanero, Inc. has been able to quickly integrate information from a diverse group of my staff to develop a comprehensive Procedure Manual customized to our operation, which involves interpretation of government policies, and internal/external systems and processes. She then developed and delivered multiple group training sessions to a wide range of participants, including directors, managers, programming and clerical staff, to introduce these Policies and Procedures. I was particularly satisfied with her ability to work quickly under pressure, her excellent writing, presentation and communication skills, and the flexibility to travel to accommodate our very busy schedules.

Vice President, Operations –National Reimbursement Consulting Company

I expect this to pay our firm dividends in the upcoming months and years. I am a happy customer!

I am extremely happy with the service you provided. Thanks to your contributions we achieved two major milestones in a short period: First, the kickoff of the project – without you I do not think we would have been able to get the JAD sessions organized. In addition, your communication/selling of the project to the Provider team was invaluable. Second, defining the responsibilities for a newly created position in our organization. In a little over thirty days you helped educate our new employee regarding our business, personalities of our team members and the IT re-engineering project.  Getting a new- hire off on the right foot is extremely important and I expect this to pay our firm dividends in the upcoming months and years. I am a happy customer!

VP, Provider Revenue Services Division – Leading Healthcare Financial Consultant

Services

We’ve been specializing in healthcare reimbursement consulting for over 20 years

Most recently we have been working with small to medium sized physician practices and the entities that support them, such as attorneys, billing and/or coding companies, accountants, etc.

Our considerable experience with governmental payors and large institutional providers and the entities that service them brings a high level of insight in supporting work in these areas (such as Medicare audits).

Our work is project based.  We consult in billing, coding, or management of medical practices. Although we do no provide these areas of service on a full time basis we can make recommendations to providers of these services.  Clients typically call upon us when they have a short term problem or would like an outside assessment.  We allow our clients to select and combine our service options to best suit their specific needs.

Services we provide:

  • Billing and Audit Support.  These services are primarily reimbursement oriented. There are a variety of options, including:
    • High level end-to-end revenue cycle audit.  This review takes a small sample of services provided.  Each service is followed from appointment to final disposition to identify any potential revenue cycle concerns.
    • Medicare and other payors are auditing provider services with increasing frequency.  Responses to these audit activities should always be carefully reviewed to ensure enough, but not too much, documentation is submitted.  We support physicians in minimizing the negative impact of such audits at every step of the process.  Note there may be times when referral to legal representation is recommended.
    • Targeted internal audits.  There are many reasons to perform a targeted (preventative) audit, including but not limited to concerns over individual internal or billing company staff; specific procedure code audits; reimbursement practices for a specific payor; any other area of specific concern.
    • Establish and implement Corrective Action Plans (CAP)
  • Coding Audits/Chart Reviews.  Coding reviews ensure a provider is maximizing both reimbursement and compliance by properly documenting and coding for services rendered.  A coding audit/chart review typically includes:
    • Identification of the top procedures preformed
    • Selection of 5-10 procedures to review in detail
    • Collection and review of all documentation supporting those procedures, including office visit/procedure notes
    • Written report of findings, with specific attention to accuracy of documentation and coding to support the services performed
    • Meeting with provider(s) to review report and answer any questions
    • Implementation of internal audit program
    • Conduct regularly scheduled coding and reimbursement reviews
  • Coding Training and Provider Education.  We work closely with both on-shore and global organizations to train coding staff, perform operational analyses, and fine tune internal training protocols.
    • Chart review.  This service takes charts for a variety of services and reviews them from a wide perspective, including documentation improvement suggestions, compliance recommendations, identification of potential areas of concern, payor specific considerations, bundling, etc.  It includes a written report, and customized provider education sessions, where appropriate.
    • Customized training of staff and education of providers
    • Develop and organize library of coding reference materials
    • Coach staff on effective communication strategies (particularly important with on-shore/off-shore arrangements)
    • Value-based staff development can help your staff reach that next level to deliver enhanced value to clients (this service is provided to medical practice support partners such as billing companies)
    • Services can be provided directly or as train-the-trainer, and face-to-face or remotely
  • Operational and Staffing Assessment.  We work with the provider and staff to identify areas to enhance the efficient and effective operation of the Practice.
    • Current staff is evaluated and recommendations are developed and presented to the provider.  Recommendations typically include training current staff, or hiring and training new staff.  The latter incorporates all aspects, including development of job descriptions, interviewing, etc.
    • Full service operational maximization  is a retainer based relationship with on-site visits plus emails and phone calls as needed. Our focus is to review all business aspects of the practice and make recommendations to improve your income and efficiency. On-site services provided by a Certified Healthcare Business Consultant.
    • Detailed review and update of physician’s online presence and patient referral sourcing to enhance the patient screening process and help attract the right new patients
  • Reimbursement Consulting.  Ensuring maximum reimbursement available for each patient visit is more than just submitting clean claims.  Our periodic review of your revenue cycle will:
    • Increase your cash flow and identify hidden revenue opportunities
    • Reimbursement analysis of potential payors to participate with (based on preferred procedures performed by physician)
    • Reimbursement maximization services to ensure all available revenue has been received for services provided, including denied and underpaid claims
    • Evaluate in/out of network participation
    • Identify streamlined payor processes (many of them want to trim expenses too!)
  • Privacy & Compliance 101 Packages.  We can help provide you with the basics. Customized HIPAA Privacy Policy for YOUR practice to inform your front desk staff, who are on the front lines of patient communications.

 

  • Additional Service Offerings.  Some of the other services Habanero offers include:
    • High Level Reimbursement Review is for the provider who isn’t aware of any particular problems or areas of concern, but would like a high level external review of their reimbursement processes.

We welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss your specific needs and to see if we might be able to assist you in achieving your goals.

____

Healthcare Reimbursement Consulting Services
We maximize provider reimbursement while maintaining the letter, spirit & intent of compliance rules.

WHAT WE DO

REIMBURSEMENT MAXIMIZATION:

Ensuring maximum reimbursement available for each patient visit is more than just submitting clean claims.  Our periodic review of your entire revenue cycle will:

  • Increase your cash flow and identify hidden revenue opportunities
  • Identify payers who have implemented streamlined processes (They want to trim expenses too!)
  • Evaluate in/out-of-network participation
  • Define expected payment cycles for each payer

STAFFING & BUSINESS OFFICE PRACTICES:

Documented Policies & Procedures promote consistency, mitigate risk and encourage professionalism.

  • When new staff join you, is their “training” a bunch of yellow sticky notes on the
    office computers?  Or do you provide comprehensive instructions customized for YOUR
    practice, outlining how YOU want your business run?
  • We provide a customized quick-reference guide that documents your instructions for patient
    interactions, remit processing, and insurance calls

MEDICARE COMPLIANCE / CODING AUDIT:

Internal audits increase confidence that practice operations comply with current guidelines and regulations.  Accurate, comprehensive coding maximizes revenue, and enhances compliance.

  • Do you get paid for all billable services you perform?
  • Does your documentation support the codes on your insurance bills?
  • Have you reviewed the most current fee schedules from all payers to bill all allowable and billable services?

 

Contact

We look forward to helping your business.

To learn more, please contact Susan M. Montana:

info@habaneroinc.com
(631) 244-5661
www.HabaneroInc.com

If you need support or have a question please use the form below to contact us.

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