Enrolling new providers is a process that can often be tedious, redundant, and time-consuming. Thankfully, there are several ways for healthcare practices to speed up this stressful yet important process in a way that doesn’t sacrifice attention to detail and create room for costly errors. If you would like to improve the efficiency of your practice’s provider enrollment process, here are five proven tips that you may find helpful.
Tip #1: Make use of CAQH
The Coalition of Affordable Quality Healthcare (CAQH) is a database for both providers and payers that is designed to streamline the processes of provider credentialing and enrollment. By storing information on both providers and participating healthcare plans in a single location, CAQH makes it possible for healthcare practices to enjoy several time-saving features as they go about the process of enrolling new providers. The most impactful benefit of CAQH is the fact that this database enables you to complete a single application and submit that application to multiple payers in a single go rather than having to fill out individual applications for each payer. This function of CAQH makes it possible for practices to significantly expedite the provider enrollment process.
However, it is essential to keep your CAQH profiles up to date if you plan on making use of this system. Each provider in your practice needs to have their own CAQH profile, and that profile should be updated with the latest and most accurate information at least every 120 days. As long as you are able to ensure that all of your information on CAQH is accurate and updated, making use of CAQH to submit applications is an excellent way to improve the efficiency of the provider enrollment process.
Tip #2: Automate Application Forms
Every payer has their own unique set of requirements when it comes to the data they require in order to enroll a new provider. With that said, though, a large portion of the information that populates a provider enrollment application is fairly standard across the industry and doesn’t change all that much from payer to payer. This enables you to save a lot of time by creating automated enrollment applications that come pre-populated with standard data. This enables you to simply go through and fill in the data that is missing rather than having to start from scratch with each new application.
Tip #3: Make use of PECOS
Like CAQH, PECOS (Provider Enrollment, Chain and Ownership System) is an online system that is able to help accelerate the provider enrollment process. PECOS is designed specifically for physicians that accept Medicare patients, and any physician that charges for Medicare is required to enroll in PECOS. Thankfully, enrolling in PECOS offers several time-saving benefits when it comes to enrolling new providers in Medicare and is much more than yet another regulatory requirement that must be completed. Enrolling in PECOS enables you to submit and manage Medicare enrollment information electronically, and PECOS comes equipped with software that allows you to create a direct transfer of information from your system to the PECOS electronic portal. This direct transfer of information can save you a lot of time when enrolling new providers in Medicare in addition to helping ensure that the information you submit is accurate and error-free.
Tip #4: Avoid Common Errors that could Create Delays
If you are trying to speed up the provider enrollment process, being careful to avoid common mistakes that could create substantial delays is often one of the best strategies to employ. In many cases, a single, minor error can lead to a payer rejecting your application and forcing you to start the entire enrollment process all over again. At Bikham Healthcare, we have seen countless examples of healthcare practices that saw all of their hard work upended due to a single, simple error. Some of the most common provider enrollment errors that you will want to be especially careful to avoid include errors such as:
- Incorrect NPI numbers
- Data entry errors
- Misspelled names
- A lock box address that is incorrect or incomplete
- An incomplete malpractice history
- Failing to update CAQH profiles
- Missing professional references
- Submitting an expired DEA license
- Unexplained gaps in work history
While some of these errors may seem somewhat trivial, most payers demand nothing short of perfection when it comes to accepting provider enrollment applications. In order to reduce the chance that a simple mistake causes your application to be rejected and puts you months behind schedule, it is essential to check and double-check each application that you submit to ensure that it is entirely complete and filled with accurate, error-free information.
Tip #5: Employ a Third-Party Provider Enrollment Service
By far the best way to take the hassle out of enrolling new providers is to let someone else handle it for you. At Bikham Healthcare, we proudly offer industry-leading provider credentialing and enrollment services to healthcare practices across the country. When you work with our expert team of provider enrollment professionals, you can ensure that the entire process is carried out in the most effective and efficient way possible. At a typical healthcare practice, enrolling new providers is just one of countless other tasks that need to be completed. At Bikham Healthcare, though, provider enrollment is our core competency. By leveraging the latest in automation technology alongside a proven provider enrollment process that ensures timely submissions and error-free documents, we are able to accelerate the process of provider enrollment for healthcare practices in a way that takes the entire responsibility off of your shoulders.If you would like to learn more about how our provider enrollment services can save your healthcare practice both time and money, feel free to contact us or fill out the form below. We would love the opportunity to learn more about your unique needs and answer any questions that you might have about our time-saving provider enrollment services.
