Administration
Phone: 360-394-7020Fax: 360-394-7099
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 Insurance Settlement Requests
If a commercial insurance company asks you to reduce your fees, our advice is to just say NO! While federal and state plans, like Medicare and Medicaid have fee schedules and any billed amounts above the allowable must be written off, the same is not true for commercial insurance-you are not required to write off any portion of the bill.
The federal and state plans will never send you a request to accept their fee schedule. The requests that you receive will be from commercial insurance. These can come by fax, mail, phone and even email. Click here to see some examples of requests.
If you receive a request, please forward it to our office. We are happy to take care of these requests for you. |
Billing News...
Remote Check Capture
One of the technology projects that we have been researching at Systems Design is remote check capture. Systems Design receives thousands of paper checks each week and our accounting department personnel post these payments into our software system. The checks are then prepared for deposit and a minimum of two employees travel each day to seven different banks in the Poulsbo-Silverdale area, depositing the checks and picking up the receipts.
We are proposing to make these deposits from our secured facilities in Poulsbo directly into your Fire District or Department account, without leaving the building. We currently have one district using a process called Remote Check Capture. The bank supplies a scanner and the software.
 When we have a deposit, the checks are fed into the scanner. The scanner processes the payment, saves an electronic image of the check and generates a deposit slip and a receipt. It also endorses the back of the check and marks the original so that it cannot be scanned again. Using Remote Check
Capture would reduce the security risk of our employees traveling from bank to
bank with the deposits, as well as provide an additional level of documentation
and verification that the deposit has been made. It would also enable
clients who are maintaining a "sweep" account to receive Systems Design's
deposits to have deposits made directly into their primary bank account. We are currently making arrangements with
each of the banks we deposit to and are negotiating the costs and fees related
to the use of software and equipment. Systems Design is not planning to
ask for additional fees from our clients for this service. If your primary bank account is not the one
we use for deposits, please let us know which bank you'd like us to use, so
that we can contact them to make arrangements for Remote Check Capture. |
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Previous Newsletters?
Maybe you missed a earlier newsletter, or want to refer back. Just click on the link below to view our Newsletter Archive page.
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Credit Card Processing
Systems Design and Official Payments Corp have completed an online payment processing arrangement for Systems Design Fire & EMS clients. Patients with a balance are sent a statement giving them the option to pay by credit card. The statement directs them to a web site designed for that specific EMS agency where they can make a payment by credit card or debit card. Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover cards will be accepted. Patients using credit or debit cards with bonus rewards programs may, depending on their card's program, earn reward points, frequent flyer miles or cash back for paying fees with a credit card.
 Our Patient Services department receives many requests every day from patients who would like to pay their balance with a credit card. We estimate that we will see an improvement in private balance collection rates and increased revenue turn around by accepting credit cards from patients.
Official Payments Corp specializes in electronic payment processing solutions to federal, state and local governments and agencies including the IRS, many colleges and universities, utility providers and commercial clients. 100 percent of the amount paid by the patient will be deposited directly into the Fire District's assigned bank account and notification of the payment will be automatically sent to Systems Design for payment posting and accounting. The credit card company will assess a convenience fee for the transaction and add it to the patient's monthly credit card statement.
Click on the following links for the process, cost and other information about the online credit card processing system.
Getting Set Up
If your organization is interested in accepting credit cards as a form of payment on patient accounts, please contact Systems Design.
Delivery team personnel will gather the information needed, such as the bank account to be used for payments, and draft the application form for Official Payments Corp. The application will be sent to you for review and an authorized signature. After the application is processed, you will also receive an agreement form from Official Payments for your signature.
Once the application and agreement are processed, Systems Design will complete the payment website and update the patient statements. We will notify you when we're ready to begin accepting credit card payments.
If you have any questions or would like to initiate the process, please contact Systems Design Administration at 800-585-5242. |
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Bariatric Transports
If your agency has a bariatric-equipped vehicle, you might consider billing a higher fee for the base rate. This would not always translate into an increased payment, as Medicare and Medicaid do not allow any additional payment for bariatric transports. Patients with commercial insurance, however, would generate more revenue.
 To send transports to Systems Design with a higher fee for a bariatric transport, continue to list the level of service, list the higher fee and add a notation that it is a bariatric transport on your batch control log.
Washington Medicaid does have an allowance for "extra attendant". The additional payment is $23.18. When billing for "extra attendant", Systems Design has to submit documentation that shows either the patient weighs 300 pounds or more, the patient is violent or multiple patients are being transported and each requires close medical attention. If you would like more information, please contact our office.
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 Sharing Information on Federal & State Standards
Recovery Audit Contractors (RAC)
The RAC program is the latest tool in Medicare's growing list of pre- and post-payment audit programs. The goal of the RAC program is to detect and correct past improper payments made by Medicare, both overpayments and underpayments. When improper payments are identified, providers and Medicare can implement changes to prevent these problems in the future.
The RAC program began this year and the contractor for the western region is HealthDataInsights (HDI). Medicare approves specific "issues" for review. There are two "issues" that have been approved for ambulance: claims billed to Medicare Part B when the patient is a hospital inpatient and claims billed to Part B for transports from one skilled nursing facility to another. For both of these "issues", the ambulance supplier should not bill Medicare Part B. Instead, the facility should be billed.
When we receive a notice from HDI, we immediately begin researching the claim in question. If we don't agree with their audit results, an appeal process is initiated. When we find their audit results to be correct, the Medicare payment is returned and the responsible facility is billed.
We can expect the RAC program to grow, with more approved "issues" to audit. Since this program has proved to be very successful for Medicare, steps are being made to implement RAC audits for Medicaid claims as well. |
New Drive-thru Truck Wash?
I wondered how they kept them so shiny! (OOPS! Forgot to roll up the windows...) |
Congratulations!
CKF&R Chief Lusk
Central Kitsap Fire & Rescue's Board of Commissioners by unanimous vote, recently appointed Roy Lusk as Fire Chief. "Chief Lusk joined Silverdale Fire Department on his 16th birthday,June 23, 1969, as a volunteer where he continued until he was appointed Kitsap Co. Fire District #1's first paid Assistant Chief in August 1982."
The staff of Systems Design would like to congratulate Chief Lusk on his new apointment. |
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