Over the past two decades, computer-assisted medical coding systems have taken a strong place in the healthcare sector. This technological advancement has made it possible to deal with the ever-increasing medical billing and coding complexities.  Many technical and administrative challenges are being faced by healthcare organizations to ensure precise and efficient billing and coding.

The challenges with medical billing

  • There are more than 70,000 billable codes, and this complexity has propelled the demand for medical coders to step in. The supply of expert professionals who can translate Electronic Medical Records (EMR) Software and EHR data into codes accurately and promptly is not meeting the high demand.
  • Medical coding is a labor-intensive task and coders are prone to make errors as they have to manually match each medical visit and procedure with a corresponding code from the 70,000 plus billable codes.
  • The information needs to be entered into different systems for the generation of patient statements and accounting which is a taxing task and cannot be completely error-free.
  • The complicated manual-coding process isn’t scalable.
  • Billing errors have resulted in $36.21 billion in improper payments in FY2017 as reported by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

The use of Artificial Intelligence technology in medical billing and coding

AI-driven technologies such as machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) have the power to construe and consolidate large amounts of unorganized data accurately and quickly. Artificial Intelligence can identify and extract data from electronic health records software and then efficiently match the information with appropriate codes.

An AI-driven medical billing system can also arrange data from various records without wasting time so disparate events, diagnoses, and treatments can be understood.

Benefits of using AI in medical billing and coding

Artificial Intelligence is being leveraged by healthcare organizations to reduce errors in medical billing and make the processes more efficient. The following are the benefits of AI technology in medical billing,

  • AI ensures that accurate patient statements are issued without any delays which can improve cash flow.
  • Streamline administrative tasks for staff members, which can improve productivity and reduce any chances of burnout.
  • Eliminate human errors which can have hefty costs for healthcare organizations.
  • When the coding process is automated it will result in a scalable solution that is not entirely dependent upon billing professionals.
  • Audits can be performed in real-time to eliminate the issue of discovering an error too late.
  • Integrated patient statements can be generated to streamline the payment process and even encourage patients to pay their bills quickly.

Efficient and accurate billing is the main financial goal of every healthcare organization and fortunately, AI-driven technologies have stepped in to overcome the many challenges with medical and coding.