Medical Billing for Home Care Instructions

In most cases, home health care providers are hired through an agency and given a salary or hourly wage for their services. Independent contractors, however, may be required to compute their own billing for families of their elderly or sick loved ones. Here are some tips to ensure you receive the money you deserve without disagreement from the payee.

Outline

• Carefully outline each service you will provide to the patient’s family. Next to each service, write how much the service will cost. If there is a particular task you must perform repetitively throughout the day, state in the outline how much the task will cost. When you have completed the outline, calculate the charges and write down the total amount on the bottom of the page. Present this to the payee and ask him to review all charges. Have the payee sign if he agrees to the rate. Clarify any misunderstandings the payee may have.

Home Health Care Agency

• If you are unsure how much to charge or would prefer a third party to handle your billing, hire a home health care agency. Schedule an appointment with a representative and explain your work in the patient’s home. She could compare other home health care provider rates to your services and generate a cost to meet your needs.

Medicare

• You can also request the payee to register an account with Medicare. They will be required to pay Medicare for your services, and Medicare will pay you directly. In some cases Medicare will cover some expenses such as speech therapy or physical rehabilitation. The amount owed to you will be provided on a weekly or biweekly basis.

Hourly Rate

• An agreed hourly rate may be the most convenient way to bill for services. It would behoove you though, to outline your services and negotiate a wage that will meet your needs. You have the right to request for additional funds for extra work you may provide including taking trips to and from places and performing household chores.

Software

• You can also use home health care software to produce proper medical billing. At the end of each day, document the services you provided. At the end of the work week, the software calculates the billing for the payee. RhapsoCare is a program you can install on your or your payee’s home computer.