Chiropractic Billing Index Keeps 100 Percent of Its Members Since August But Changes Top Placements

In October, the Chiropractic Office Billing Precision Index (BPI) gained 0.1 points above its September mark. Overall, September BPI reached 21.1 under-performing the national average of 17.7 by 3.4, and 5.6 points away from its best record of 15.5 in March of 2008.Again, keeping one hundred percent of its membership unchanged since August, three members of the October index, changed positions, while the remaining 70% of the members remained entrenched in their September positions. Specifically, Aetna not only returned to the top three positions from the 6th position it held in September, but also pushed CIGNA down to the 3rd position, dropping Medicare Illinois down four levels to the sixth position. Billing Precision Index 21.2 – September 2008
Blue Cross Blue Shield Illinois 8.1
Aetna 12 (Returned to 2nd from 6th in September)
CIGNA 15.2 (Dropped to 3rd)
Blue Cross Blue Shield New Jersey 15.4
United Healthcare 20.55
Medicare Illinois 24.6 (Dropped from 3rd)
Medicare New Jersey 26
Blue Cross Blue Shield South Carolina 45
Medicare South Carolina 45.1
Medicare Indiana 58.2
BPI = 21.1 means that the average of ten top performing payers, used by the patients of Billing Precision providers, reached 21.1% of Accounts Receivable beyond 120 days.BPI is one of the few important billing performance characteristics because it approximates the proportion of claims that are never paid. It is also a key billing transparency instrument, which allows the practice owner to see both the big picture of office billing and its position within the national average.Most importantly, BPI analysis serves as the first stage in profitability analysis of a chiropractic office. The second stage of profitability analysis requires Charge-Payment reporting, which helps extrapolate the success of proposed investment or process alterations. The great value of Charge-Payment or Cost-Revenue report is only matched by its simplicity and ease of production: it simply displays side-by-side charges and payments posted in any given month. However, indiscriminate use of Cost-Revenue Analysis may result in erroneous decisions and potential financial disasters.