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Any one with experience with APS for billing?
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I've been with APS for a number of years.
I have to call APS frequently about problems and sometimes don't think they care. Let me be BLUNT:
1. As with ANY billing company, cover your six, you are indeed alone in the universe of pathology billing. APS doesn't watch the numbers and I review the charges quarterly and find glaring errors even a mentally handicapped orangatan would have noticed. I've spent hours/days petitioning to get them to fix problems and often the response from senior managment: "I've got 250 pathology groups to deal with." My response: "I don't give a crap about the other 249 groups, fix this." It is an endless battle. You have to watch and monitor your own numbers and inquire about disrepancies. This is a continuous cycle you have to keep up with if you want to get paid.
APS likes anatomic charges as they are easier, dislikes difficult to bill clinical charges and will leave money behind unless you are vigilant. But don't worry McKesson does this too. Its laziness and bad business IMO. APS lost hundreds of charges for our clinicals over months and months and finally my group realized they were screwing it up. They will blame the pathology group for any screw ups so no luck there improving this system. Drink heavily if you have to deal with their IT department which is about as good as dealing with private insurance (i.e. non-existant).
2. APS changes personnel frequently so if you get a jewel of a representative, odds are they will move up and then you have to play the whole game again with someone new. One of the senior mangament guys comes by once a year or so and reviews the numbers, he can't answer heavy questions and doesn't have much in the way of vision. They don't offer much suggestions for improving income other than get more business, thats why you need pathologists like me to tell you how to grow, but I've become a clam as pathology has fallen further into the muck. Again, if you didn't read above, review the numbers yourselves, more work on your part to get paid.
3. Contracts: You may have to keep your radar on and if you notice you aren't getting paid by certain insurer's you may want APS to look at the contract (if any with them). I've had to prod and nudge the senior administrators to get us in network with some of the bigger insurers they were neglecting (may take 6 months to get in network with an insurer...god knows why). They won't go after it unless you are adamant, remember the other 249 groups that take precedent over yours.
4. Collections. Jehovah's hemorrhoids! You better be ready for the calls from patients. APS does a piss poor job of collections and farms it out to god knows who. Whoever it is successfully pisses off the patients so they will call your office screaming and yelling. Just prepare yourself for these calls in the middle of the day when you are up to your ass in hard cases. I've been most displeased with this, no one seems to care though. Sometimes if its a small charge I'll just get rid of it.
5. Advice: Make sure they don't talk to anyone but you without your permission. You don't want the hospital or clinics you work for up in your business. I've had to reiterate this to them. Keep your finances private or be replaced.
So the burning ?. Why stay? Becuase APS is no better or worse than the other billing companies. I've heard similar complaints as the above about McKesson and others. Fact is that smaller pathology groups will have to suffer the above and larger ones rake it so much they likely gloss over the small charges that get left behind that can make or break a smaller pathology group. Usually, APS will take a percentage of your collections as their fee, I don't believe I can do any better or worse elsewhere.
Any further ? let me know. best wishes in this endeavor of yours.
TORSED
I have to call APS frequently about problems and sometimes don't think they care. Let me be BLUNT:
1. As with ANY billing company, cover your six, you are indeed alone in the universe of pathology billing. APS doesn't watch the numbers and I review the charges quarterly and find glaring errors even a mentally handicapped orangatan would have noticed. I've spent hours/days petitioning to get them to fix problems and often the response from senior managment: "I've got 250 pathology groups to deal with." My response: "I don't give a crap about the other 249 groups, fix this." It is an endless battle. You have to watch and monitor your own numbers and inquire about disrepancies. This is a continuous cycle you have to keep up with if you want to get paid.
APS likes anatomic charges as they are easier, dislikes difficult to bill clinical charges and will leave money behind unless you are vigilant. But don't worry McKesson does this too. Its laziness and bad business IMO. APS lost hundreds of charges for our clinicals over months and months and finally my group realized they were screwing it up. They will blame the pathology group for any screw ups so no luck there improving this system. Drink heavily if you have to deal with their IT department which is about as good as dealing with private insurance (i.e. non-existant).
2. APS changes personnel frequently so if you get a jewel of a representative, odds are they will move up and then you have to play the whole game again with someone new. One of the senior mangament guys comes by once a year or so and reviews the numbers, he can't answer heavy questions and doesn't have much in the way of vision. They don't offer much suggestions for improving income other than get more business, thats why you need pathologists like me to tell you how to grow, but I've become a clam as pathology has fallen further into the muck. Again, if you didn't read above, review the numbers yourselves, more work on your part to get paid.
3. Contracts: You may have to keep your radar on and if you notice you aren't getting paid by certain insurer's you may want APS to look at the contract (if any with them). I've had to prod and nudge the senior administrators to get us in network with some of the bigger insurers they were neglecting (may take 6 months to get in network with an insurer...god knows why). They won't go after it unless you are adamant, remember the other 249 groups that take precedent over yours.
4. Collections. Jehovah's hemorrhoids! You better be ready for the calls from patients. APS does a piss poor job of collections and farms it out to god knows who. Whoever it is successfully pisses off the patients so they will call your office screaming and yelling. Just prepare yourself for these calls in the middle of the day when you are up to your ass in hard cases. I've been most displeased with this, no one seems to care though. Sometimes if its a small charge I'll just get rid of it.
5. Advice: Make sure they don't talk to anyone but you without your permission. You don't want the hospital or clinics you work for up in your business. I've had to reiterate this to them. Keep your finances private or be replaced.
So the burning ?. Why stay? Becuase APS is no better or worse than the other billing companies. I've heard similar complaints as the above about McKesson and others. Fact is that smaller pathology groups will have to suffer the above and larger ones rake it so much they likely gloss over the small charges that get left behind that can make or break a smaller pathology group. Usually, APS will take a percentage of your collections as their fee, I don't believe I can do any better or worse elsewhere.
Any further ? let me know. best wishes in this endeavor of yours.
TORSED
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This sure sounds like my current company. We are a big practice, which I thought would give us a bit more pull, but we still have to watch them like hawks. We've even hired an outside consultant to audit them, which of course revealed all sorts of stuff.
I think it's a miracle that we make money at all.
I think it's a miracle that we make money at all.
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APS is one of the top Path billers. Im not impressed with McKesson path billing unit. There are many small players that need to be avoided at all costs. But as someone said, you HAVE to watch your financial reports, reports by referring doc, reports by modality etc. in addition to obvious Days on AR.
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@ stickyshift:
Did you hire Vachette to audit them? Was it worthwhile?
Did you hire Vachette to audit them? Was it worthwhile?
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Vachette is awesome. They are well worth it IMO. They can tell you very quickly what wrong. However, they are not the biller.
Some billers don't respond to direction and don't really care about the customer. They have a good handle on which billers do a nice job. They have current info if you choose to switch.
I found McKesson was beyond horrible.
Lately I hear the same about APS. Three years ago I heard good things about them.
It doesn't take long for a billing organization to go to hell. All it takes it is a merger or loss of key personnel. Some just get too big to care about all but their largest clients.
I switched to a local small biller that was will to work with me to learn pathology. It is too early in my switch but my initial impression is positive.
Some billers don't respond to direction and don't really care about the customer. They have a good handle on which billers do a nice job. They have current info if you choose to switch.
I found McKesson was beyond horrible.
Lately I hear the same about APS. Three years ago I heard good things about them.
It doesn't take long for a billing organization to go to hell. All it takes it is a merger or loss of key personnel. Some just get too big to care about all but their largest clients.
I switched to a local small biller that was will to work with me to learn pathology. It is too early in my switch but my initial impression is positive.
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Vachette is awesome. They are well worth it IMO. They can tell you very quickly what wrong. However, they are not the biller.
Some billers don't respond to direction and don't really care about the customer. They have a good handle on which billers do a nice job. They have current info if you choose to switch.
I found McKesson was beyond horrible.
Lately I hear the same about APS. Three years ago I heard good things about them.
It doesn't take long for a billing organization to go to hell. All it takes it is a merger or loss of key personnel. Some just get too big to care about all but their largest clients.
I switched to a local small biller that was will to work with me to learn pathology. It is too early in my switch but my initial impression is positive.
Some billers don't respond to direction and don't really care about the customer. They have a good handle on which billers do a nice job. They have current info if you choose to switch.
I found McKesson was beyond horrible.
Lately I hear the same about APS. Three years ago I heard good things about them.
It doesn't take long for a billing organization to go to hell. All it takes it is a merger or loss of key personnel. Some just get too big to care about all but their largest clients.
I switched to a local small biller that was will to work with me to learn pathology. It is too early in my switch but my initial impression is positive.
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McKesson had people screaming at us all the time. When I lived in WI we went to medium sized biller in OH. Collections and customer service were excellent. They were just as good as or better than our in house billing.
We would of kept our in house billing but our manager was retiring after 35 years . We were afraid we would not have the same experience with a new person going forward.
Anyhow, I think they are not all the same. PSA used to have a good reputation. The McKesson merger killed that.
Smaller size may be the key.
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Yes, Vachette. I think it was worth it. But as someone else said, just because Vachette identifies a problem doesn't mean the billing company has to do anything about it.
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Where did McKesson get off on screaming at you? Didn't they realize who was paying for their services?
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McKesson wasn't screaming at.
Our patients would call the lab very angry after McKesson's call center made them very upset or angry. Most of the time they told the patient something totally wrong. We spent hours smoothing over their call center screw ups.
Our patients would call the lab very angry after McKesson's call center made them very upset or angry. Most of the time they told the patient something totally wrong. We spent hours smoothing over their call center screw ups.
