How important is it that you get paid for the services you deliver - promptly? What does that mean for how you manage cash flow? How does a promptly paid invoice help your third party service providers?
Digging deeper - how quickly can you get an invoice out after services have been delivered?
It is generally held that the shorter the time between delivery of services and delivery of an accurate invoice, the quicker the payment is received. In other words – if an invoice is prepared quickly and correctly…the first time – payments are received faster.
It is also typical that when invoices are delayed - it is a result of too much effort needed by billing staff on the back end to patch and/or translate service detail into invoice detail. And what are the ramifications - poor cash flow, upset providers...what else?
This is made even more difficult when the billing staff has to research backwards to find answers they need from staff involved earlier in the workflow. Lack of clarity and poor communication or no accountability are key factors to this problem!
GVT built FAMCare and included our proprietary 
to take full advantage of the knowledge available all along the workflow with the highlight on Intake, where timely and accurate billing begins.
Both public and private agencies all share common elements generally required to create an invoice, whether a paper format or electronic file.
- Client name (and possibly other identifying numbers)
- Service rendered
- Units provided, date, and billing rate
- Provider (main agency or some sub-provider like a unit or program)
- Paysource (whether traditional payer or some internal grant or budget)
All of these data elements should be known BEFORE the Intake process is complete and the client begins receiving services. If they’re not – we suggesting holding off until you have this information in hand.
FAMCare focuses on the Intake process so the only piece missing to complete the billing is a record of units of service delivered to the client that is usually entered by some direct care staff.
By focusing on the Intake process first…FAMCare helps mitigate any gaps in communication and accuracy while simplifying the process.
One major challenge to the billing effort is data integrity and accuracy.
ONE TIME. Data should only be entered in a system one time. You shouldn’t have to enter the same information from one form to the next. The right system will allow you to enter your information once –then PULL that information from the area it was entered – to where it is now needed. When the same data is directly entered in multiple areas, redundantly…there is a high risk that if a correction is made, this correction is not echoed to all the spots it has been stored and data integrity is lost.
Data entry should also be limited to the degree possible to insure accuracy. A good example of this would be when a direct care staff enters a record for performing services to a client. If the client's intake includes the service(s) he is to receive, then only those services should be available to be entered in the system upon delivery. When the services are entered at intake – everything becomes very clear, the system workflow can help to filter and show only the services you CAN bill for and you mitigate the risk of billing errors.
FAMCare follows this concept throughout the system. In the case of limiting services, this is handled through detail authorizations for each client configured during intake.
