Fusion RIS Overcomes Billing Interoperability Challenge and Accelerates Payment Remittance

By combining two distinctly separate radiology information and accounting applications into one radiology information system (RIS), medical imaging practices can accelerate their payment cycle by considerably reducing time consuming and labor-intensive processes required to generate and receive payment of radiology-based procedures.

The recent release of Fusion RIS MX 4.0 and Fusion RIS/picture archiving and communications system (PACS) 4.0 allows Merge Healthcare (Milwaukee, WI, USA) to bring stronger integrated billing capabilities to radiology businesses. Developed in close partnership with its customers, the new release was showcased during the annual Merge User Group meeting in late October 2009. Users were particularly impressed with the built-in claims processing tools, as well as the overall speed and clarity the fully integrated billing application brings to a practice's accounting department.

Newly elected president of the Merge User Group of North America (MUGONA), Sal Capirchio stated, "As a longtime customer of Merge, it's nice to see that they are innovating new practice-workflow solutions which are relevant to today's healthcare environment. Their responsiveness and close, personal involvement with users continues to impress, and it shows in the products and services they offer.”

With its fully integrated billing module, Fusion RIS MX 4.0 manages all clinical and billing data without the need for peripheral hardware or connectivity components (i.e., HL [Health Level] 7 interfaces), enabling medical imaging professionals to monitor, transmit, receive, and archive claims/payment files from a single desktop. The latest version also incorporates a proprietary EDI (electronic data interchange) tool that diagnoses reasons for claims denials. This allows for even faster reconciliation and resubmission of claims, further reducing the number of steps necessary for receiving payment.

"The value of providing accurate, timely, and pertinent billing data to our entire staff cannot be underestimated,” noted Matt Dewey, chief information officer at Zwanger Pesiri Radiology (Long Island, NY, USA). "Fusion RIS MX 4.0 assures the transparency of our entire billing process, so that we can improve the timeliness of payments and apply our team in a manner that can better serve our patients.”

Other notable functions of Fusion RIS MX 4.0 include: (1) charge level insurance assignment (versus procedure level assignment) enables the charge to be "billing-ready” as soon as it is posted to the patient account. (2) Current procedural technology (CPT) level authorization number enables assignment of separate authorization numbers to each item. (3) Automatic electronic remittances automatically create a payment batch, thereby reducing the amount of time needed to post payment(s) to patient ledgers. (4) Lastly, ad hoc reporting allows the user to design and save APAR (authorized program analysis report) reports and files using helpful "wizards.”

"Our Fusion RIS is an established radiology business platform with a very loyal customer base,” said Nancy Koenig, president of Merge Fusion. "They gave us their visions for improving their billing operations, and we have now made it a reality for them, resulting in a tested solution that solves the most complicated issues in radiology business workflow. In today's cost-constrained environment, this product is an essential tool for our customers' financial success. It was very rewarding to show our users the result of their feedback at our meeting, and to get such a positive reception to the changes.”

Merge Healthcare develops software solutions that automate healthcare data and diagnostic workflow to create a more comprehensive electronic record of the patient experience.

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