Seven years ago, based on a recommendation from a colleague, Dennis Breslin started working with Paragon Health. Based on an initial assessment, Paragon thought the practice could improve not only the quality of documentation, but also their coding levels.
According to Breslin, “I think what differentiates Paragon from other coding services firms is that they sign on for a year-long commitment and help physicians change their behavior. I’ve seen too many instances of physicians going to a seminar or classroom training and nothing ever changes. They go back to the same coding behaviors they had before.”
Breslin continues, “Paragon teams up with our staff, explains the E&M coding, and gives us bench marks of what other practices are doing so it’s not so ambiguous. They not only teach, they come back and reinforce what
is being done correctly and what needs improvement on an individual basis. Most of our physicians really enjoy it. They want to do the right thing. They certainly don’t want to under code or over code – they just need good coaching around their specific coding habits.”
“We had some of our physicians that were over coding, but most were under coding, so the net gain in reimbursement revenue was substantial as our staff began to code services appropriately. In fact, Paragon
has such a depth of experience in coding that they were able to give us an estimate of what the net gain in revenue might be based on an initial assessment of our coding practices. We knew what our costs were, and we had a
pretty good idea of what our incremental review was going to be by coding properly, so it was very low risk.”
“After working with Paragon, one of the most frustrating things I’ve seen, is a cardiology practice that decides to do it themselves, when they have never been able to do it before. Years go by and, for whatever reason they can’t do it themselves, and they have too much ego to get outside help” says Breslin. “They know their stuff, they are good with the doctors and they can make it happen. For me it’s a no-brainer.”
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