Department Spotlight: Beacon Medical Group Central Billing Office

Vigilant tracking, processing and follow-up is the name of the game when it comes to the thousands of bills and claims that circulate through the Beacon Medical Group Central Billing Office every year. It’s a busy and challenging job for this hardworking team of 60 associates located in the Beacon Medical Group administration building on Niles Avenue in South Bend.

Consider this: For every time a patient is seen by one of our Beacon Medical Group providers at one of more than 40 locations, there is an electronic trail of financial information that comes with it. It is this dedicated group that is tasked with ensuring a medical service is transformed into payment in an accurate, timely and professional manner.

“The amount of behind-the-scenes work is often unseen and growing ever more complex. From claim submission to remittance to post-payment review, each process of the revenue cycle has so many variables and is constantly evolving,” says Andy Klunder, Director, Revenue Cycle Management at Beacon Medical Group. “The complexity of working with so many different payers, specialties, industry changes and different applications creates unique challenges for us and is constantly pushing our team to adapt and get ahead of the curve.”

It’s a demanding task that the billing office is more than up to tackling.

“I am incredibly proud of BMG Central Billing Office and all of the associates we have,” exclaims Andy. “We have certainly gone through some very challenging moments over the past several months and past few years, yet our team continues to show terrific resilience. Each and every person in our office has a key role to play in a very delicate and fast-moving process.”

Here is a list of key responsibilities the billing team handles:
•    Coding and entering charges
•    Submitting claims to insurance carriers
•    Follow-up on rejected or returned claims
•    Processing and responding to all incoming correspondence
•    Processing all payment transactions
•    Handling incoming and outgoing calls from internal and external customers
•    Processing returned mail
•    Working aged accounts
•    Contacting delinquent past due balances
•    Processing charity/financial assistance applications
•    Managing contracts to ensure accurate reimbursement terms
•    Managing credit accounts
•    Balancing all payment transactions from across all BMG entities
•    Managing credit balances and refunds.

By the Numbers:

•    Beacon Medical Group Central Billing Office is currently submitting about 80,000 claims per month and averaging approximately 2,300 new claims per day.
•    The office manages $27 million in total patient bills at any one time.
•    The office receives responses on more than 2,000 claims every day, resulting in more than $500,000 in payments/adjustments

Konrad Badillo
Daniel Boveri
Darcy Anderson
Melissa Staszewski
Amy Billhimer
Tasha Aichele
Doris Lockhart
Nihada Sahbazovic
Bianca Tamez
Brooke Baker
Margaret Westjohn
Gail Hertsel
Christina Berner
Miyako Coleman
Yesenia Garcilazo
Joi Giger
Eve Goble
Kristin  Lathus
Megan Penn
Shannon Zobrosky
Mary Mark
Amy Sims
Carla Wysong
Paola Loli-Clark
Jo Armstead
Kathryn Hillebrand
Kristina Jones
Valerie  Klodzinski
Victoria Miller
Jessica Speelman
Karl Yarber
Cheryl Bair
Tara Green
Rhonda Jones
Kim Jordan
Karen Stichter
Marlene Dorries
Jean Bess
Sheri Hoskins
Sara Lasley
Lois Mason
Grace McBeth
Terri Olivarez
Eduardo Reyes
Cynthia Shindledecker
Megan Tolar
Charlene Lechlitner
Nancy Cocanower
Rachelle Petzke
Dana Bergerson
Sue Granzotto
Patty Hochstetler
Rosemarie Kehr
Joy McCallister
Carolann McErlean
Lois Schrock
Kathy Umbarger
Stacy Brunette
Jessica Stiener