SLPTimeHacks

Last Spring at this time, I was REALLY frantically busy. So…I didn’t do my Medicaid billing until May. That’s three months worth; it took me two solid days of desk work, gave me sore neck and had me singing the blues! I would much rather have been spending time with my students. I knew there had to be a better way.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]

Do you have to do Medicaid billing?[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]

Do you dread doing it and save it till the end of the month? Or even worse save it till the end of two months?[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]

In my district we do Medicaid billing.  So that means in addition to gathering data, we need to submit that information through a third party billing company.  It can be tedious and feel redundant but that’s how the school funds part of our services.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]

What I’ve done in the past (after my 3 month nightmare) is at the end of the month, panic, gather my notes and data and then spend a full day billing. [spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]

A whole day…no! Not gonna happen anymore.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]

So in January I tried a little experiment.  Instead of saving up my Medicaid billing, I decided to bill immediately after a group when possible. If I have several back-to-back sessions, then bill at the end of the day.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]

I kept track of the time spent billing, which averages out to about 30 minutes a day. I made sure I scheduled that time for the rest of the month. [spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]

I noticed that once I got into the habit of billing daily, it was pretty doable.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]

I loved myself on that last working day of January.  All I had to do was hit the “confirm all” button.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]

As a result, I have done this for February and March. Never gonna look back.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]

There is truth and value in “a stitch in time saves nine” and even in “how do you eat an elephant?” (one bite at a time, okay but I still think that’s gross).[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]

One other thing I did that has been a huge time-saver/blues reducer is I spent some time really getting to know the system. I learned several shortcuts about the calendar feature and the group notes feature.  I also identified exactly what information was needed by Medicaid in our state.  Combined, these shaved off several more minutes daily.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]

I know it’s frustrating to juggle so many demands. But by planning ahead to bill daily and taking time to fully learn your billing company’s system, you’ll be amazed at how much more manageable this chore can be.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]

Keep coming back to read about my continuous search to help you find ways to streamline and save time, so that you can stress less and spend time doing what really brings you fulfillment.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]

Did you like this post? If you did please sign up below to be on the email list so you’ll be the first to know about more time saving tips and fun, engaging therapy materials.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]

For more time saving ideas read these posts:

SLP Time Hack: SLP Toolkit, Dream or Reality

SLP Time Hack: SLP Toolkit How to Stop Dreading Progress Reports

SLP Time Hack: Work Life Balance 7 Strategies

Keep doing what you do, you are making the world a better place,