What’s your relationship like with Illuminate?
Lena: Illuminate is my "go to." Every question that I have or I'm unsure of I can call and they'll find the answer for me. They walk me through every step of the new insurance companies that we work with, or those that I'm not familiar with to identify, "these are the things this insurance company will be looking for and this is the thing this insurance company is looking for." And they'll advise on where we're likely to run into issues. It's so helpful because there are so many different insurance companies and they all seem to be looking for something different. To have someone who knows what to do, it takes a lot of pressure off of me. I don't have to worry about whether I'm going to mess things up because I know there is somebody who's going to look over and make sure that I don't.
Have you ever used a different billing company?
Lena: We did work with another billing company for a period of time. We were with Illuminate and got sweet talked into going to a different company. We worked with them for, I don't even think it was a year. Because there was no comparison. They were very...... I guess the best way to say about them is they were just very business-oriented. They have their way of doing things and this is the structure of it and this is the way it's going to be done. There was no one I could get to explain for me. They just wanted the basics of "Here's how we do it." "This is what you're going to get." There was not any assistance on "This is what this insurance company will look for. Or that insurance company will look for that." So I don't think we got as many authorized days for clients because there wasn't that guidance. They were not very helpful filing appeals. If an insurance company denied they just kinda came back and said, "Sorry, the insurance isn't willing to pay this." That was one of the big things at that time, we had a client that Illuminate was still billing for us for a few clients prior to us changing to this other company. And Illuminate continued to fight for one client. It took about one year and went all the way to the insurance commission. We were able to get a significant payment from the insurance company when we weren't even a client of Illuminate's any more. They continued to fight that. This other company never did any of that for us. So as soon as we were able we made the decision, "We need to go back!" Because it was a team. Rather than just somebody providing a service for us. We were part of a team.
What advice do you have for someone considering changing billing companies?
Lena: I think as you take a look at different billing companies, because there are a lot, is that personal touch. Being a member of a team. Because with Illuminate, I have found that they will answer any question I have. They go beyond a lot things that probably aren't necessarily in the scope of our contract where they have given advice for different credentialing with insurance companies. And have completed paperwork that probably doesn't need to be completed by them. But to give that assistance of knowing how different things work. When we began working with Medicaid, Mary walked me through so many different things that I didn't understand that I probably could have found through everything that Medicaid had provided me, but she already knew it. And she took the time to show me, "Hey, here's all the things you need to know." It made a lot more sense that I think a manual from the state ever would. They've just been great!