Billing in home care shouldn’t feel like running a marathon in flip-flops. But for many agencies, that’s exactly what it’s like: exhausting, error-prone, and painfully slow.
At Ankota, we work with agencies daily to help them streamline billing and get paid faster. Whether you bill Medicaid, Managed Care Organizations (MCOs), or private pay clients, here’s a guide packed with real-world tips, examples, and smart practices that can help you stay ahead.
Step 1: Start with the Right Info, or Don’t Start at All
Imagine trying to ship a package without the right address. That’s what billing looks like when your client info is incomplete.
✅ Real-Life Tip:
At a home care agency in Pennsylvania, 14% of claims were initially rejected due to missing payer or authorization data. After switching to Ankota, they used our intake checklist to ensure everything, from payer source to plan of care, was entered correctly before the first visit. Their denial rate dropped to under 2% in 30 days.
Checklist before first visit:
- Medicaid ID (or private payer info)
- Prior Authorization details
- Service start/end dates
- Plan of care uploaded and approved
Step 2: Keep Authorizations from Expiring
Authorizations are like milk they go bad. One missed renewal can result in weeks of unpaid care.
🧠 Pro Tip:
Use Ankota’s built-in alerts to monitor authorizations. You’ll get automatic reminders for upcoming expirations. No more last-minute scrambles.
Step 3: Use EVV to Your Advantage (Not Just for Compliance)
The 21st Century CURES Act made Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) mandatory, but many agencies still treat it like a checkbox.
🚀 Better Practice:
One agency in Ohio integrated Ankota’s EVV (which works with Sandata and HHAeXchange). When caregivers clocked in and out using our mobile app, the data flowed directly into billing — no manual entry, no missed hours.
Ankota EVV =
- Clock in/out with GPS or IVR
- Automatic visit verification
- Real-time sync with billing
- Built-in compliance with your state aggregator
Result: Claims ready in hours, not days.
Step 4: Clean Claims = Fast Payment
Think of billing like a TSA checkpoint. The cleaner and more organized your documentation is, the faster you’ll move through.
🛠 How Ankota Helps:
- Pre-billing audit flags missing or mismatched data
- Automated contract matching: plan of care vs. authorization vs. visit log
- Batch claims submission in the correct format for each payer
- Integration with payroll and remittance (835/837 files auto-matched)
📈 Real Example:
In Georgia, a mid-sized agency reduced its billing cycle from 12 days to 4 after implementing Ankota’s automated checks. They started getting paid weekly instead of bi-weekly.
Step 5: Stick to a Weekly Billing Rhythm
Waiting until the end of the month to bill is like waiting until Sunday night to do laundry — it piles up fast.
📅 Best Practice:
Bill weekly. It improves cash flow and helps you catch rejections early. Ankota’s batch submission tool and dashboard make it easy to see what’s ready to go.
Step 6: Don’t Let Denials Pile Up
No one likes working in Accounts Receivable (AR). But if you wait too long, that $900 denial becomes a write-off.
🔄 Trick:
Use Ankota’s denial management tools to auto-flag rejections and guide you through the fix. We link the 835 and 837 files so you can resolve issues quickly, then resubmit in a few clicks.
Step 7: For Private Pay — Be Firm, Be Kind
With Medicaid, you chase insurance. With private pay, you chase people.
🎯 Quick Script for Friendly Follow-Ups:
"Hi [Client Name], we hope you’re doing well. We noticed an outstanding balance of [$XXX] for services delivered on [Date]. Please let us know if you’d prefer to pay online, by check, or need help with your invoice."
🧾 Tip:
Use Ankota to set up automated invoice reminders and track aging balances.
Why This Matters
When you bill cleanly and on time:
- You get paid faster
- You reduce caregiver churn (no delays in payroll)
- You spend less on admin overhead
- You have more time to grow your agency
🏁 Real Agency Wins:
"Before Ankota, our billing was a mess. Now we close the books every Friday and run payroll Monday. It’s night and day."
- Director of Operations, Texas
Ready to Speed Up Your Billing?
We built Ankota for agencies like yours to reduce billing headaches, boost compliance, and make sure you get paid on time, every time.
📞 Let’s talk – Schedule a discovery call and see how Ankota can help you win the billing race.
Ankota's mission is to enable the Heroes who keep older and disabled people living at home to focus on care because we take care of the tech. If you need software for home care, EVV, I/DD Services, Self-Direction FMS, Adult Day Care centers, or Caregiver Recruiting, please contact Ankota.
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