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Lockbox helps medical practices streamline HIPAA-compliant mail processing and same-day check deposits. Electronic access to scanned documents, including EOBs, simplifies key of

According to USFDA, a combination product is one composed of any combination of a drug and device; biological product and device; drug and biological product

fice and billing processes and achieves multiple benefits:

Reliability Better revenue cycle reliability via elimination of dependency on staff or on billing

; or drug, device, and biological product and fixed dose combination would include two or more combinations of drug.

Examples of combination products may in

service for handling checks

Transparency Lockbox allows bi-directional verification of check deposit between the bank and billing service. Doctor can person

lude drug-coated devices, drugs packaged with delivery devices in medical kits, and drugs and devices packaged separately but intended to be used together.

ally verify deposit 24 x7 via secure Internet connection. No lost checks.

Billing Efficiency Faster and better controlled submission of secondary claims

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here is enormous increase in the number of combination products entering the market in the recent years. Combination products have proven advantages but fixe

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Patient Service Efficiency Simpler and faster resolution of patient account inquiries and disputes

Added Interest Revenue Automated or

d dose combinations are still in the process of convincing regulatory authority on their advantages over the single ingredient formulations.

Combination pro

semi-automated posting of insurance and patient payments. Check deposit upon arrival. Automated investment of deposit in a Money Market account earning interest (Automatic Sweep)

ucts have become life saving products for the pharmaceutical companies who doesn’t have many innovative molecules in their product pipeline and have been inc

. The doctor's money is never idle.

Operation

Practice mail arrives directly to the lockbox service
Lockbox service

easingly used in the product life cycle management. Even the companies having product patents are trying to extend their product life cycle through the combi

Opens all mail and archives it in a document management system including scanning and indexing for future retrieval,

Makes images available to practice or Billin

nation products and maximize the revenues. But the companies involved in this practice are overlooking that they are burdening the patients both economically

g Service via a secure, encrypted Web site;

Deposits all checks received that day

Practice administrative staff has direct access to web-dr

and physically. They need to rightly judge the benefits of the combination products and they have to even look at the risks involved when combining the produ

iven interfaces for mail and check queries and reports

Implementation

Lockbox service is typically offered by two kinds of providers:

Large-scal

ts. Some of the combination products were well accepted by physicians while others suffered. Companies involved in development of combination products are fi

e Vericle-like billing service vendor as part of service

Specialized financial institution, e.g., bank

Lockbox Selection

HIPAA Com

ding difficulty in defining their combination products and facing various challenges from selecting a combination to marketing it.

Following aspects would a

pliance - Can the service guarantee access only on the "need to know basis" and only to qualified staff? Are all required privacy and security measures in place? Is there a

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

Which markets to tap where the combination products can do fairly well?
Which combination prod

solid disaster recovery capability and process?

Quality Assurance Process - What measures are taken to ensure timely error identification, correction, and tra

cts are meaningful and rational?
Which therapeutic categories to select?
Which Combinations can address unmet needs of the patients?
Do combin

cking? Is there sufficient QA process transparency to allow the practice owner complete control of mail and checks?

Intuitive User Interface - How many steps

tions increase the patient compliance?
What would be the developing cost?
How to tackle the risks encountered during combination product developmen

re required to find a letter, EOB, or a check? What are mail and check indexing parameters?

Batch Interfaces - Is there a convenient way to download all or pa

t?

As combination products don't fit into the traditional categories of drugs, medical devices, or biological products, the USFDA is in the process of devel

rtial content of the document management system for upload in other systems, such as a billing system, or in alternative lockbox provider facility?

Timeframes
ping new procedures for reviewing their safety, efficacy and quality.

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust
>- How long does it take to open mail, scan it into a document management system, and deposit a check? What is the time horizon for archived image storage? What is the time per
y and representatives from various regulatory agencies are working out to design the regulatory requirements for manufacture and sale of combination products
iod for storage of original paper before shredding?

Complexities

Lockbox

Must be fully implemented - a partial implementation only increases m

.

As there is an increasing trend of the combination products companies manufacturing such products should be able to tackle the problems involved in the de

anagement complexity.
Adds headache with payers - all payers need to change mailing address, adding error likelihood during transition period.

Lockbox se

elopment. They need to be wiser in analyzing the market trends and the regulatory requirements.

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

rvices lower administrative costs, increase staff productivity, and close collection cycles faster. A more efficiently run practice and happier staff mean more satisfied patients

tion in industry events and feedback to regulatory authorities would be able to face the challenges and will be successful in developing combination products

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Advice You - 5-Step Lockbox Selection for Outsourced Electronic Medical Billing Software and Service

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