How a medical biller started her own company to help practitioners across the United States get paid.
Story by Jack Murphy
Frankie Grandberry is the President and Owner of Grand Revenue Cycle Management Inc., a medical billing company based in Florida, USA. Frankie originally went to school to be a medical assistant and spent a year working in a medical office before she decided to pivot her career and begin her work in billing. She has spent the last two decades working in various billing departments across the Tampa Bay area before starting Grand Revenue Cycle Management Inc. in early 2021.
Why did you start Grand Revenue Cycle Management Inc.?
I think it’s a similar story to a lot of people, and it stems from not being satisfied with the way things were being run in past workplaces. I was working for different billing companies and seeing the processes that they would go through with their clients. I decided I didn’t like the way they were operating. A couple of years ago while talking with my husband I said, “I know what I’m doing, I know how to do it just as well and even better than these other billers, I’m going to start my own business.”
From that day forward, I started taking the steps to do just that. In September 2020, I officially got my LLC and my insurance and started preparing to open my business.
I think your story will resonate with a lot of Jane customers starting their practices.
Many of my clients started their careers working for large hospital groups and clinics. They were working so hard to see so many patients per day. That’s not why they got into practice, they want to spend that one-on-one time with their patients, and spend quality time doing what they love doing.
My team and I love what we do. We love to help people, and making their lives just that little bit easier brings us a lot of joy. I think that’s why we align so much with our customers and Jane users.
Why would you recommend clinics work with a biller?
I think one reason a clinic or practitioner would benefit from a biller is to save time. When they’re not getting paid, they’re spending time trying to figure out how to get paid.
What I have found with clinics, and most startups is that they only know how to do their billing to a certain point. Especially when it comes to working rejections. It’s those last crucial steps that they’re trying to overcome when they’re trying to get their claims fixed. It’s especially hard for them because those claims don’t tell them what they need to do to correct it.
They might receive a message saying they’re missing the modifier, but if you don’t know what the modifier is, how do you know which one to put in there?
We find that practitioners really aren’t aware of the intricacies of billing and how to navigate them. I would say 80% of our clients had that issue dealing with denials before they reached out to us.
Tell us a little bit about your practice and your company’s values.
We are a small but mighty group. Currently, the team is made up of six people. With that being said, we are always growing, especially as our customer base grows.
When it comes to values, it really is all about family. We treat our customers like they are family, it’s not just a transaction for us. We talk about their kids, their grandkids, and of course their claims.
I have a fiercely independent team because I aim to set them up for success. There’s no micromanaging here. Our clients appreciate that they don’t have to be juggled around from representative to representative for answers. They’re working with the same person that is invested in their success.
What parts of Jane’s current insurance workflows work well for you and your team?
I think that Jane’s billing works really well for me and my team. It’s simple, and straightforward, which we appreciate. We’re super excited to hear about the update to the secondary claim workflow in Jane too.
🗣 Jane Team Announcement: As of October 18th, all US customers with insurance features can easily manage and bill secondary claims 🇺🇸. Check out the video below to see how.
I also let my clients know to make sure they learn their basic diagnosis codes and favourite them for quick use in Jane. I’m telling everybody to go to Jane. I think in this day and age, everything should be happening in one place, and Jane really helps our clients to do just that.
US Insurance Step-by-Step Set-Up Guide
A lot of start-up clinics are on tight budgets, what would you say to them when they might view a biller as an extra expense?
When you’re starting, getting paid is the key to your success. A lot of people do not understand how getting paid affects them, especially when they are receiving some income. I’ve seen clinics get $1000 in the mail, but still, have ten rejected claims sitting there left unfixed. When you look at the 10 claims, that’s another $1000 that they probably could have been getting and putting right back into their business.
Unfortunately, they don’t get taught how to remedy these claims in school and it’s costing them. So, a biller might seem like an extra expense, but we’re over here in their corner, trying to get them paid for the hard work they’re doing.
We’re also making sure they are billing things correctly, and legally too. Especially when providers need to be using the eight-minute rule.
💡Medicare’s 8-minute rule is a stipulation that applies to time-based CPT codes for outpatient services, such as physical therapy. The rule allows practitioners to bill Medicare for one unit of service if its length is at least eight (but fewer than 22) minutes.
How do you work with clinics and providers?
One of our main goals is to educate them. We let them know when something is wrong and how they can correct that mistake moving forward. Then they get to add that resource to their billing knowledge.
The insurance landscape can feel like the wild wild west. What’s the law in one place is not somewhere else, and that can be daunting if they don’t have someone you can reach out to for clarification. We’re here to investigate those discrepancies or mistakes for them.
What advice would you give to providers and clinics just starting to bill insurance?
First, make sure that your practice is set up properly and that your legal structure is correct. This might seem obvious but it will make sure you are ready to hit the ground running.
Then once you start venturing into billing and software, and you’re deciding what software you are going with, make sure that it doesn’t only work for you, but it also works for billing. Many people think that as long as my practitioners can do their chart notes it’s a good system. They never consider the back end of the software, how does it work for billing, and how difficult is it going to make their lives?
What do you think your superpower is?
I think my superpower is compassion. I’m a people person. Everybody you meet truly is facing some type of battle, so you can do one or two things. You can either make their day better or make their day worse. I choose to make their day better because I don’t want anybody making my days worse.
I bring that mindset to my business, my team, and my clients. We treat people the way we want to be treated. I have a great team and I couldn’t do any of this without them.
Resources
- Grand Revenue Cycle Management Website
- Connect with Grand Revenue Cycle Management on Instagram and Facebook
🖥️ Jane Webinar: New Workflow: Billing Secondary Insurance Claims
🖥️ Jane Webinar: 🇺🇸 Billing in the USA: Tips & Tricks From Billers
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