New to OHIP Billing? Read These Tips!

Are you a recent graduate? It has been a long haul, and here you are – your residency is finished and you are ready to start your practice, congratulations! Or perhaps you are new to medical practice in Ontario, congratulations and welcome. You’ve got a lot of things to do, not the least of which is getting yourself registered with the Ministry of Health in order to start being paid for your services. Following is a short checklist of things you will need to do in order to start submitting claims. Online links for many of these can be found in the “Resources” page of our website. 

1. Register with the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care to get a billing number.
   
2. Get familiar with the MOH Schedule of Benefits sections as they pertain to your specialty. You will learn proper codes for billing submission, and their criteria for use.
   
3. Make sure you are set up to receive Physician Series of OHIP Bulletins – these provide updates on procedure coverage, eligibility criteria, accreditation requirements and more.
   
4. Register with MCEDT. This will allow you, or your billing agent, to submit your claims to OHIP electronically.
   
5. Do you anticipate treating refugee patients? Register with the Interim Federal Health Program to receive a provider number. This is similar to an OHIP billing number, but must be used on all IFH claims.
   
6. Are you a specialist? You may be asked to register with the Ontario Telemedicine Network.
   
7. If you will be working with a hospital or group practice, inquire as to who will be doing your billing submissions. Find out if they will submit claims to third parties (i.e. private insurers, RAMQ, IFH, etc.…) Also ask if they will be reconciling your monthly payments and following up on any unpaid claims. If not, you should be asking why, and whether or not you are required to use their services.
   
8. Consider using a billing agent. We are experts in billings and can be very helpful while you learn the rules for coding. We reconcile monthly billings, follow up on unpaid claims and submit appropriate forms to third party payers.  We will also help you to bill appropriately and maximize your payouts.