Medical billing is complicated enough without having to know every inch of your billing software by heart. Because of all the complexities involved, medical billing software manuals are not only critical but they’re also enormous. As a matter of fact, most medical billing software manuals are shipped in parts. So you have a decent chance of finding what it is you’re looking for, we’re going to give you a general breakdown of how a DME software manual is put together.

The first section of the manual is usually where you will find your installation instructions. These will contain step-by-step procedures for installing the software on each type of network, with subheadings for each network. Usually, the table of contents will include the networks covered so you don’t have to go hunting for yours.

In your next manual, you’ll find your instructions for setting up your databases. This is where you will find out how to enter data for doctor files, inventory files, patient files and so on. This section of the manual will usually have diagrams of each data entry screen so the user will know where each field is. Also, a complete description of each field will be included as well. For fields that tie in to medical forms, the manual will also tell the user which forms the field goes to as well as where on the form, such as line number.

The next set of manuals will usually focus on how to do billing, whether it be through printing out HFCA forms or sending claims electronically. Some software manuals have these sections separated. In addition to that, most software companies provide a separate manual plus record specifications for each carrier that is being billed, such as Medicare and Medicaid. In many cases, where a company has a large customer base and bills many different carriers, they may have as many as five or six different medical billing manuals or more.

And if all that isn’t enough, there is usually a whole manual dedicated to troubleshooting the system in case there are problems. The reason a software company will go through all that trouble is to cut down on the number of support calls that they get, as each call takes up man hours, which is a lot more expensive than printing out a manual.

When all is said and done, a medisoft billing company can literally have a bookcase filled for just one piece of software. If a company does DME billing and then has another software for dental billing, that could mean another whole bookcase full of manuals. Because there are so many, usually there is a small manual that has the master table of contents so a person knows what manual to look in for what piece of information. Yes, medical billing software companies sure do kill a lot of trees.

Are you considering taking the ISTQB foundation level software testing certification exam but would like to know more about what topics it covers? This article provides a summary of what knowledge is required to satisfy the requirements of the foundation level certification.

The certification exam is based on a syllabus that is updated periodically by the International Software Testing Qualification Board (ISTQB). The syllabus is freely available for download and it is what the training providers base their courses on. By reviewing the syllabus, we can understand what topics will be covered in the exam and what we need to know to have the knowledge required for the foundation level certification.

As the foundation level is aimed at those that may have no prior knowledge of testing, the syllabus starts with covering the fundamentals of testing. This includes being able to explain why testing is necessary and the basic test process from planning to execution and closure.

The syllabus then covers how testing activities fit into the software development lifecycle and the software development methodology being used in the project. You need to be familiar with the different levels of testing from component or unit testing to integration, system and user acceptance testing (UAT). You also need to understand the different types of tests, e.g. functional and non functional and if the test is related to a change, understanding what regression testing is.

It then covers how static techniques fit into the test process. Static techniques include reviews or automated analysis that is performed without actually executing the software. For example reviews of system related documentation including functional specifications, design documents, software code and test plans. Automated analysis refers to checks that can be done by tools on software source code to find any defects by comparing to predefined rules or standards.

The next topic is test design techniques. Here it is necessary to know the difference between specification based or black box techniques, structure based or white box techniques and experience based techniques. Using this understanding you need to know how to choose the appropriate test techniques for the test level and project situation. It is necessary to understand what is required to manage the test process. You need to be able to answer the following questions - How to organize a test team, plan and estimate test activities and monitor progress. How to ensure that all project outputs are version controlled and tracked to avoid any ambiguity (configuration management). How to determine, identify and manage project and product risk. How will incidents be managed?

The last topic covered is the tools that can be used to support the software testing and designing process. This covers not only tools that can support test execution but the whole testing process including test management, test specification, test performance and monitoring. Also, understand any risks associated with the use of a tool and what to consider before introducing a new tool into an organisation.

We have covered briefly here the topics that are part of the ISTQB syllabus for the foundation level software testing certification exam. As the exam is based on the syllabus, you should find it clear what topics are covered and what you need to study to have the knowledge to pass the exam. This article is based on information from the 2007 ISTQB foundation level syllabus. The syllabus is copyright by the ISTQB and its authors, Thomas Müller, Dorothy Graham, Debra Friedenberg and Erik van Veendendal.