Deciding whether or not outsourcing medical billing is the right thing to do for your practice can be a difficult decision. Medical billing has always required a specialized set of skills and in the last few years there is a steep increase in complexity and red tape. Whether you are a new practice startup, experienced medical practitioner, or in the midst of turmoil like upgrading to a new system, it would be wrong to assume that you would lose control over your revenue if you choose to outsource your medical billing. We have few substantial reasons to convince you.
Know What Happens When a Medical Practitioner Keeps In-House Medical Billing
When a practice keeps their billing in-house, it simply means they have a billing specialist working inside the practice to help them process their claims. Every time a patient is seen and the provider signs off on their encounter note, the super bill is ready and the specialist will then process the claim. The volume of their work depends on the number of providers in your office and, of course, the number of patients they see on a daily basis. As far as processes go, when a practice chooses the option of outsourcing their medical billing, the only thing that changes is where the billing specialist is sitting.
Here’s where the confusion lies. Many fear they will lose control of their billing if it’s handled somewhere else and they can’t walk into a room and look over the shoulder of the specialist. Actually, this couldn’t be further from the truth but we’ll get to that in a minute. Another obstacle that keeps providers from choosing to outsource is concern over being able to get a report the minute they want or need it. If a provider cannot walk into the billing office and ask for a report, he feels he will not have the information he needs when he needs it. Again, this is not always the case. In fact, you will probably end up with even more information than you originally had. That leads to be the most significant reasons why you should consider outsourcing medical billing.
You Will Have Better Understanding of Your Financials
When a practice is outsourcing medical billing, the right outsourcing medical billing will offer complete transparency into the billing process. This means you will have access to any report you need, any time you need it. Now you won’t have to ask for it during business hours while your billing specialist is processing claims. You can simply login and see what’s going on with a couple of mouse clicks. And we do mean a couple of mouse clicks. Your vendor should make it as easy as possible for you to go to a dashboard and see all of the information you need quickly through tables and graphs that are colorful and easy to read. Also, you should have simple, yet complex reporting capabilities that give you information like new and total patient visits, rejected claims by volume and amounts or reasons, claims and receipts volumes, un-submitted claims by submission types and many other reports that are often difficult and time consuming for your billing specialist to run.
When you have all of this information literally at your fingertips it is empowering and will help you know exactly what’s going right or wrong and what processes you should focus on improving. Not only will you have better reporting capabilities, you’ll have them wherever you go because the right vendor will have an iPhone application that allows you to run reports from anywhere you have an internet connection.
Better & Consistent Revenue Cycle
Coming to your main fear of losing control over the revenue; If you currently have your billing in-house, you may look at the option of outsourcing medical billing as expensive and not worthy of the losses you will incur. The truth is, to hire staff and train them appropriately is expensive, it is time consuming and it is a loss that you will incur. But when compared to the gain in revenues, the loss is a fleeting one that will more than remedy itself in a very short amount of time.
Think of it this way, by outsourcing medical billing, you’re choosing to give your billing process to a company filled with medical billing specialists who do this all day, Monday through Friday, and nothing else. Not only do they know what they’re doing, they do it incredibly well, usually for hundreds if not thousands of providers. They have come across all types of claims and know billing codes you have probably never heard of. You benefit from their experience immediately and you’ll be able to see it reflected in an increased clean claims rate.
You no longer have to worry about sick days or vacation time. You no longer have to worry about someone getting behind because the practice has been extra busy due to flu season. Your claims will be submitted on
Time and paid on time which means increased cash in the bank and an overall improved revenue cycle for the practice.
Apart from above mentioned there are other significant reasons which will convince you to outsource medical billing for your practice such as:
- Reduce Claim Errors
- Lower Staffing Costs
- Reduce Time To Payments
- Increases Patient’s Satisfaction
- Get Paid Faster
- Let’s You Focus On What You Do Best
In the end, outsourcing medical billing is an incredible option for providers who want to have a better understanding of their practice financials, and increase their cash flow and improve the overall revenue cycle management of the practice.
