Most small practice owners prefer to manage medical billing and coding all by themselves. They feel to have more control over practice revenue by handling billing and coding operations in-house. But we have to understand, medical billing and coding require specialized knowledge.
Providers doing in-house billing operations, tend to use a common set of diagnosis codes, procedure codes, and modifiers. Continuously changing coding guidelines and payer reimbursement policies make it a challenging task. Just submitting claims is not sufficient, you have to ensure that every claim is backed by documentation and need to check medical necessity.
So, taking assistance from billing experts who are well versed with medical specialty-wise coding, reimbursement guidelines, and payer policies, ensures accurate collection of payer reimbursements. There are many benefits of using medical billing services for your practice, some of which are discussed in this blog.
Benefits of Using Medical Billing Services
Complete Transparency
For most providers transparency in revenue cycle management is of uttermost importance. Medical billing experts will share medical billing reports which will help you to understand what is happening at your account level.
Medical billing reports like the total number of claims submitted, clean claim percentage, denial and rejection percentage, account receivables, monthly patient and payer reimbursements, and others, give a complete picture of the financial health of your practice. If there are any denials, practices need to know what they are and how to correct them.
A transparent process makes it easier for billers to confirm that all claims are processed in a timely manner. From there, practices can be sure that the insurance carriers are processing the claims as soon as they receive them and are being paid the correct amount. A medical billing service makes this transparency possible.
Increase Practice Efficiency
Without the stress of managing practice billing, you can focus on other areas and improve workflows. According to a survey report from the Commonwealth Fund, nurses and medical assistants spent 20.6 hours per physician per week on administrative tasks related to health plans. Completely giving the responsibility of medical billing services can relieve this burden of administrative tasks and you can dedicate more time to patient care.
Experts from such medical billing companies can guide you on accurate documentation, specialty-wise billing, and coding guidelines. Staying organized and optimizing processes can even reduce test duplication and decrease errors.
Decrease Practice Overhead
Hiring and retaining medical billing in-house staff for practice is a challenging task. Employment comes with a lot of fixed costs like payroll, health benefits, and training costs. You will be surprised to know that typical support staff in medical practices costs about 37.16 percent of the total monthly cost. On the other hand, most medical billing companies will charge based total amount of insurance reimbursement collected.
Association with medical billing companies will ensure coding compliance, fewer rejections, and less rework. Outsourcing medical billing services is useful for smaller or mid-size practices, that can’t afford to have a full-time employee with knowledge of medical billing. With medical billing and coding responsibilities assigned, practice owners can spend more time managing their patients without worrying about changed healthcare plan coverage.
Any savings in support staff and billing costs will go straight to the bottom line. The same report also suggests physicians divert as much as 14 percent of their gross revenue to ensure accurate and sure payments for their services.
Payers Credentialing
If you are a new practice or adding a physician to your practice, you must go through a credentialing and enrollment process to connect with insurance carriers. This process can be time consuming and cause delays if you don’t enroll properly. Medical billing service companies usually offer solutions to take care of this process for you.
They are aware of payer-wise credentialing and contracting procedures which accelerate your credentialing and enrollment process. After accurate enrollment, the next step is negotiating with payers to receive the best rates.
For smaller practices, this can be a little overwhelming and feel like you’re going up against Goliath when trying to negotiate with large insurance carriers. Let a medical billing service company do the negotiating for you. They have the experience and can get the best rates for your practice.
One thing to remember about most medical billing service companies is that they have years of billing experience and know all the ins and outs of how to make your practice as efficient as possible. How could your practice benefit from medical billing services?
Connect with a Medical Billers and Coders (MBC) expert to learn more.
FAQs:
1. Why should small practices consider outsourcing medical billing?
Outsourcing medical billing allows practices to save time and reduce overhead costs while ensuring accurate coding and compliance with payer guidelines.
2. How does using a medical billing service improve transparency?
Billing services provide detailed reports on claims, denials, and reimbursements, helping practices understand their financial health and improve claim management.
3. What impact does outsourcing have on practice efficiency?
By relieving staff from billing tasks, practices can focus more on patient care, improving workflows and reducing administrative burdens.
4. How do medical billing services help with payer credentialing?
Billing services streamline the credentialing process and can negotiate with payers, helping practices secure better reimbursement rates more efficiently.
5. What cost savings can practices expect from using medical billing services?
Outsourcing can significantly reduce fixed costs associated with in-house staff and help practices retain a larger portion of their gross revenue through efficient billing processes.
