Partnering up with professionals billing experts can bring tremendous benefits to your medical practice. Most practice owners believe in taking assistance from a medical billing company for their billing operations. Some practices outsource complete medical billing operations while the rest take assistance in revenue cycle operations like benefits verification, accounts receivable (AR), medical coding, and denial management, and provider credentialing. Medical billing company brings key revenue cycle skills to the practice which ensures every patient visit will get paid accurately. In this article, we highlighted some of such key revenue cycle skills which help practice owners to focus only on patient care.
Key Skills Medical Billing Practices to Focus only on Patient Care:
Reduced Administrative Duties
Often for most practices, the in-house billing team handles administrative duties. When the front desk is occupied down with preparing claims and gathering information, then that is the time taken away from patients. This might limit patient flow, which means less revenue by the end of the day. Experts from medical billing companies exactly know the required patient and insurance information for submitting a clean claim. These experts will also do benefits verification which will provide you patient coverage reports including patient responsibility. Updated patient coverage report ensures all your claims will get paid accurately. You can collect co-payment or deductibles amounts at the time of patient visit only, improving your practice collections.
Coding Accuracy
Providers who prefer to handle billing operations in-house tend to use few procedure and diagnosis codes as per their knowledge. But medical coding is not just using these codes and entering them in CMS 1500 form. As per coding guidelines you have to choose the right diagnosis and procedure codes, if required they should be supported by correct modifiers while avoiding errors like bundling and upcoding. Coding for all the patients must be properly supported by documentation and experts from medical billing company has the right kind of skill. Wrong procedure codes/ non-billable diagnosis codes are the prime reason for claims to get denied. Nearly one in every five medical claims that are processed through large health insurance providers is found to be inaccurate. So, accuracy in medical coding proves to be crucial for medical practices for the perfect and timely submission of medical claims. Error-free and timely claim submission ensures getting reimbursement and reducing accounts receivable.
Compliance Friendly
The most challenging part of medical billing is constantly changing payer reimbursement policies and industry guidelines. COVID-19 pandemic brought much more billing updates almost every single week. Ensuring billing compliance is vital for medical practices looking to avoid penalties and negative consequences. Medical billing companies understand how devastating inaccurate billing and coding processes can be for practice. These mistakes can cause thousands of dollars in losses and endanger compliance with government rules and regulations. For these reasons, billing companies train their staff with the latest billing and coding protocols. By doing so, practices remain financially protected while avoiding serious consequences that come with non-compliance with industry rules.
More Consistency
Medical billing companies have a pool of expert medical billers and coders as per medical specialties. So, your claim submission and all other revenue cycle activities for your practice are not affected even though any employee leaves the organization. When you manage billing and coding activities in-house then employee turnover becomes a big challenge. Medical billing and coding require unique skills and in-depth knowledge of payer policies and guidelines. So, hiring and retaining such billing experts in-house becomes a costly affair. You also have to provide your team latest training required to stay up-to-date with billing and coding changes. If a single employee leaves your healthcare organization, it directly affects your claim submission process and all the further revenue cycle activities.
Better Control
As you outsource your billing activities to a billing company, all you have to do is just monitor billing reports to get an idea about what’s happening at your practice. There are different kinds of medical billing reports like accounts receivable (AR) reports, clearinghouse rejections reports, top carriers’ analysis reports, payment trends and, collection reports. All these reports can help you understand how your medical practice is performing based on many revenue cycle metrics, find if the claims are paid in time, and how the insurance carriers are paying your practice for important procedures.
Key Skills Medical Billing Company: MBC
MedicalBillersandCoders (MBC) is a leading medical billing company that provides complete revenue cycle management services. As per the need of your practice, we provide complete revenue cycle services or just part services like medical coding, account receivables (AR), eligibility verification, denial management, and payer credentialing. To know more about our services, contact us at info@medicalbillersandcoders.com/ 888-357-3226.
FAQs
1. How can outsourcing medical billing reduce administrative duties for my practice?
Outsourcing medical billing helps alleviate administrative tasks such as claim preparation, gathering insurance information, and verifying benefits. This allows your in-house staff to focus on patient care, improving patient flow and revenue collection during patient visits.
2. Why is coding accuracy important in medical billing?
Accurate coding ensures that the correct diagnosis and procedure codes are used, preventing claim denials due to incorrect or non-billable codes. Medical billing experts have the knowledge to avoid coding errors like bundling and upcoding, ensuring timely claim submission and improved reimbursement rates.
3. How does a medical billing company ensure compliance with industry regulations?
Medical billing companies stay updated with constantly changing payer reimbursement policies and industry guidelines. By training their staff on the latest protocols, they help ensure your practice remains compliant with billing regulations, preventing costly penalties and losses.
4. What are the benefits of outsourcing for consistency in billing operations?
Outsourcing medical billing ensures consistency in claim submission and revenue cycle management, even if an employee leaves your practice. Billing companies have specialized teams of experts, reducing the impact of employee turnover and ensuring uninterrupted, error-free billing operations.
5. How can I maintain control over my practice’s revenue cycle when outsourcing billing?
When outsourcing to a billing company, you can monitor billing reports to assess the performance of your practice. These reports, such as accounts receivable (AR), collection trends, and payment analysis, provide valuable insights into how your claims are being processed and reimbursements are being handled.
