8 Reasons For Outsourcing Medical Billing ( And 1 Reason Not To )
You have probably heard the saying "do what you do best and outsource the rest."
This saying can easily apply to medical billing and your front office operations. Some of the reasons to do so may be obvious, while other reasons you may not have considered. And there is even one reason why you may not want to. So for your consideration, here are the top 8 reasons to consider for outsourced medical billing, and one reason why not to.
1. Be a doctor again
Remember, do what you do best and outsource the rest? You are a doctor, that is what you do best. All of the other duties of your practice are administration, which take time away from seeing patients when you are wrapped up in the day-to-day operations. With Medicare cuts, insurance paying less, costs rising, seeing more patients is as important as ever. Handing these functions over to an outside medical billing service can free up staff to perform other essential operations that sometimes get pushed aside. Likewise, outsourcing can also prevent your billing, collections, and follow up from being pushed aside as so often happens when the office gets busy.
2. Keep up to date
Healthcare billing is more complex now than even just 5 years ago. Insurance carriers are constantly changing their rules, making updates, compliance and regulatory agencies do as well. And when the mandated switch to ICD-10 diagnosis coding occurs, there will be more than ever before to keep current with. The focus of a professional biller is on the pulse of healthcare billing. A good medical billing company can be a partner to your success.
3. Cut your rejection and denial rate
Denials can run up to 30% or more of a practice's billing. Sometimes collections are allowed to go past a collectable date. Even having an in-house billing person dedicated to nothing else does not always resolve this. It is inevitable that unrelated taskes will distract your staff. A medical billing specialist is dedicated to getting as much of your money for you as possible. After all, they only get paid when you are paid.
4. Lower your costs
This is a result of the last reason, as well as it is just more efficient when outsourcing. The cost to hire, train, and employ an in-house biller can far exceed that of sending your claims filing to an outside source. Plus, the motivation to collect your money for you is often times greater. You pay your staff whether your denials and unpaid claims are 30% or 5% For an outside biller, their pay is tied to your pay. Think a billing company is going to be more motivated? You bet.
5. Keep compliant without the cost
Another money saving consideration. Think about what it costs you to stay compliant with your billing function. Keeping a compliance plan in place, training, education for staff. When you outsource, the cost of compliance and a compliance officer is taken on by the billing company who in turn is able to spread their cost out over several clients.
6. Technology is expensive - and requires constant updates
In-house billing software is expensive. Keeping it updated is even more expensive. Even if you use web-based applications, there are monthly costs associated with those as well. You win when you pass these costs off to a billing company.
7. Payroll is one of your biggest expenses
The Society of Human Resources Management estimates that the cost of recruiting, hiring, and training a new employee is $3500. Hiring competent help can be hard. Factor in sick time, vacation time, employee turnover, benefits, taxes on employees and the cost of keeping billing in-house can add up.
8. Reduce employee theft
I wish I did not have to put this reason here, but you would be surprised at some of the stories I have come across. Unfortunately there are people out there who might take advantage of you. Having one person in-house handle the billing and the money could create an unwanted opportunity. Having an outside company handle your claims filing will not completely eliminate this threat. You will still handle the money in-house. However, an independent medical billing specialist creates another "check and balance". It is always a good idea to split the responsibilities that involve money between a few people. This is not always possible in-house.
There it is. Eight reasons to consider how outsourcing your medical billing can save you money, time, waste and energy.
And yes, I did say there was one reason not to outsource your medical billing.
Letting go can be hard to do
Sending your billing outside can feel like you are giving up control, and that is a reasonable concern. If I did not address that here then I would be doing a disservice. After all, your claims are what keep the lights on. It can be scary trusting the most important administration function of your practice to a third party biller.
But you do not have to give up control when you outsource your billing. When hiring a billing company, ask questions, discuss expectations. Keep good communication with your consultant. Make sure they provide you with reports. A company that files claims using web-based software can give you 24/7 access in real-time to the status of your money.
8 Reasons For Outsourcing Medical Billing ( And 1 Reason Not To )
By: Jeffrey Roh
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