subject: How To Pick The Right Medical Billing Service Provider [print this page] There's no doubt that outsourced medical billing services are useful, but picking the right medical billing service provider can be a difficult task. You must consider several aspects before you sign a contract with a medical billing company. This article provides some helpful tips to find the best medical billing and coding service provider.
Always check for the years of experience the medical billing specialists or company has. Choose only a billing service provider with considerable experience in the field and a successful track record. Such firms can deliver quality and customized medical billing services.
Prior to choosing a firm, it is very important to consider whether the medical billing and coding firm you are about to choose meets the requirements of your medical facility and ensures timely procurement of the due reimbursement.
Before hiring a company, it is necessary to find out whether the company offers a comprehensive billing package which includes insurance/patient enrollment, scheduling, insurance verification and AR collections. Apart from these, some companies provide other services such as credentialing, and medical coding and transcription.
Try to choose a medical billing company that can ensure efficient management of billing records. For the efficient management of records, billing firms use the latest software such as NextGen, IDX, Medisoft, Inception, Lytec, Medic, and Misys which would ensure accuracy. While hiring a firm, it is necessary to ensure that your records are professionally managed and you get periodic updates and reports as and when necessary.
Patients medical information is strictly confidential. So, when hiring a medical billing and coding company to handle sensitive and confidential medical records, it is very important to make sure that the firm you choose complies with HIPAA regulations and follows 128 bit encryption for all transferred files. Find out whether the medical billing solutions provided meet your customer service standards.
Another important thing to check is whether the terms and conditions on which the company works is flexible. The term and conditions should be flexible enough to make changes as per your requirements. Other things to ensure are:
Check whether custom medical billing solution is available.
Check whether there is provision of easy access to information such as outstanding claims, charge data, user notes, follow-up information, and payments.
Make sure that the medical billing company you hire will provide you the maximum returns.
Ensure that the company does not charge hidden fees.
Check the billing turnaround time the provider guarantees.
When choosing a provider of medical billing service, the main thing is not to concentrate on the pricing alone. The quality of work delivered, professional expertise offered, turnaround time and other important aspects of the service should be given due importance.
