subject: Portland Oregon Medical Billing Companies: The In's And Out's [print this page] Medical billing and medical coding companies are growing rapidly in the world of medical practice management, especially in Portland, OR. Many established practices that have been handling their own billing and patient records for years are finding that they can be more profitable and more efficient by using an EMR (Electronic Medical Records) System and hiring a medical billing company. A good medical billing specialist may help improve medical services by taking some of the bureaucratic work out of medical practitioners' hands, thus freeing them up to give better care to more patients.
Of course, any sensible manager or owner of a medical practice will think twice about hiring an external party to handle billing. However, there are a variety of measures that you can take to ensure the safety of your business, and that of your clients. The first is to investigate the company's credentials. Check out the Better Business Bureau to ask about legitimacy ratings and possible fraud allegations concerning whatever billing company you plan to work with. A decent medical billing, medical coding, or anesthesia billing company in Portland, OR should at the very least be listed at the BBB. The BBB has two office branches in Oregon, but if you wish, you can also contact them via telephone or their website.
Certification from professional accounting associations is also a plus. Furthermore, Portland medical billing companies should be cognizant of relevant legislation on both the national and federal levels. If the firm's staff are unable to discuss these laws with you or instruct you about how to follow them, working with them is likely to get you into trouble.
It is also possible that the staff of a medical or anesthesia billing company might actually have much more specialized training in accounting than the administrative staff in a clinic or medical practice. In other words, this can save you the expense of training or even replacing your staff. Furthermore, billing companies often have extensive experience in pressing insurance claims. If you do not know how to handle negotiations with your insurance provider, you do not have a great chance of actually being able to collect on a claim, even if said claim seems legitimate to you and falls well within your interpretation of your coverage.
Furthermore, billing companies are experienced in handling uncollected payments. Many medical practices-even the very capable, organized ones-tend to have a surprisingly large quantity of uncollected bills in their back records. Good billing companies are trained to spot those, and might even give your staff a few lessons in how to keep track of old, unpaid bills.
