Maybe when you first opened the doors of your practice, it made good financial sense to handle billing internally. But now, as your business grows in size and perhaps scope, billing has been growing more complex too. With so many moving parts to keep track of to ensure a good flow of revenue, many practices find it prudent to outsource this task.
If you have wondered whether you should be outsourcing your medical billing, this article will highlight all the reasons that medical practices should be outsourcing and the advantages it gives you on the operational side. Use it to determine if it’s the right solution for your practice.
1. Lower the Risk of Mistakes in Medical Billing
Your staff has undergone training in billing, but how comprehensive was the instruction? Compare doing this work in-house with sending it to a third-party team of experts. They are constantly trained in industry best practices and log more hours in billing each year than anyone working at your practice. With fewer mistakes comes a faster flow of revenue.
2. Take Advantage of Billing Professionals’ Experience
You can’t be expected to know all the ins and outs of medical billing with a wide variety of payers on the scene. All of them will have their own peculiarities, which third-party billers will be intimately acquainted with. This saves time since you don’t have to get up to speed on each insurance company’s ways of doing things.
3. Free Up Staff Time for More Important Work
You have a lot of administrative details to maintain a close eye on. By freeing up some of your back-office staff from doing the billing work, you can free them up for other pressing tasks. Of course, if you had been planning to hire more billing people but no longer need to do so because of a third party, you can reallocate the budget to more personnel or new equipment for the practice.
4. Gain Insight Into Your Financial Health
The third-party billing company that you partner with will help you achieve greater transparency. They will use software tools to give you analytics into how old your accounts receivables are growing and at what volume, or how patients react to any changes in how reimbursements are issued, as explained by a report from Medical Economics.
5. Cut Costs
If you’ve been struggling to control costs and make your practice more profitable, outsourcing medical billing may be the fastest way to reach this goal. As pointed out by 360Connect, it will likely cost more for you to purchase the latest version of specialized billing software and invest in employee training than it would be to hand the work over to a third party.
6. Medical Billing Services Integrate With Your Electronic Health Records Software
An important consideration has to do with patient data. Connecting your electronic health records or EHR software with the third-party billing team’s computer system is easy and convenient. This ensures that patient data remains accurate and that the billers can quickly process each bill more quickly.
7. Better Patient Satisfaction
Patients appreciate it when they receive clearly written billing statements with payment instructions. The professionals at the third-party business you outsource billing to will handle all of the little details consistently. Your own team may drag its feet on getting paperwork out, but external billing takes care of this task much faster while adhering to the latest rules and regulations with each insurer.
8. Go Beyond Your Outdated Accounting System
If it’s been many years since you purchased and installed your practice’s accounting system, maybe it would be best to upgrade by using a third party instead. Forget about the time and money involved in researching what new accounting system will be best for your office. The medical billing services team will use the latest version of their software for the most efficient use of time.
9. Scale Up Your Business With Medical Billing Services
When your practice was small and just starting, billing was a routine and simple affair. But as you prepare to grow, it will become more problematic to take care of billing from your various specialties and doctors. For doctors with an eye to grow their business over the next year, it would be prudent to compare how well they can do by outsourcing versus keeping the billing activity in-house.
10. Make Sure You are in Compliance
Another consideration that many forget to take into account is that outsourcing your medical billing services will help ensure that you stay in compliance with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy regulations, as noted by EU Today.
You’ll have the peace of mind that comes from knowing the third-party billing professionals will be trained in the latest compliance requirements, ensuring timelier payment of bills.
Need More Information on Medical Billing Services?
There is a lot to think about when preparing to hand your billing over to third-party experts. After mulling over these ten primary considerations regarding medical billing, you may require more information before moving forward. Get up to speed with our free and informative ebook, From In-House to Outsourced RCM: Everything You Need to Know.
Key Takeaways
- Relying on a Medical Billing Services company will lower the number of mistakes your office makes on patient statements.
- The expertise of third-party billers will be greater than anyone on your team so that you can anticipate greater accuracy and faster payments.
- Interested in better transparency into your practice’s finances? Third-party billing services will give you clarity into the flow of revenue.
- Your electronic health records or EHR software will easily integrate with billing services, improving accuracy.
- Your business can stay in compliance with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act privacy regulations more easily when you partner with medical billing professionals.
