What Questions Should You Ask Yourself To Know if It Is Best for Your Practice?
Medical billing outsourcing has become a common practice among small businesses due to the many benefits that it has to offer – not the least of which are cost effectiveness and convenience. Because so much of it can be done online, the need to have medical billing done in-house is becoming a thing of the past.
In fact, it’s not just small businesses that are taking advantage of the benefits. Parts of the healthcare industry ranging from hospitals, clinics, private doctor and physician practices are outsourcing their medical billing to increase their efficacy and perform the task more inexpensively.
But how do you know whether or not it will benefit your own business? You need to make sure you know the answer the following important questions and how they relate to your organization:
- How does it work?
- What are the benefits?
- Are there any drawbacks?
- Where do you go from here?
How does it work?
These days, medical billing outsourcing involves hiring a service provider that will be able to use your data, sent to them securely over the internet, to handle your weekly or daily billing. What makes it “outsourced” is that you will be hiring another company to do the work as opposed to having a team or department accomplish it for you.
Everything is accomplished through the use of special software packages that use online service portals to allow your business or practice to communicate with the medical billing service.
Depending on the type of software and technology you use for the service, your part of the billing process may be as simple as scanning documents or entering the necessary information into the software. From that point on, the billing process is managed entirely by the service employees.
Bills can then be sent through the mail or over the internet to insurance companies, patients, lawyers, etc., as all of the various billing functions are handled by the billing company.
What are the benefits?
The reason that outsourcing the medical billing functions of a practice is so popular is that it has a very long list of important benefits. Have a look at the following and consider the difference they can make in your own organization:
- Cost – By hiring a company that exists solely to perform the medical billing tasks, you make sure that you’re not spending any more than possible on this function. The expertise and specialized resources available to the employees of these service companies means that the tasks can be accomplished in the least amount of time, without taking away from other company functions.
- Efficient Utilization of Employees and Resources – Since the central purpose of your practice is not its billing, this means that to perform the billing tasks in house, you would need to dedicate time and resources rerouted from elsewhere to its completion. Employees will need to leave their other duties, and technology, software, and other equipment may be necessary, increasing costs due to purchase and maintenance. By outsourcing, you pay only for the labor and can maintain the most efficient use of your own employees and resources.
- Accuracy – One of the most frustrating and costly problems with medical bills is errors. When you use medical billing outsourcing to a reputable, quality service, then you will minimize the chance of errors. This improves accuracy will make sure that you spend as little time as possible correcting mistakes, which can save your practice a significant amount of money over time.
- Best Economy of Your Space – As you know from your own practice, office space is usually pretty tight. If you’re already facing space issues, then the economy of office space that is possible through outsourcing will be very rewarding. You will be able to do most of your filing online and keep what little office space you have open for other purposes.
Where do you go from here?
Now that you can see what a difference outsourcing your medical billing can make to your business or your practice, it’s up to you to decide if it makes economical and organizational sense. If so, you should start to ask around among others who use these services, and perform some searches online to find out about the best quality services with the most affordable prices that will perform the medical billing functions that you need to have completed.
Make sure to take the time to truly research a company you are considering for hire and check references to make certain that the experience you can expect is one that matches your billing needs.
