Why You Should Outsource Your Medical Billing: A Guide

From ABA Therapy to a teaching hospital, from private family practice to the psychiatrist’s office, medical billing is a key component in the success of any medical practice. It may seem that keeping your billing operations in-house will lead to a better understanding of the services offered and less costly, time-consuming mistakes, but often the opposite is true. We ask a lot of our medical staff; their jobs are rewarding but taxing, and asking your staff to add medical billing to their already overflowing plates might be just a little bit too much for them.

Combining this with the labor shortage we have seen in the healthcare industry can lead to overworked staff and inaccurate billing, adding further stress to the lives of staff, practitioners, and patients alike. Here is where outsourcing can help you. Take the strain off yourself and your staff and hand your medical billing operations over to professionals whose only job is to ensure that clients are billed for the correct services and amount and that you get paid on time. Just keep reading to learn more about outsourcing your medical billing the right way.

Defining Outsourced Practices

Let us take an Applied Behavior Analysis practice as our example. ABA billing is a complex process with frequently shifting goalposts. The staff at an ABA treatment center are well trained but trained in the treatment, not necessarily the intricate billing process. Asking these busy staff to give up their valuable therapeutic time to bill patients may lead to easily avoidable mistakes. Outsourcing means sending your billing information — services, costs, clients, and similar information — to a company dedicated to carrying out one task: billing. Sending your billing to a highly specialized company to be taken care of is the intelligent and responsible thing to do.

Questions To Ask Yourself

1.     Are you currently reaching your revenue goals? Depending on their size and location, each practice will have different goals. But if you are not meeting your business goals, you should ask yourself why. If you are losing money in the billing process, it is time to outsource.

2.     Are you about to change software systems? If the answer is yes, then you’re in a perfect place to outsource your billing processes and align your software with the billing company’s system. The synergy between systems is imperative in a smoothly run business.

3.     Do you have a dedicated billing team or a team that performs billing and other tasks? If your business falls into the latter category, it’s time to hand your billing processes over to a specialized company.

4.     Should you be using a general billing company or a company focusing on medical billing? Since medical billing is so specific and the codes utilized within the industry cannot be altered in any way without causing a massive derailment in the proceedings, we advise choosing a permanent medical-specializing company.

5.     How will outsourcing your billing processes affect your clients? If you have a dedicated medical billing team, you are not losing any funds to the billing process, and your patients or clients are happy; you do not need to change anything. If the above is inaccurate and your patients are billed incorrectly for services they did not receive, you should choose a company to outsource to as soon as possible. Patient-centered care is the most critical aspect of any medical business: keeping your patients’ comfort, convenience, and happiness at the forefront of your mind when considering your practices is the best way to work.

Benefits of Outsourcing Your Medical Billing

Improve Your Cash Flow

Getting your A/R done in fewer than 30 days should be the goal of every medical practice. Keeping your outstanding A/R as low as possible will improve cash flow, and using a billing company will reduce any upfront expenses since they take payment after the billing process is complete.

Make Use Of More Clinical Space

Instead of dedicating space in your practice to billing, use that space for an extra waiting room or patient treatment space. Get the most bang you can for your buck and make the most of your space: let the professionals take care of the billing.

Scale Your Business

The security and financial health of any business is critical to success in these uncertain economic times. Outsourcing your medical billing to a professional company means you’ll improve cash flow, stay patient-centric, and make the best use of your existing space. All of this leaves you free to scale up your business: offer a new specialty, more pro bono work, or invite new members into your practice.

Wrap Up

Now that you know the benefits of outsourcing medical billing, what are you waiting for? A new world of ease and practicality awaits you and your patients.

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