3 Benefits to Outsourcing Your Billing

#medicalbilling #outsourcingbilling #privatepractice

The medical billing process dictates the largest source of income that flows into a practice.

Decisions that affect this complex process can grow a practice exponentially or quickly drive it into the ground. With ever-changing codes, procedures and policies the need for efficiency and follow-through is on the rise - which is why the decision to keep medical billing services in-house or to outsource is a major decision facing private practices today. There are many benefits to outsourcing medical billing services. Here are three:

Increase Revenue While Lowering Costs

The billing process has a series of complex steps that requires ones full attention to insure that claims are being paid. Handing over your billing to a professional service provides you with a team of experts whose goal is to do just that - to follow each and every claim through the entire billing process until the money that is owed to you is in your hands. Chances are that if your current staff isn’t able to dedicate this kind of time and focus to the billing process, claims are slipping through the cracks and denied claims are going ignored – resulting in lost revenue. By allowing a professional service to handle your billing, your revenue will most certainly increase, while costs associated with employees, overhead, and liabilities will decrease.

Efficiency

A few years ago my husband and I decided to remodel our master bathroom – on our own. We reasoned that we would save a lot of money and if we got stuck we had a handy friend to give us, well, a hand. Not to mention I had watched many HGTV home improvement shows and, really, how hard could it be? Well, we learned very quickly that we had no idea what we were doing. One, we didn’t have the expertise. When something went wrong we were at the mercy of “phoning a friend” with the hopes that he would help us out – yet again. Second, we didn’t have the right tools. This resulted in countless frustrating hours trying to do the job with the tools we had. And third, we didn’t have the time. We tried to squeeze this mammoth of a job into the hours after work and on weekends. This led to very late nights of tiling in silence, as not to irritate one another. It was, for the most part, a miserable experience. Needless to say we finished, our marriage survived, and the end product is functional. However, there are errors – lots and lots of noticeable errors. And I have to add that the money we hoped to save was spent on having to fix mistakes we made along the way. We learned our lesson. We vowed to never again do what somebody else can do more efficiently – even if it costs us a little more than we were hoping to spend.

My point in telling this story is that it often times it isn’t worth your time, money, or your emotional well-being to do the job yourself when there is a more efficient way of doing things. Also, something magical happens when you hire the right people and allow them to do the job they love and for which they were trained. The job doesn’t just “get done”. It’s done well, with excellence, accuracy, and efficiency because they have the expertise, the tools, and the time to do so.

Allows More Focus on Patient Care

Outsourcing your billing allows you to focus on what you do best – caring for your patients and providing them with quality care. Your energy will no longer be spent worrying about the financial side of running your practice. You will be able to focus fully on your patients and the well being of your staff.

I've come across many physicians who, for various reasons, have assigned the task of managing claims to the practice manager or to another staff member. One in particular tasked the x-ray technician to do all the coding and when I asked her if she new that the codes were changing again in a few years, well, let's just say she was not happy. Outsourcing frees your staff up to do what they enjoy and what they were hired to do! They are no longer burdened with the daunting task of processing claims, which will result in a happier staff, happier patients, and a happier you!

What Next?

Of course, to insure that you optimize the benefits of outsourcing, it is very important to find a medical billing company that is trustworthy, experienced, and fully transparent. You want to make sure to do your due diligence, discuss with them your specific needs, and make sure to ask lots of questions. If you are interested in learning more about medical billing and what it could mean for your practice, RevLogix Solutions can get you started today. Simply send us a message or give us a call. We would love to hear from you!