Medical billing services can be a very complicated task for a medical office to undertake. Some offices choose to hire trained medical billers to work full time in the office, and other medical offices choose to outsource their medical billing and practice management services. Other medical offices have done a little of both, and there is no right or wrong answer. However, there are 3 really great advantages to outsourcing your medical billing services.
Reduce Labor Cost
Most small businesses are concerned with cost. Maintaining a medical billing department can be very costly. The rule of thumb is that for every 2 doctors in a practice, an office should have 1.5 workers. With the average salary for a trained and experienced medical billing professional at about $35,000 per year plus benefits, hiring 1.5 workers can cost over $50,000 yearly. Benefits would include health insurance, dental insurance, life insurance, 401K, unemployment insurance, and various other taxes that an employer must pay when they choose to undertake a new employee. In addition to those cost, there are miscellaneous cost that is associated with providing those medical billers the equipment and supplies that they will require to adequately complete their job tasks. These expenses will include software, workers compensation insurance, postage, clearinghouse fees, HCFA/CMS-1500 forms, paper, printers, additional computers, envelopes, and office furniture. Outsourcing your medical billing to a reputable company, can save you 30% – 40% of your annual cost. Maintaining a physician billing department in house, can be very costly, so if you can find a reputable company to outsource your billing to, it is in the best interest of your business to at least listen to how they may be able to help you reduce your overall cost.
Focus on Patient Care
Physicians spend years and years in undergraduate school and medical school. During those years of being inundated with information that can help save human lives, physicians do not learn much about billing and fighting with insurance companies. In fact, most doctors know very little about Insurance. However, it is not an expectation that they should be efficient at physician billing. In fact, Physicians cannot be efficient at their job, if they are always stressed about the finances of their practice. This is a specific advantage to small practices because a doctor can focus on providing excellent care to their patients, while a medical billing team handles all of their physician billing and practice management services. Outsourcing physician billing and practice management services are particularly advantageous for smaller practices because they may not have the money to afford a large medical staff. Therefore, by outsourcing these services they will have access to a team of experienced medical coders, medical billers, and A/R representatives.
Reduce Billing Errors and Turn Around Time
Most doctors would like to get paid for services they render to their patients, within weeks of providing those services, instead of months. Well, when there are errors in your billing methods, it can take months to receive payment. However, when you send out clean claims, those claims will get paid within weeks. My mantra is simple, “Get the claim out the door clean the first time.” When you consider outsourcing you allow professionals and experts to take over tasks where mistakes can be very timely and costly. We have been educated and re-educated about the constant changes in the industry, in regards to new codes, out of date codes, modifiers and more. All of these things must be taken into consideration when claims go out to each and every insurance company for services. Medical billing services are one of the most important aspects of a medical office because a great percentage of your income can come as a direct benefit of having a great medical billing services company in your corner.
As you can see, outsourcing medical billing services can be a great advantage to a physician’s practice, large or small. The greatest thing that will determine your success is the efficiency of your medical billing department. Outsourcing your medical billing services can increase your revenue from 5% – 30%. If you would like to know if outsourcing your physicians billing and practice management services can benefit your practice, contact us, and we will tell you how to receive a free practice cost analysis. This way you can see in real numbers, just how advantageous outsourcing your medical billing services can be.