Making The Most Of Your Money

3 Benefits Of Outsourcing Your Practice's Medical Billing Needs

24 March 2021 by Glen Robinson

Medical billing is complex, so it requires dedicated staff with specialized training to process claims and receive reimbursement for the procedures that your practice performs. Most practices use in-house billing departments to process billing claims. While this has the advantage of providing a practice with total control over the entire process of billing patients, it's often not the safest or cheapest option. Outsourcing patient billing can help medical providers reduce expenses while improving the reliability of billing. If your practice uses an in-house medical billing department, read on to learn three benefits of outsourcing it.

1. Eliminates Recurring Training Costs

Working in the field of medical billing requires constantly staying up to date with regulatory changes. Medicaid, Medicare, and private insurance companies frequently modify their billing requirements, so anyone who works in medical billing will need periodic training in order to adapt to the changes, and this training can be quite expensive. Failing to keep up with training your billing staff can result in underpayment or claim denials, so training is an important part of maximizing your practice's revenue.

When you outsource your billing needs to a patient billing service, you're able to eliminate the recurring cost of training the employees in your practice's billing department — this can save your practice a significant amount of money by reducing training expenses.

2. Shields You From Sudden Resignation, Vacation or Sick Leave of Your Billing Staff

The fact that medical billing staff undergo substantial amounts of training also means that they possess a large amount of institutional knowledge that can be difficult to replace. Knowing which medical codes will lead to an insurer approving a claim versus denying it, for example, is something that's often learned with experience.

Because of this, it can be difficult to find a replacement on short notice if one of your medical billing employees resigns or takes an extended leave for an illness or a vacation. When you don't have the necessary in-house billing staff working for you, your practice's revenue will be greatly reduced. When you outsource your practice's billing, you don't have to worry about this form of disruption to your practice — companies that provide patient billing services for medical practices have ample staff on hand that are always able to cover your billing needs.

3. Provides More Scalability

Sometimes your practice's billing workload may increase suddenly. Patients may be visiting you more often than usual or you may have several denied claims that need to be examined, reprocessed, and resubmitted. This creates a backlog in your medical billing that can be difficult for in-house staff to handle in a timely manner. If the increase in billing needs is only for a short term, then it may not make much sense to hire another medical billing employee in order to handle the backlog.

You don't have to worry about a growing backlog when you outsource your practice's billing department, as outsourcing is much more scalable than using an in-house billing department. Companies that provide patient billing services work on a contract basis, and they typically receive a portion of the successful claims that they file and collect as payment for their services. If your practice has a sudden increase in the number of billing claims that need to be filed, the patient billing service will simply assign more staff to your practice in order to handle it quickly and efficiently.

Overall, the main benefit of outsourcing your practice's billing department is that it reduces volatility. You don't have to worry about your employees leaving, going on vacation or being unable to handle a sudden increase in their workload. Outsourcing will give you much more consistency, which means that you don't have to spend as much time worrying about a potential slowdown in your revenue due to problems in your billing department. If your practice has an in-house medical billing department, contact a company that provides patient billing services for medical practices and ask about their rates — in addition to being more consistent, you'll often find that outsourcing your billing department is less expensive as well, making it an excellent choice for any medical practice.

Contact a company like Medical Financial Specialists to learn more.

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