Medical billing is vital to the medical practice industry. It helps medical offices and patients when filing their medical claims. It also helps insurance providers give out the right amount of claims to patients. How important is medical billing to both parties? 30% of the average healthcare bill now comes from the patient’s pocket. That is why it is vital for their medical billing to reflect the right amount.
However, due to the nature of the practice, medical billing can become a challenging task for nurses or clinic staff. The number of patients filing a claim may become overwhelming for them. As a result, they could be prone to making errors in billing the patients. This may result in delayed payment of their claims by the patient. For this reason, clinics and hospitals opt to outsource their medical billing to a third-party provider.
To save on costs, some medical facilities opt to trust the talent and experience of in-house employees, which is completely understandable. However, the ever-changing landscape of the healthcare industry can make it difficult for them to keep up with the growing number of patients filing for a claim. By outsourcing, you take off some of the billing responsibilities from your in-house staff so they could focus on their main responsibilities. Let’s check out the reasons why you should consider outsourcing medical billing.
Reasons For Outsourcing Medical Billing
- Prevents Billing Errors
- Stay Current with Industry Standards and Practices
- Billing Expertise
- Increased Revenues
- Allows More Focus on Patient Care
- Improves Cash Flow
- Safeguards Patient Data
- Boosts Productivity
- Fast Payments of Claims
- Improves Patient Satisfaction
Let’s get on with it.
Reasons For Outsourcing Medical Billing
Outsourcing medical billing may not be the right option for every practice. But for those who choose to outsource, they could reap the benefits of hiring a professional for their medical billing. If you are still torn between outsourcing medical billing or keeping it in-house, here are some reasons you should consider the former.
1. Prevents Billing Errors
Errors in medical billing can be a big deal. Improper filing or recording can affect reimbursement and could result in the claim being rejected. The healthcare industry has seen a lot of changes from before. As many organizations are now transitioning to paperless billing, errors are bound to happen. According to Pat Palmer, founder of Medical Billing Advocates of America, 8 out of 10 billings patients receive have errors in it.
Outsourcing medical billing gives you access to experienced professionals who can ensure timely and accurate submission of your medical claims. They will spend all their time working with codes and have experience in medical billing. You can rest assured that there will be fewer errors as they will find and fix any error in the billing.
Outsourcing providers are knowledgeable about billing codes used for diagnosis and treatment. They also know about medical billing rules and regulations. The outsourced professional will give the billing time and attention resulting in lesser claim denials. You can look forward to a more accurate and proper billing.
2. Stay Current with Industry Standard & Practices
The healthcare insurance industry is constantly changing. It can be quite daunting to stay compliant and keep up with the changes on your own. If you don’t comply, it could have severe consequences on your clinic or hospital. For this reason, you need to stay up-to-date on current regulations and requirements.
Outsourcing to a third party provider gives you an assurance that your company will stay abreast of industry changes. Outsourcing companies are constantly thinking about the changing landscape of industry regulations, payor habits and idiosyncrasies, and the latest practices. They are knowledgeable about how to apply the new rules and regulations to your medical billing process.
By outsourcing, you will become aware of any changes that will come and will notify you in advance. Without an outsourcing provider, you will have to research these regulations on your own. This way, you won’t have to scratch your head about keeping track of the ever-changing industry rules and regulations.
3. Billing Expertise
One of the biggest reasons for outsourcing medical billing is access to billing experts. The medical biller has the resources and know-how about medical billing. Your in-house medical billing team may have the talent and capability but with the many responsibilities they have, they may simply not have the time to focus on the billing task.
With medical billing outsourcing, you get to enjoy the services of a skilled and dedicated workforce. You may no longer have to go through the cumbersome process of recruitment and training. Their main focus will be on improving and maintaining the financial status of your practice. Medical billing is not just a matter of paperwork but also involves correcting errors, monitoring the process, and doing free reviews to make sure that medical claims are at the appropriate rate.
Outsourced medical billers monitor regulatory changes and stay proactive with how billing is done. They will make sure that your medical office is following the proper protocol. Their job is to handle bills quickly, address rejections immediately, and re-bill with errors corrected. As a result, you can count on receiving accurate and precise billing.
4. Increased Revenues
Outsourcing frees you from the overhead costs associated with maintaining an in-house team. Since you can expect timely submissions of medical claims and increased reimbursements, you can look forward to higher profits for your medical office. By outsourcing medical billing, you get an opportunity to maximize your revenue. Outsourcing can help increase revenue for your office.
Unpaid bills and claims can have a huge impact on your business. However, outsourcing can reduce this cost significantly. Billing companies perform 15% better at collecting bills compared to that of private practices. The outsourcing provider employs an efficient way of getting claims approved by insurance companies thus leading to increased revenue on your part.
You may have the most dedicated in-house billing team but they also have limitations to the number of hours they can work during the day. They can’t focus on denied claims, detailed forms, and regulatory changes. By outsourcing, your team can focus on the more important stuff that can generate revenue for your office.
5. Allows More Focus On Patient Care
The healthcare industry is all about patient care. But when your team is already overwhelmed with processing medical claims and billing, how can they still provide quality patient care? Medical billing outsourcing does just that by freeing your team of the billing tasks so they can focus on improving patient care. With the billing and insurance processing being handled by the outsourced provider, your team will now have more time to look after their patients’ welfare.
Handling billing issues while addressing the needs of patients can be difficult. It can affect their productivity, efficiency, and employee morale. Outsourcing reduces the burden placed on your front office staff. Your patients will be happy because they will receive uninterrupted courteous and professional assistance for their billing questions or issues.
With outsourcing, your customers won’t have to get stuck on the phone verifying a patient’s coverage or checking whether they inputted the correct code on the chart. They can devote more time and energy to making patients feel listened to and respected. Improving patient care will improve their satisfaction and will set you apart from the competition.
6. Improves Cash Flow
Medical billing outsourcing lets you save a lot of money since you don’t have to invest on office infrastructure, medical software, and salaries and wages of your staff. It reduces the workload and increases the efficiency of your staff. Outsourcing billing to a provider results in increased scrutiny of payment errors. They will streamline your billing process and identify any hurdles, which in turn can improve your cash flow.
Medical billers implement electronic coding, billing, and reimbursement solutions resulting in improved claim rates and reduced payment-related errors. They adopt the latest billing techniques which help reduce payment processing time, fewer denial rates, and improved compliance with Federal guidelines and regulations.
By outsourcing, you can look forward to a streamlined collection procedure. Your billing team ought to be taking care of patients instead of dialing phone numbers to make collections. The outsourced team will ensure daily, weekly, and monthly medical billing reports are error-free and they will follow up on unpaid insurance claims to ensure that they are processed correctly.
7. Safeguards Patient Data
Identity theft is very rampant these days. Statistics reveal that in 2021, health data breaches impacted 40 million people, the largest healthcare data breach, with more than 550 organizations reporting it to the HHS. Unlike financial data, stolen health data is 20 – 50 times more valuable. This is because medical records include both social security number and credit card information. For this reason, you need to make sure that your patients’ data is well-protected.
While your in-house team may be tech-savvy, it will not be easy for them to stay on top of healthcare industry best practices. It is important that patient information should only be accessible to authorized individuals and organizations. Data breaches can have serious implications for the affected patient. For instance, it might be necessary for your organization to pause operations temporarily. It could mean delays or missed patient care needs.
Outsourcing providers will work hard to follow regulations and protect patient information. Your IT department can ensure that servers and workstations of doctors, nurses, and other staff are working properly while the outsourcing company will ensure that patient privacy is maintained and protected against hackers. They have the software utilizing the most secured data protection technology.
8. Boosts Productivity
How can your staff work on handling more patients if they are already overwhelmed with so many tasks? Filling up paperwork and dealing with disputes on claims can be time-consuming. Surely you wouldn’t want your in-house medical staff to be wasting their time on these tasks when they should be focusing on providing quality healthcare to patients. By letting an outsourcing provider handle such tasks, you can free up your in-house team’s time so they can focus on what they do best– provide quality patient care.
Medical billing is not just a matter of submitting paperwork but it also means correcting errors, monitoring the claim, and reviewing to make sure that all information is in order. Letting a medical billing company handle the paperwork will help reduce your workload and in the process ensure transparency and accountability among your in-house team. When you outsource medical billing, you will not worry about workflow interruption in case one of your staff goes on leave or becomes absent.
Outsourcing ensures not only productivity but also greater consistency for your practice. Since you will be spending less money on overseeing payments from the time of service to payment reminders to finally getting compensated, your staff can focus more on other higher priority items such as a new piece of equipment.
9. Fast Payment of Claims
By outsourcing your medical billing function, you can look forward to a faster claims submission process. This can result in quicker payments and a more reliable income stream. Patients sometimes lag in bills payment. With outsourcing, the company can issue timely payment reminders to your patients. The outsourcing company specializes in getting bills paid on time. This way, your in-house team will not have to be the one to automatically send out the payment reminders.
Even if the claims are denied, the outsourcing company will be there to find out if there were errors that got in the way of approval. The outsourcing firm will assign a dedicated medical biller to ensure that claims are given the proper attention by the insurance companies and will expedite applications in the shortest time possible. Dedicated medical billers will keep the billing cycle flowing in an effective manner. In addition, they will get the bills out sooner with less expense.
Finally, the outsourced medical biller will continue to deal and communicate with patients with outstanding bills or balances to be paid. They will focus on speeding up the process to avoid any unnecessary long waiting times for patients who need the claims to settle their medical bills and treatments.
10. Improves Patient Satisfaction
Some patients find going to the clinic cumbersome and inconvenient. Seeing a physician can be costly for them and they may not like the news they will receive about their health. Juggling the demands of patient treatments and handling billing issues while greeting patients and answering the telephone can be too much for your medical receptionist. Outsourcing some of the tasks will reduce the burden on your front office staff and can definitely boost their productivity, efficiency, and employee morale.
Since you have already freed them from medical billing tasks, your in-house team can now freely engage with patients. They can now offer more personalized service from the time they enter the clinic and interact with a nursing assistant up to the time they walk out the door. With the financial aspect already being handled by the outsourced medical billers, your in-house medical staff can now focus on patient satisfaction while they are inside your clinic premises.
Patients want a great care experience and this should be the focus of your medical staff. Patient experience does not stop when they come into your clinic for consultation. Give importance to every interaction with your patients from texting to notifications. 82% of patients say that quality customer service is an important factor they consider when choosing care.
Ensuring proper medical billing is crucial to patient care. If your in-house medical billing team is overwhelmed with too much, it is unlikely that they will be able to deliver quality patient care. This is where your outsourcing partner comes in. They will take over the time-consuming tasks so your team will not become overwhelmed. This will allow them to focus on ensuring quality patient care.
Why Outsource with airisX?
Outsourcing allows you, as a business, to focus on your main competencies and operations and forget the hassle of sharp learning curves when the task falls outside your company’s core area of business.
airisX is your collaborative partner, not just a vendor of services. We offer transformational growth through our highly skilled architects and innovators. Our success is measured by your growth and not our revenue numbers alone. Learn about our proven track record.
Get in touch with us at contact@airisx.com for your outsourcing needs and we will give you a solution that fits your budget.