Today, over 50% of healthcare practitioners feel that the medical bill process is incredibly complex and oftentimes overwhelming. That same statistic is demanding more from the companies when they need to file claims. Easier report creation, enhanced ability to understand underlying details, better dashboards, and more visual and intuitive tools.
Physicians and medical practice institutions are on their heels — asking for a change and finding out that if said change can occur it happens at a snail’s pace. This is the main reason why many practices are outsourcing their medical billing process and also one of the reasons why companies that handle claims are trying to change their platforms and adapt their methodology to newer demands. In this article, we’re going to explore what outsourcing medical billing means. What types of outsourcing are available, and finally the pros and cons of outsourcing medical billing.
What does outsourcing medical billing mean?
Medical billing is basically the method by which we translate all our records, all our services, everything we’ve done for a patient into a billing claim — something the insurance provider can understand and later start the reimbursement process. This is how most physicians get paid. It’s complex, full of jargon, and as you can expect rife with landmines. Riddled with errors that can push back a claim, not pay it out fully or downright deny it. It can even lead to painful audits.
It used to be that most physicians handled this process in-house, with their own staff and accountability service. It was and continues to be convoluted, full of codes to process, which in many cases takes an incredible amount of time and demands a lot of paperwork. Thankfully, nowadays, due to the emergence of software and service providers, there are dozens upon dozens of professional firms that offer to take the majority of the work and file the necessary paperwork — in other words, do your medical billing and take care of your revenue stream.
These services are varied and each has its unique features. From smartphone apps to brick and mortar offices. It can be as simple as software you download to your computer or the use of a cloud service, to something a bit more premium, with a call center and professional staff.
Medical billing agencies are a trend right now and, due to their superb service, and the way they create value by gifting physicians with key benefits they will most likely change the medical billing landscape as the future unfolds — adding technology enhancements, automation, machine learning insights, AI algorithms, and other inspired features.
Pros and Cons of Medical Billing Outsourcing
The biggest con and the one that you simply can’t avoid is the COST. Outsourced medical billing services have a cost and one that ultimately influences your bottom line. Firms and their software differ in the way they apply fees. Each has its own cannon. From a monthly subscription service, barebones, to a full-fledged firm that even files denial reversals and fights claims that take a percentage of each claim.
This is the biggest con this sort of service has. Aside from the benefits really add up and change in a positive and optimizing way you currently spearhead your practice and manage your business. And what many forget, is as a practitioner your time has a cost to it as well. Spending it on billing takes away from time with patients or outside of the workplace. Even if you delegate to your admin, have you ever calculated the cost for them to do billing? It tends to make up a large chunk of their time and they generally aren’t well suited to staying on top of it in the manner that can ensure you are staying ahead of changes and making what you should be at all times.
Let’s talk about some of the benefits of outsourcing your medical billing and the cost of outsourcing medical billing.
Processing bills much faster
Whether it’s software, a firm, or a mixture of both, by outsourcing your medical bills you’re handing that section of your business over to a trained professional. Most of these companies are themselves composed of pure medical billing clerks or ex-administrators from various healthcare roles. They know how the system operates, the inner working of it, and in many cases are well aware of how to get your claim filed and approved faster.
No errors and benchmarks met
Medical billing can oftentimes have incredibly nuanced rules (often archaic) that are hard to understand or manage. What does this mean? That a simple error, or a scrubbed item, or a word out of place, anything can set you back months. You’ll have to start the whole process over again. In many cases, these errors pop out during the submission event — when you have to send over, electronically, all the necessary documentation.
With AI and software, this is no longer the case. These technologies are almost error-proof. Over 90% of all mistakes, when it comes to claims, are on account of humans. The rest is mainly due to an error in the adjudication company’s platform or a glitch in the system.
Devote Resources To Your Patients, Not Your Billing
Did you become a doctor, a physician, a medical practitioner because of your overwhelming love for accounting and paperwork? Did you spend all those years in medical school just so you could continue your love affair with paperwork?
We doubt it.
You became a doctor to heal, to treat others, to devote your time and your passion towards patients, not paperwork. This is one of the main benefits of medical bill outsourcing companies.
Better Payment Rates
Over 75% of medical billing is deficient — mainly when it comes to rates and how fees are calculated. In other words, because of faulty medical billing, you’re honestly getting paid less than what you deserve.
A More Peaceful Existence
Due to deficient claims or denied claims sometimes your income stream might be a bit unpredictable Billing specialists with the right software reduce denials, safeguard your patient records, and uses cutting-edge tools to make sure that your earnings continue to make it into your account evenly without any sort of problem or issue. You don’t need to worry about patient data liability stemming from a data leak or not being aware of activity that could result in an audit.
What to look for in a company or app for medical billing process outsourcing?
The main things you should be on the lookout for are customer care, reputation, and software that is secure end-to-end. Many companies claim to be adept in all of the above but realistically most aren’t tested for the accuracy of their statement. What most don’t offer is a stellar reputation and a customer care department that’s always there for you — something, as a physician, you might be able to sympathize with. Sometimes, you just need to hear a friendly voice at the end of a harried phone call. At ResolvMD we make sure billing is not something you ever need to be stressed about.
Connect With Us
Want to learn more about our billing services and physician insights portal? We would be happy to connect with you!
About ResolvMD:
ResolvMD is an experienced full service medical billing company that empowers physicians to bill more efficiently through data-derived insights and democratized knowledge. We believe you should be as confident and competent in your billing as you are in your practice. Our proprietary Physician Insights Portal harnesses the power of data to deliver customized insights directly to you in real time. No more second guessing or feeling like you don’t have the transparency and accountability that you deserve. Paired with the most modern and secure platform on the market, you can rest easy knowing that we are taking care of all your billing needs while fine tuning your ability to understand best practices and earn what you deserve.