Medical billing involves the processes of creating and submitting claims to insurance companies. This is done to receive payments for all the services provided. Before the digital era, these processes were in paper form, but nowadays it is automated.
It ensures that you get fast cash transactions and quick flow of revenue in your organization. Outsourcing medical billing process ensures that the claims sent to insurance companies are tracked until they are received.
Outsourcing medical billing can take the stress off of a very demanding job. Keep reading for 7 amazing advantages of outsourcing your medical billing.
1. Reduction of Billing Errors
Outsourcing your medical billing means that you have experienced professional people that ensure that your claim is submitted on time. The billers have to go through training, so they are knowledgeable in the field of billing. This significantly reduces the number of rejected and denied claims due to errors.
They also provide feedback to help patients in reimbursing future claims. With many hands involved in generating one bill, it’s no wonder that 80% of billings contain mistakes.
2. Improved Patient Care and Service
With increased competition, it’s essential to keep the customer satisfied to gain their loyalty. An advantage of outsourcing your medical billing is having a purposeful statement which can be understood by the patient. This means that the patient won’t have to ask to follow up questions and pays the bill in a timely manner.
Your patients get satisfied with the service they get without having to assign other staff with additional duties. Outsourcing means that the staff has more time to focus on the patients. This especially applies to small hospitals that don’t have the financial capacity to hire medical billing staff.
Physicians cannot take care of patients if they are filing claims and reimbursements. It makes good business to concentrate on quality patient care.
3. Save Money
Outsourcing medical billing will save you a lot of cash. It’s cheaper to outsource that hire a staff employee to the same job because billing companies charge flat rates. There are postage and material discounts that one can take advantage of.
A streamlined process that is offered will accelerate your cash flow. The flat rate per claim or a percentage of each claim charged by medical billing companies can save you a lot.
Additionally, there’s no initial capital investment of getting software or maintaining it. Outsourcing means that you don’t have to maintain a billing system as no need for software or hardware.
4. Visible Patient Payment Behavior
Outsourcing your patient billing process means that you have access to the administrative portal. This means that you know where your payments are coming from. You receive a daily report on the account numbers, statements mailed, those received and those not yet mailed.
For electronic statements, you gain visibility of which emails were opened, read and which bounced back. It’s easy to identify patent behavior with these trends. As management, your decisions are more informed about billing practices.
5. Improve Staff Productivity
The responsibility of mailing, printing, and stamping statements will not be on your staffs to do list. This adds valuable time to their day, which they can use to work on other assignments that will fulfill the organization’s mission.
For example, a receptionist who is responsible for answering calls is relieved of the burden of answering patients’ questions about the claim or payment. This will make them more efficient, productive, and even boost their morale at work.
Your staff will have time to correct incorrect patient information, ensuring quicker claim collections. Learn more here on why you should consider utilizing medical billing in your organization.
6. Increase in Cash Flow and Revenue
Office space, salaries, purchase, and upgrades of billing software are all expenses that outsourcing medical billing can save you. When you outsource, claims are submitted on time. There will be an increase in reimbursements, which will lead to a rise in revenue for the organization.
Patients are getting more informed on technology and are looking for organizations that can offer quality services; more patients means more profits to the organization. Sometimes your medical billing officer falls ill or has an emergency which needs him to be off work for a couple of days.
What happens in this situation? Reimbursements are not delivered on time, ultimately affecting your cash flow. Outsourcing medical billing ensures that the claims going in and out are uninterrupted and cash flow is regular.
Outsourcing medical billing process focuses on reimbursements to make up for the losses of about 4-5% each year.
7. Payment Flexibility and Changing Regulations
The insurance world is always changing. Keeping up with this information can be time consuming and exhausting. When you outsource, you don’t have to worry about understanding new laws, guidelines, and regulations.
The professionals make sure that they maintain unto date information so that you don’t have to go through the hassle. Outsourcing medical bills ensure that your claims are legitimate, therefore quicker settlements.
Outsourcing medical billing process means that the staff has more time to focus on the patients. This especially applies to small hospitals that don’t have the financial capacity to hire medical billing staff.
Physicians cannot take care of patients if they are filing claims and reimbursements. It makes good business to concentrate on quality patient care.
Why You Should Consider Outsourcing Your Medical Billing
Whether accompany decides to outsource its medical billing will depend on a variety of factors. Finances, number of employees, and the age of the business are what you should look into. Each organization has its own unique characteristics.
First, ask yourself if your staff has the training and capacity to handle insurance. If they don’t, outsource medical billing company. If you’ve experienced many errors in verifying your claim, maybe you should outsource.
Ensure that the billing company you choose exercises transparency in its actions. Check how quickly they respond to patients’ questions during business hours and on weekends. Find companies that have years of experience for efficiency.