Medical billing is preparing, submitting, and receiving payment from an insurance company for a claim concerning medical services rendered or durable medical equipment (DME) provided. This process is vital to any medical practice and involves a complex system that requires strict implementation, maintenance, and staff education.
More traditional medical practices used to handle their medical billing in-house. However, with the ever-changing regulations in the healthcare industry and the complexity of the medical coding system, more and more practices have decided to outsource their medical billing needs. When it comes to medical billing, there are several great benefits to outsourcing the work.
10 Reasons to outsource your medical billing:
1. Reduce Costs
A common misconception about outsourcing highly specialized business functions is that it will be more costly than doing it in-house. When it comes to hiring a medical billing service, it ends up being more cost-efficient.
Outsourcing your medical billing functions saves your company from hiring medical billing staff. Hiring staff means having a fixed overhead for their salary and paying for their benefits. You must also budget for employee training if you decide to hire your staff, as medical codes are regularly updated, and systems are continuously improved and updated.
When you outsource your medical billing needs to a reputable service provider such as Proclaim Billing Service, you automatically get top-notch service from expert staff without spending on their training.
2. Reduced Errors
Outsourcing your medical billing requirements helps significantly reduce billing errors and claims denials. Errors are costly and can cause a delay in your reimbursement or in the provision of timely care to your patients. All these unnecessary expenses and losses can be prevented with the help of outsourcing to medical billing companies. They have years of experience processing your billing and coding tasks accurately without any avoidable errors.
3. Increase Clean Claim Rate
The clean claim rate is the percentage of insurance claims successfully processed and reimbursed the first time they are submitted. A qualified medical billing service provider will take the necessary steps to ensure your clean claim rate stays higher than 90%. This will allow your staff to concentrate on caring for your payment. At the same time, someone else ensures your medical practice is compensated for services rendered and equipment provided, leading to efficient revenue cycle management.
4. Improve revenue cycle management
A medical billing service provider can help ensure that billings are sent to the correct insurance, especially for patients who have several insurers. Accurately accomplished and coded billing statements sent to the accurate insurance increase your medical claim rate and improve your revenue cycle management which means you get compensated as fast as possible. Delays in reimbursements mean a loss of money.
5. Avoid costly penalties from government payers
Penalties from government payers, such as Medicare and Medicaid, can be expensive. It could cost you $500 to $1,500 per patient per day. Outsourcing medical billing to an expert in this area can help avoid incurring fines.
6. Improve patient satisfaction with the billing process
Patient satisfaction is critical when dealing with complicated medical billing procedures and regulations. Patients want to feel like they're in good hands when dealing with their healthcare provider. They also want to know that everything is being done correctly, which can be difficult when so many parties are involved—from insurance companies down to the hospital itself.
Outsourcing to a medical billing company allows you to have someone who can explain clearly to the patients and make them understand every aspect of the medical billing statement. Having someone qualified and knowledgeable inspires confidence from the patients and increases their satisfaction.
7. Streamline processes and improve profitability
Medical billing is a time-consuming process. There are many steps involved in billing your patients: sending out bills, collecting payment from patients and sending them the appropriate information on how much they owe, keeping track of all those payments and any late fees—the list goes on.
Handing the task over to a medical service provider helps you streamline your processes and frees up your team so they can focus on their core responsibilities, bringing more profit to your practice.
8. Consistency and Control
An in-house medical billing staff makes you dependent on their ability to perform the task. If the team gets sick, your process flow may be affected. Outsourcing your medical billing needs to a service provider helps provide more control over the billing process and ensures you are being served by a qualified team of medical billing experts whom you can consistently depend on for accurate and timely reports.
9. Keep up with industry changes and technological advancements
The medical industry changes fast. Medical codes are regularly updated. Hiring a third-party medical biller, an expert in the field, allows you to keep abreast with the changes in medical coding, pertinent regulations, and industry-related technological advancements. Outsourcing your medical billing services also allows your medical practice access to the software at a more affordable price through your service provider.
10. Focus more on patient care
One of the essential things that outsourcing can do is help you focus more on caring for your patients. Trying to handle your medical billing needs in-house can divert your attention from what counts - your patients.
Final Thoughts Outsourcing Medical Billing
Handling the medical billing process in-house can cost medical practices more time and money than it's worth. Outsourcing your medical billing requirements to an expert in the industry, such as Proclaim Billing Services, has a lot of benefits that you should take into consideration.
Proclaim Billing Services is the leading DME, Prosthetic, and Orthotic billing expert with years of practical experience in applying business processes. Hiring the team will be your best choice if you are a healthcare provider looking for adventure and expertise in managing your Accounts Receivable, Collections, and Claims Processes. Entrusting your medical billing process to Proclaim Billing Services will significantly reduce billing errors, claims denials, and rejections and reduce your workload, allowing you to focus on caring for your patients.
Set an appointment today to learn more about how Proclaim Billing Services can assist your practice.