Due to the rising demand for quality healthcare services and complicated payer’s guidelines, more physicians are opting to hire a medical billing company. According to the latest report from Grand View Research, Inc. the demand for efficient healthcare mentorship has increased the trend of outsourcing medical billing services from $6.3 billion in 2015 to $16.9 billion by 2024; suppressing demand for in-house billing.
The new data reflects a similar data from 2014 research that found that predicted that 90 percent of medical practitioners were planning to outsource medical billing and coding services. If you want to learn about what kind of billing practices are more preferable to physicians.
Are you interested to know why this trend is getting a significant hype? In this article, I have mentioned the straightforward factors that prove why hiring a billing and coding company makes sense for your practice.
In-House vs. Outsourced Medical Billing Services | Reasons and Benefits
1. Skillful Resources
Generally, revenue cycle management, billing, and coding have become increasingly complicated. That’s why it requires a greater level of expertise to streamline your cash flow and drive maximum reimbursements. Since most physicians hire and educate employees for the in-house billing department. Therefore, they have to invest a capital amount in providing ongoing training to their employees. Thus, it has become a time-intensive and daunting task to carry out these procedures on-premises. On the other hand, a medical billing company can successfully process hundreds of thousands of claims with a wide range of expertise and knowledge.
2. Advanced Medical Billing Solutions
Nowadays, medical billing software and hardware equipment have undergone its own series of evolutions in order to comply with the latest industrial demands. So you can stay ahead of your competitors and maintain billing efficiently.
A medical billing company just charges a fixed percentage from the revenue they collect on your behalf. At this cost, they install, manage, and upgrade billing software. Otherwise, if you will invest a capital amount to consistently upgrade software and equipment for your in-house department. Then it may cost anywhere from thousands to tens of thousands of dollars. Physicians who feel reluctant to upgrade their current software, they might end up facing more challenges during their business growth.
3. Refocus On Patient Care Services
With changes like MACRA and the shift to value-based care, physicians are always under pressure to provide quality care services to their patients. It is important to refocus on the quality metrics to hold your practice back from penalties. Since it can lead to lowered insurance reimbursements. When you outsource medical billing services, then you can find sufficient time to refocus on patient care without the added stress of also managing billing and coding responsibilities. Similarly, front office staff will also get rid of excessive workload as well. Since a medical billing agency will handle all the phone calls that are related to billing and coding.
4. Drive Increased Revenue
Most physicians think that in-house billing practices cost them a fixed amount. Although, the reality is a lot different. When you add up the salaries, incentives, annual bonuses, paid leaves of in-house billing staff then you get a variant cost. Moreover, when you pile up software and hardware installation, management, operations, and system upgrade costs then you get a cost more than your expectations.
When you hire a medical billing company, then it will charge you a fixed amount. Usually, billing companies collect offer the following payment methods to physicians;
● Claim-Base.
● Percentage Base.
● Hour Base.
Whatever option you avail for your services, you have to sign a contract in advance. Most medical billing agencies include the use of upgraded billing and coding software, operations related to revenue cycle management, and customer support services in that contract. Hence, you can manage administrative responsibilities at the lowest fraction of in-house billing costs.
Moreover, a billing company always guarantees to reduce denial rate and drive maximum revenue from your insurance payers. Although, they charge a fixed percentage of revenue they collect from your insurance payers. Therefore, they strive to bring maximum reimbursement for your practice in order to add profit for themselves. In this way, you can achieve mutual business success with your billing partner.
When Should You Outsource Medical Billing Services?
It can be a tough decision to hand over your business administration to a third-party. However, there comes a time when it is more profitable to outsource billing services to fix your financial issues. Making this switch can be an intimidating and exhausting experience, especially for those practitioners who have been practicing in-house revenue cycle management services for years. But this transition is not as scary as it seems.
Remember that not all medical billing companies provide equal experience. Therefore, you should not trust any agency blindly. Do proper research on the internet and in your local community as well. Ask for their customer’s feedback and industry experience. Try to communicate with their existing clients. Once you settle at the satisfactory feedback then you should build trust with that company.
Also, read the contract thoroughly and prevent yourself from hidden charges. While pricing and budgets should be part of the discussion, abstain from making that ultimate deciding factor and look at long-term impacts instead.
Make sure that a medical billing company has a track record of improved cash flow for their existing clients.
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