When Juan Pablo, MD, first opened his medical practice in the US, 7-years ago, his billing system was completely a mess. His practice did not at all follow up aggressively enough with his patients, who failed to pay the fees, as well as insurance company payments were continuously delayed by claims fraught with coding errors and misplaced numbers.
Fortunately, all of this took a U-turn when he decided to outsource his medical billing requirements to a well-established service provider. And since then, for Mr. Juan, there has been no looking back, as he is earning more money and the collections have increased by 30% and he is being paid faster. In this article, we would be discussing the key vetting criteria that can greatly help to find the best billing service for any kind of health care facility or a medical practice.
A good billing service will partner with your practice to deliver outstanding results
These are the advantages of outsourcing billing needs that often, 3rd-party billing firms like to tout: fewer staff headaches and higher collection rates. You can save thousands of dollars by outsourcing your practice's billing operations. For many physicians, though, the idea to outsource is not always so clear. Remember, do not count on outsourcing costing you less - it does not always.
The bigger question is who is going to do the job better?
That is a tough question to answer. Even many experts in the billing sector acknowledge that quality among billing firms – many of them mom-and-pop firms varies considerably.It needs a leap of faith to outsource the billing function!
So, how can you decide whether outsourcing your needs to a medical biller is right for you and how to find a reputable one? Billing services boasts of splendid results – but can they deliver? Yes, many can. In order to identify real expertise from marketing hype, physicians and interns need to dig a little deeper than performance track record metrics.Assess Cost and Advantages -
Billing service providers typically charge a percentage of fees that the total amount they collect. The percentage they demand differs both by service provider and by practice type. Most companies charge general internal medical practices higher than subspecialty practices, as primary care doctors generate more medical bills for smaller amounts, which in turn, mean more work for billing company. In general, physicians can expect to pay 9-11% of their total collectibles to outside billing firms.
Experts strongly recommend that medical practitioners should invite potential outsourcing organizations to provide them with a cost estimate based on the practice's billing data, payer mix and charge volume. The doctors must then, assess all these factors and find the best suitable outsourcing company. Ideally, you will benefit from the billing service if you would be able to cut the size of your billing staff.
In the next part of the article, we will be continuing the same discussion. However, for more details on medical billing, you can visit www.activemds.com.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSo if you think just hiring a third party billing company to handle your practices medical billing issues will solve all your problems then think again. You have to choose a company very carefully to handle this for you, just as you would thoroughly investigate an employee coming to work in your office to do the same thing for you. Ask a lot of questions, and you'll be fine.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.medicalbillingservices.cc