Every business relies on the money it makes to survive. However, the majority of medical practices will often treat their patients before receiving any payment. This is often because their patients are covered by some kind of insurance and the insurance has to pay for the treatments received by the patient. For many medical businesses, it can take up precious time and effort trying to chase payments or arguing the fact that payments should be made in full, rather than receiving a partial payment. It’s a headache that most medical centers can do without. If you’re thinking about outsourcing your billing to someone else, here are the advantages of doing so.
Cost
One of the main reasons practices avoid outsourcing their billing is to keep costs down. However, they often don’t look at the bigger picture. It would, in fact, cost a practice much more to chase payments themselves than it often does to hire someone else to do it. Firstly, it takes a valued member of the practice away from their other responsibilities, which often means hiring a second person or paying for additional hours. Secondly, it limits the amount of correspondence used to contact insurance companies or individuals, saving on paper, ink, telephone calls and much more. Someone who is hired to chase bills and get them paid is likely to do it quickly and efficiently because it’s their sole responsibility.
Specialist Training
A receptionist in a dental practice isn’t trained to deal with dental billing issues. Hiring a specialist will mean you have someone who is trained to review payments, make sure the right amount is being paid and stay on top of any adjustments. A specialist can also provide advice and guidance to your existing staff so you’re able to set a goal of 100% payment, rather than only receiving 75% on a regular basis. The specialist will know – if the practice doesn’t make money, neither will they.
Back in Control
Many medical practices don’t use other companies for their billing because they fear the lack of control. When you outsource your billing, you’ll never be out of control. In fact, it can help you to regain control. When you’re having difficulty getting paid for your services, it’s easy for things to get messy quickly and it’s likely you won’t have the time or the resources to sort the problem out. Outsourcing means there’s someone working closely with your team to ensure you get what you deserve.
Knowing the Specifics
The medical and insurance industries are ever changing and it can be difficult to keep up with both at the same time. However, that is the reality many practices are faced with. Outsourcing your billing means you’ll have the extra help to abreast of new updates and ways of working. The rules and requirements of insurance companies are often specific and different, so it’s important to have someone who’s ahead of the game.
Free up your Time
Most importantly, outsourcing your billing doesn’t mean you’ve failed. In fact, it’s often the exact opposite. With the amount of freed up time you will have, you can concentrate your efforts on ensuring the best customer service practices to ensure repeat customers and a successful business for years to come.
Watson Williams says
I thought it was really interesting to learn that outsourcing your billing needs can be helpful at reducing overall costs. I had always thought that outsourcing any of your business needs would end up costing your more overall. I’d definitely consider something like this if I were running a medical clinic.
Monica Chavez says
It’s interesting how you point out that by outsourcing your billing, you’ll never be out of control. It’s really nice that there would be someone working closely with your team to make sure that things work out correctly. That must be really helpful to company managers so that they can keep everything well organized and well managed and not have to worry too much about it on their own.
EchoScribe Inc. says
This was a great read! I’m sure people would find very helpful information about medical billing from this blog.
Elaine Rau says
Thanks!!
Kairi Gainsborough says
I didn’t realize that hospitals could outsource their billing. The fact that outsourcing can save a clinic or practice money is probably really appealing. What you said about the medical billing service having specially trained staff who can do the work quickly makes a lot of sense. I agree that a medical center would need extra staff if they wanted to do their billing in-house.
Michael Seda says
Having an outsourced medical or dental billing service is becoming a common thing nowadays. Not only is it an efficient and high-quality service, but it’s a great way to save money as well so that you can focus more on your work which can, in return, increase your profits. Thanks for sharing this article it was really helpful.