How working with a medical billing partner can help your medical practice save money
Did you know that administrative costs account for approximately 15% to 25% of total national health care expenditures? That’s a pretty big number. This may or may not surprise you: Billing and coding costs, physician administrative activities, and insurance administrative costs are the primary drivers.
Administrative tasks (and their associated costs) place a significant burden significant burden on today’s medical practices. Between obtaining prior authorizations, submitting claims, appealing denials, and monitoring and pursuing underpayments, it can add up quickly. That’s where an outsource medical billing partner can help you focus on cost containment in your revenue cycle management department. Consider the following seven ways in which an outsource medical billing partner can help your medical practice save money.
1. No medical billers? No problem. During a time when many medical practices struggle to recruit and retain medical billers, working with an outsource medical billing partner can save you time and money related to posting job ads and interviewing candidates. It also prevents you from having to deal with costly employee turnover that can disrupt cashflow and optimal revenue cycle management performance.
2. You’ll eliminate overhead costs. When working with an outsource medical billing partner, you eliminate employer-paid taxes, vacation time, health insurance, and paid time off. These are significant amounts that you can instead re-invest into the medical practice—for example by purchasing new medical equipment, updating the waiting area, or increasing salaries for medical assistants or other staff.
3. Your outsource medical billing partner handles training. You won’t need to set aside money to train an in-house medical biller (or team of medical billers) because your outsource medical billing partner will ensure its staff are up-to-date on new regulations and guidelines. You can focus on providing high-quality patient care instead.
4. Consistent quality means fewer denials, up-to-date accounts receivable. Having access to highly-skilled medical billers who scrub and analyze your medical claim before it goes out the door means your volume of denials will go down (preventing you from wasting time and resources on appeals) while you simultaneously promote revenue integrity and capture the reimbursement you deserve. You’ll also reduce existing backlogs and promote a smoother cashflow.
5. Access to benchmarking and analytics helps you improve financial performance. Enhanced analytics have become a necessary instrument toward a more financially stable, predictable, and profitable practice. Outsourcing your medical billing to a vendor that already provides these tools can save your medical practice significant money.
6. Insurers aren’t left ‘off the hook’ for underpayments. Some medical billing partners actually pursue insurance companies that underpay claims. This is something medical practices often don’t have the bandwidth to do. The result? When you work with a vendor that does this, you’ll recoup the revenue you deserve.
7. Access to additional tools and technology helps you focus on cost containment. For example, your outsource medical billing partner might provide mobile patient check-in, automated communication for appointment reminders, or the ability for patients to schedule appointments online—all of which can lower administrative costs for your medical practice. In addition, your outsource partner might also provide an electronic health record that’s integrated with a practice management system. With this type of integration, you won’t need to manually enter diagnosis codes and other information into both systems. Again, this saves time. And we all know time equals money.
Improving your mental health
The financial cost savings of outsourcing your medical billing is significant, and so is the positive impact it can on your mental health. Seventy-three percent of physicians say they currently feel burned out with too much paperwork being the main reason why. Outsourcing your medical billing is one way to drastically reduce these feelings and help you take greater control of the clinical side of the business.
Making the right decision for your medical practice
Deciding to outsource your medical billing will depend on each medical practice’s unique circumstances. However, these questions can help you determine whether outsourcing can yield a financial savings:
Are you a newly independent medical practice? If you’ve recently opened your own independent medical practice, the last thing you want to do is fight billing battles. You’ve likely got your hands full with hiring and training new staff, advertising your services, and more. Outsourcing can help set you on the right course from the very beginning.
Do you continually feel burned out? Outsourcing eliminates the hassle and frees you up to concentrate on patients.
Do you lack tools and analytics to improve your financial performance and cashflow? Many outsource medical billing partners provide these and will even help you leverage them.
Does your medical practice struggle with medical biller turnover? Outsourcing can alleviate this by providing on-demand services.
Is the financial viability of your medical practice at risk? If so, outsourcing your medical billing may be one of many options to consider.
Is your billing process inefficient? Outsourcing your medical billing can decrease the number of rejected claims and the time it takes for a payer to pay you.
Conclusion
Working with an outsource medical billing partner can reduce billing challenges, help your practice focus on cost containment, and even improve cashflow. Learn how edgeMED can help and be sure to check the Healthy Snacks blog for more expert insights, best practices and industry trends.
