In the healthcare industry Revenue cycle management (RCM) is exceptionally important. Survival of medical practices and hospitals is dependent on the efficiency of their billing operations. While healthcare may be the top main concern, medical practices are at the end of day still businesses and need to turn a profit to continue to exist.
Billing is a complicated process that is filled with many delays and uncertainties as known by any healthcare professional. Things can go wrong at many places from coding errors to claim rejections. There are plenty of times when practices are unable to collect some (or all) of what is owed to them. Following up with patients and insurance companies regarding unpaid or rejected claims requires a great deal of manpower. This results in increase in time taken to get paid leaving revenue hanging in the balance.
That’s why we recommend using a medical billing company to handle your billing which will allow you to focus on your patients. The healthcare industry is becoming more complex and competitive by the day with the emergence of large-scale medical billing companies. Sorting through which, one to use can be challenging. A doctor looking for a medical billing services provider should research into the market to determine the best medical billing company to meet the needs of their practice.
Choosing a vendor solely on the basis of a low cost is not a good idea because it’s possible the low price might be an indication of low quality service. While that’s not always the case, it’s worth some hesitation because the capabilities might not suit your needs. The key priority is to choose a reputable company that you can trust 100% with their patient’s medical information when a medical practice makes the decision to outsource their medical billing. You need to engage a company that will be able to significantly reduce the headaches around billing issues, while at the same time protecting and securing their patient’s private data. A good choice of vendors will allow you to spend more time on his patient’s care and fewer hours on time-consuming billing. You need a medical billing company that will work well with you, your providers and the staff. You need to be able to trust that they will get the work done, increase revenue and get claims paid.
The service should be established with verifiable industry experience. It’s not just about the number of years in business but rather about areas of specialty. They must have experience as a medical billing service that is able to bill both Medicaid and Medicare. They should have staff members on the team that have in-depth knowledge of medical technology, CPT4, ICD-10, and HCPCS Coding as well as HIPAA and Office of the Inspector General Compliance – to name a few. They should be 100% compliant with the Health Insurance Accountability and Portability Act (HIPAA) in order to protect patient privacy.
