Many businesses receive payment from insurance companies through medical billing. But depending on the size of your practice, in-house processing can become overwhelming.
That’s when you should consider a way to outsource medical billing as an option. But that doesn’t come without its share of advantages and disadvantages.
Through the process of medical billing, practices turn services into claims. Billings claims are medical bills that that come back in the form of reimbursements. This streamlined type of workflow does facilitate convenience and productivity.
But, its demands create challenges for a practice that’s not equipped to handle the extra administration on a routine basis.
If you’re questioning whether to outsource your practice’s medical billing, consider this. Find out more about the pros and cons of outsourcing to make an informed decision.
Why outsource medical billing: some pros
Outsourcing involves hiring a third-party to handle services performed in-house. It’s viewed as a way to cut costs and streamline internal processes.
When you have a small medical practice, the demand to grow dictates your finances. To survive growth, cost-cutting measures like outsourcing medical billing is a smart decision.
Here are a few advantages to the method:
1. Reduction in administrative duties
Small practices invest a lot of money in training staff members. And as medical policies and procedures change, costs for training do as well.
By outsourcing, you spend less money paying for training. And your staff expends fewer hours keying claims, which can open up man-hours for other important in-house duties.
2. Focused patient care
If you run your office like a billing center, patients become numbers on a clipboard. Outsourcing frees up time for you and your staff to give patients more focused care.
And focused care leads to less medical errors and happier patients.
3. Reduction in billing errors
An overtaxed, overworked administrative staff is a recipe for disaster. Most costly mistakes happen when there’s an excess influx of work.
Outsourcing eliminates the influx. This helps staff members slow down and focus, reducing expensive billing errors.
When you’re trying to grow a medical practice, saving money and cultivating strong relationships with happy patients is the best place to start. Outsourcing aids in the process.
Some cons to outsourcing
Nothing is sure-fire, especially when it comes to running a business. Outsourcing is no exception.
While choosing a third-party to assist with billing is a plus, there’s also a downside. Take a look at some disadvantages.
1. You relinquish control
When you run all of the billing in-house, you have direct control of the process. That’s not so with outsourcing. You leave it all up to trust.
As a small practice owner, this may deter you because you won’t be able to supervise billing operations.
2. Security risks
A small staff of people makes it easy to keep track of confidential patient information. When you outsource, more people have access to restricted customer data.
And unfortunately, that poses a greater risk for breaches to HIPAA security and privacy measures.
3. More money
Outsourcing costs money. Setting up the process can lead to unexpected, additional costs if you don’t read the fine print.
You may need to promote within or hire another employee to manage the relationship. Extra costs like these can become a burden to a small practice.
When you’re considering outsourcing, keep these three things in mind: security, control, and money.
Consider outsourcing
When you outsource medical billing for your practice, you open up avenues for growth.
The downside is there are also risks involved that you might not want to take. Weigh the pros and cons and make the move that’s beneficial to your practice.
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