Tag Archives: outsource medical billing

5 Sure Signs Your Practice Needs to Outsource Medical Billing

Posted on August 28, 2014

Should we outsource medical billing to a third-party service provider or perform it in-house? This is one of the most important business questions that physicians of today ask. While some physicians feel that outsourcing is the best option, others want to maintain control over their collections through in-house medical billing. So, how do you know for sure if your medical practice or hospital should outsource medical billing?

Here are five signs that your hospital requires medical billing services. If your healthcare clinic is facing one or two of the following scenarios, then you may want to consider outsourcing medical billing services to India.

1. A high staff turnover: The problem of turnover is something that every industry faces, but turnover in the billing department can be very damaging. Since claim processing is integral to the lifeblood of a practice, replacements or new additions to your billing department will unavoidably lead to a slowdown in the processing of your claims.

2. An inefficient billing process: If your hospital has been seeing your collections drop, while the time to collect them keeps increasing, your clinic may be facing issues in your medical billing department. If you outsource billing to an experienced service provider in India, you can successfully reduce the number of rejected claims and also decrease the time it takes for your hospital to receive payments from payers.

3. A lack of technology know-how: If you are to carry out effective in-house billing, then you will need to make investments in the latest practice management software. Apart from buying and regularly updating the software, you will also have to provide adequate training to your staff. If your hospital does not want to handle technical issues or software upgrades (which can take up valuable time and effort), then think about outsourcing claims processing. Continue reading

The Pros and Cons of Outsourcing Medical Billing

Posted on May 9, 2014

If you are a doctor or a practice manager, then you would have definitely faced this question: To outsource or not? The question of whether a healthcare practice should outsource medical billing operations to India is a tough question to answer. The right answer to this question varies from practice to practice and is based on a several factors, such as, the size of the local labor market, the state of the practice’s finances and the age of the business to name a few.

Whether it is billing, clinical services or revenue cycle management, your cash flow depends on them and hence the decision on outsourcing should not be taken lightly. Before you think about outsourcing, you must carry out a thorough assessment of your staffing, costs and volume metrics. This will help you determine what is right for you.

Read on to find out the pros and cons of outsourcing medical billing services:

The Pros

  • Outsourcing is less expensive: If you are starting up a new healthcare clinic or if you are transitioning because of a staff member’s resignation, outsourcing is best financial decision that you can take. By outsourcing, you need not invest on hiring billing experts. You can also save on the cost of investing on expensive billing software, technology or infrastructure.
  • Benefit from transparency: Your medical billing service provider will provide you with regular performance reports, either automatically or upon your request. This way of working will provide you with unparalleled visibility into your medical billing operations without you having to manage or oversee any of your staffers.
  • Better consistency: By outsourcing, your service provider will be contractually obliged to carry out certain services for you, like appealing denials. You will also never have to worry about staffing, since it will be the job of your service provider to support your requirements all through the year.

Now, for the cons. Continue reading