How to Choose a Medical Billing Service
A few things must be remembered when selecting a medical billing service. You want to know the costs of the service, of course, but you want to know what the billing party should expect.
It could be hard. Without knowing the right questions, a medical billing service can work out without meeting its promises.
A professional consultant with extensive experience could be worth hiring to lead your practice. Here you can find a professional adviser. But when you want to do it alone, you must pick a medical billing partner and ask questions. Here are a couple of aspects before you buy:
Costs
The scale and precise emphasis of your practice are highly variable. You will need to contact a hard-number vendor, but a general estimate of what they charge is given by some billing web pages. Companies generally charge between 3% to 9% of net collection a share of their monthly revenue as payment.
In view of possible revenue growth if you outsource, it is important to take into consideration the costs (in time and money) in keeping your billing in-house versus the costs of externalization. There are three major points to ask when discussing costs for a medical billing service:
- In the monthly amount I pay what specific services are included?
- Are clearinghouse costs percentage included or are they in addition to the percentage paid to my practice?
- Are there any co-payments my employees collect when services are rendered?
Before processing the claims, most billing companies scrutinize your claims, and many follow up with the insurance company to ensure that the claims are accepted. Nevertheless, a number of companies will also periodically review your receivable accounts and suggest how to enhance the financial performance of your company. Others include access to electronic health records and/or tools for monitoring of activities. It will be important to consider which services you practice and patients require in the selection of the company to outsource your RCM for. Therefore, the following are considered:
- Does the medical billing service have trained coders or does my company have coding responsibility?
- Is it up to date with the change to a stronger ICD-10 coding system if the billing company conducts coding?
- How accurate are the medical billing financial reports? Can my practice look forward to analyzes and performance suggestions?
- Do you have experience with the medical accounting service in my specialty?
You will want a billing partner who keeps you occupied at every stop. Many companies offer software that enables their sales cycles, claims and dis-allowances to be frequently reviewed. You want to ensure your medical billing partner, particularly if something goes wrong, is responsive and helpful. Open communication lines will make the difference between a billing system failure and a boost to your bottom line. Before signing on the dotted line, it is important to ask:
- Could I at any time access information about the income period of my practice?
- What can I expect when an error happens with the medical accounting service?
- Does my practice obtain copies of any documents from payers obtained by the billing company "explaining rewards" or "electronic forwarding advice"?
Your patients should be kept up with a medical billing service and handling crime accounts. Most accounting companies give their reports to patients directly and, if necessary, pass unpaid accounts to collection agencies. Many medical accounting systems also answer telephone calls and patient queries. Many organizations also provide a customer portal where patients can access and repay their accounts directly. You will want to be sure that your medical accounting partner is willing to keep you updated about what you owe. Sometimes, you would like to find out:
- How long will the billing provider wait for a payment processor to pass unpaid balances?
- Was my monthly percentage of a patient database included? Does that cost extra?
Would you like to learn more about the success of your practice with medical billing services? Find out more about our outsourcing solutions for medical billing or notify us.
