Choosing between outsourced medical billing and maintaining an in-house billing staff is one of the most financially impactful decisions a practice can make. It can be one of the most difficult as well.
The cliché, “If you want something done right, do it yourself,” would seem to make in-house billing the obvious choice, but clichés aren’t always true. After all, you wouldn’t prescribe your patients an apple each day and send them away would you?
To help you make an informed choice that’ll benefit your revenue cycle, we’ll lay out the pros and cons of both in-house and outsourced medical billing.
In-House Medical Billing
In-house billing’s inherent advantage is that it keeps the entire process in your hands. Some physicians find comfort in having complete oversight over their financial success.
If you’ve already hired billers and have well-engrained processes, switching to an outsourced solution will require operational alterations. Instead of checking on your billers to ensure proper billing, for example, you’ll have to periodically check with the billing company instead.
On the other hand, in-house billing can have costs disproportionately greater than the revenue generated. For instance, government regulations have resulted in lower reimbursements for many practices, but that doesn’t mean you can just cut your billers’ salary – at least not without experiencing pushback from employees.
Another major issue for practices using in-house billers is supported. If your billing department is small, your profitability depends on the competency of only one or two billers. Additionally, if one of your billers calls out sick or quits altogether, your practice will experience a major dip in revenue.
Outsourced Medical Billing
When you outsource medical billing, though, you’ll receive the power of a large billing department even if your practice is small in size. There’s no need to worry if a biller is out or if they are having problems handling a patient influx. You’ll always have a steady revenue stream.
Another advantage of outsourced billing is its pricing structure. Most outsourcing companies charge only a small percentage of your overall collections. The company only gets paid if you get paid, meaning an outsourced medical billing solution is going to work harder to ensure you receive maximum reimbursements.
Outsourced billing eliminates much of the administrative burden that is traditionally part of running a medical practice. For those 58% of physicians who spend the equivalent of one day a week on paperwork, any relief from administrative tedium is welcome.
An inconvenience of outsourced billing is that your billing function is disconnected from your practice. It will take some effort on your part to ensure your vendor is billing to the best of its abilities.
You should ask the company for reports on a regular basis. Or even better, look for a solution like CareCloud Concierge that helps you understand your practice’s performance. Also, when you are signing the biller’s contract lookout for any hidden fees. Your billing company should be as transparent as possible.
After considering both options, it appears outsourced billing answers many of the shortcomings of in-house billing. As long as you are diligent in your search for a medical billing solution and come to grips with having less oversight over your revenue cycle, you’ll see outsourced billing is the way to go.
See why CareCloud is the best option for outsourcing your revenue cycle by contacting us at 1-877-342-7517 or hello@carecloud.com.
