{"id":8761,"date":"2013-08-27T23:14:20","date_gmt":"2013-08-28T03:14:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.poweryourpractice.com\/?p=8761"},"modified":"2013-08-27T23:14:20","modified_gmt":"2013-08-28T03:14:20","slug":"outsourcing-medical-billing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/outsourcing-medical-billing\/","title":{"rendered":"When Should You Outsource Your Medical Billing?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Of the many business challenges facing healthcare providers today, choosing between\u00a0outsourcing medical billing\u00a0services or maintaining an in-house billing department is critical.<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s no true one-size-fits-all approach for practices. A variety of factors can influence the decision, including costs<\/a> and staffing availability<\/strong>. But because your cash flow depends on billing, the decision on how to handle these services shouldn’t be ignored.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

While many practices can handle billing services on their own, there may be warning signs suggesting it\u2019s time for you to consider outsourcing. Today, we build on previous articles<\/a> by providing you with these warning sings and how to remedy them.<\/p>\n

Too Many Billing Errors<\/strong><\/h3>\n

According to MGMA, your practice isn\u2019t doing well if your denial rate is over 4%<\/a>. And because the average claim denial can cost $25 to $30 each, doing it yourself may not be your best bet. Outsourcing, then, becomes an efficient alternative.<\/p>\n

When outsourcing, you don\u2019t incur any of the costs associated with finding errors and resubmittal because the billing company is charged with handling these expenses itself.<\/p>\n

Your billing service is contractually obligated to perform certain services for you<\/strong>, including appealing denials to a certain level of success. Plus, you never have to worry about staffing, since it\u2019s their job to provide support year-round.<\/p>\n

Medical billing departments\u00a0can also be sources of embezzlement, and employee neglect often leads to issues if managers don\u2019t keep a rigorous eye on billing operations. A third-party medical billing company assumes all liability, thereby preventing you from running into legal problems caused by careless employees down the road.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Administrative Overtime<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Physician practices normally delegate dedicated staff members to manage their day-to-day administrative, billing, and operational needs.<\/p>\n

But according to the Patient Profitability Index, a 5,000 physician survey, the burden created by tasks like coding and billing are habitually falling on the shoulders of physicians<\/strong>. Sadly, this comes at the expense of patient care.<\/p>\n

When asked how much of time was spent on administrative tasks rather than patient care, 59% of physicians admit they sacrifice more than 20% of their time on paperwork.\u00a0 That\u2019s equivalent to one full day per week spent at a desk rather than in an exam room.<\/p>\n

The path to payment is flooded with printing, phone calls, back-and-forth with insurers and many other arduous administrative tasks. Outsourcing medical billing takes the headache out of running a profitable practice and enables you to scratch off time-consuming busy work that takes up time you could\u2019ve spent on more productive activities, e.g., seeing patients.<\/p>\n

Not Ready For ICD-10
\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n

On average, the American Health Management Association estimates coders will need to focus 16 hours of training on ICD-10-CM, 24 hours on ICD-10-PCS, and at least another 10 hours on practice implementations.<\/p>\n

So if you haven\u2019t made preparations for ICD-10<\/a> and don\u2019t have the time to train your staff in the next 35 days, it may be a good idea to outsource your billing to a company that\u2019s prepared to handle the anticipated 55,000 new codes.<\/p>\n

In case you\u2019re considering hiring a certified ICD-10 coder to cover in-house billing duties, keep in mind the average professional coder salary ranges in the $40,000s<\/strong>, not including benefits. It may be cheaper to go with an outsourced billing company, as most only charge a small commission rate on paid claims.<\/p>\n

As we’ve mentioned earlier, the decision to outsource varies from practice to practice, depending on a variety of factors. Weigh your options carefully.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Of the many business challenges facing healthcare providers today, choosing between\u00a0outsourcing medical billing\u00a0services or maintaining an in-house billing department is critical. There\u2019s no true one-size-fits-all approach for practices. A variety of factors can influence the decision, including costs and staffing availability. But because your cash flow depends on billing, the decision on how to handle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[38,39],"class_list":["post-8761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-medical-billing","tag-icd-10","tag-revenue"],"yoast_head":"\nOutsourcing Medical Billing: 3 Indicators \u2013 Continuum<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Many businesses facing challenges in healthcare today, choosing between outsourcing medical billing or maintaining an in-house billing department is critical.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/outsourcing-medical-billing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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