Outsourcing medical billing is the answer for those looking to make their medical and healthcare practices more efficient. Outsourced medical billing firms are typically HIPAA approved and manage your entire billing process, track your accounts, submit claims to the claims clearing houses and pursue the rejected claims.Medical Billing is an efficient alternative to processing billing in-house. It saves you time and money.
Here are some of the reasons you should outsource medical billing services:
* It saves time and money by reducing your costs and increasing collections of delinquent account.
* It reduces the time your staff spends on processing claims. You may be able to eliminate most of the billing staff and thus save expenditure on their health care, salary, insurance and training.
* Outsourced Medical Billing Firms usually do a better job than in-house staff. They keep their staff updated on insurance regulations and codes. It lessens number of denied and rejected claims. They are also quick to resubmit the claims returned from clearinghouses.
* Their turn around time from clearing houses is faster as they process large number of claims with them.
* They have bigger incentives to increase collections as they are paid a percent of the amount they collect.
How does Medical Billing Services work?
Your staff sends patient details like insurance, diagnosis, procedure codes to the medical billing service. They check the data for any errors and submit the claims to the clearing house. If the claim is approved, you receive the check and explanation of benefits (EOB). The checks can also be directly deposited to a bank lockbox for faster processing. Rejected claims are returned to you so that any errors may be corrected and resubmitted. In some cases when the claim is problematic, it is the responsibility of your service provider to troubleshoot and resubmit the claim. Hence it is important to ensure that medical billing service provider has adequate staff to diagnose and fix such problems.
Here are some of the types of services provided by a Medical Billing Services firm:
* They process medical claims and follow up on declined or problematic claims and resubmit them after correcting any problems encountered.
* Medical billing service generates reports with details of payments and claims. Comprehensive reporting helps you adjust your billing practices and improves your cash flow. They may also provide you with software to generate reports. Ask for a demo to make sure it is easy to use and track.
* Medical claims from Insurance companies can sometimes get delayed, putting pressure on your cash flow. In such cases, your service provider can lend against account receivables or can introduce you to companies that do so.
* There are many ways to send claims information to the medical billing service provider. You should prefer one that accepts claims information via a web browser or a software system hosted on your computers. Such data transfer is secure, efficient and less prone to error. Sending claims information on paper or via email is highly inefficient and error prone.
* Your provider may also offer Medical practice management (MPM) and Electronic medical records (EMR) software. These are significant buying decision and you may want to consider them separately from your decision to hire a billing service provider.
What else do I need to know before hiring a medical billing services provider?
Consider the following before making the final decision:
* How much experience does the provider have?
* ASP hosted billing software is preferable over one that is hosted on your computers. You don't have to worry about maintaining ASP software.
* A Good software system is important but so is expertise of the staff in handling difficult claims. How many years has the medical billing services firm een in business?
* How is their track record? Ask them to show some examples of difficult claims that they have successfully completed.
* Ask them to show you the reports they would generate for you.
* Are they 100% HIPPA compliant. Make sure their billing and reporting software too complies with HIPPA and SSL security to ensure patient information secrecy.
* Can they handle the NPI or National Provider Identifier system?
* Are they willing to train your staff to use the billing software?
* Make sure their references are stellar.
How much does an outsourced medical billing service firm charge?
The prices depends on the levels of service. To get the best deal you can compare medical billing services providers prices before selecting the one that best meets your needs. Majority of them have commission based pricing. Vendor Pricing is important but it should not be the sole criteria in hiring a medical billing service provider. Consider a firm who is HIPAA compliant, reliable and has built expertise in collecting difficult medical claims.
Author:Niki Irmal
Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/
