Common Misconceptions about Medical Billing Outsourcing

With medical billing changing so fast, it has become difficult for an independent practice or even a single hospital to profitably manage the task in-house. Since there is an overwhelming number of tasks that medical practice managers have to contend with, outsourcing of clinical and administrative functions seems like an attractive option to many.

Farming out functions like medical billing allows practice staff and providers to focus on what they do best while a dedicated team handles their revenue cycle needs. But there are some practitioners who don’t think that outsourcing decisions are a net gain for their practice.

Here are some of the misconceptions due to which they fail to reap the benefits of outsourcing:

• Providers feel that if they hire a billing company, they won’t remain in control of their revenue cycle. This misconception is quite common because practitioners fear being at the mercy of the billing company for timely payments. However, this is far from the truth because partnering with a reliable company puts providers in control of their revenue cycle. The company works in the best interest of the practice.
• Another common misconception is that outsourcing is expensive. When compared to managing an in-house team of experienced billers and coders, hiring a billing company is affordable for many practices. As a matter of fact, outsourcing has helped many practice save money. Maintaining revenue can become a challenge if the in-house team lacks skilled staff. By letting a reliable third party handle this task, providers can be assured of less coding errors and reduced chances of claims denials, which ultimately leads to more revenue.
• Providers believe that if they hire a medical billing company, they will have limited or restricted access to reports and data. But this is not true because every reputed billing company shares reports with practices on a routine basis. Transparency is maintained and providers are informed everything related to their revenue cycle through detailed reports and updates on payment statuses. Since reputed billing companies share information with practices through a secure encrypted online system, no HIPAA policies are violated.

Irrespective of the option any practice chooses, it is necessary to understand that revenue cycle management isn’t just the billing company’s responsibility. Providers need to manage third-party billing service with the same diligence they would with in-house billing team. They also need to ensure effective communication between their front-desk, physicians and the billing team.