When it comes to small medical practices, medical billing can be quite a challenging and demanding task. This is why many of the practice managers and physicians choose to outsource this task to professional medical billing companies who will be able to handle the task better. This allows the physicians to focus more on patient care and provide better treatment to them. There are many other advantages too. You can save a lot of time and money. Also you won’t have to concentrate on the various aspects of the medical office.
A few disadvantages also come along when you decide to outsource medical billing services. The main disadvantage is that you will lose control of the work being performed. When you think of outsourcing to medical billing services, you should first carefully consider all the advantages and disadvantages of it and then make a decision.
Advantages
- The first advantage will obviously be that you will e able to put more focus on your patient and his care. You will be able to put more time on figuring out ways to provide patient satisfaction and also improving your ways so that you can give quality care to them. Small physician groups can find this significantly useful as they are not able to afford enough staff for their medical office. If the physicians are bogged down with finance, then they won’t be able to provide proper patient care.
- Moreover when you outsource, you will be outsourcing to a professional company that has people who specialise in the field of finance. Therefore the chance of making an error will also be reduced. The professionals and experienced medical biller will ensure that all your claims are submitted accurately and in a timely manner.
- Outsourcing your medical billing allows you to save a lot of money in the form of annual salaries and benefits, purchasing, furniture and office supplies, maintaining and upgrading the computer equipment and billing software.
Disadvantages
- As said before the main disadvantage is that the medical office managers won’t have any control over the medical billing staff. Some of the managers can be a little hesitant about it. As the managers are responsible for a lot of the work regarding the revenue and finances, not being able to supervise the work done by the billing companies puts them in a vulnerable position. They have to blindly trust that the work done by the billing company is being done efficiently, accurately and in a timely basis.
- When you make the switch from an in-house billing to outsourcing, there is a possibility of incurring hidden costs. There are going to be many other costs as well. You will also need a lot of time to properly form the coordination for the contract and the costs that are incurred in the form of legal fees.
- A major disadvantage with outsourcing physician medical billing services is when both the parties misunderstand the contract. Interpreting the contract differently happens more often than not. The legal lingo is quite difficult to understand and thus can cause a lot of misunderstanding.