Medical billing services can be a very complicated task for a medical office to perform. Some offices choose to hire trained physicians bills to work full-time in the office, and other medical offices choose to outsource their medical billing and practice management services. Other medical offices have done a bit of both, and there is no right or wrong answer. However, there are 3 big advantages to outsourcing your medical billing services.

Reduce labor cost

Most small businesses are concerned about cost. Maintaining a medical billing department can be very expensive. The general rule of thumb is that for every 2 doctors in a practice, an office should have 1.5 workers. With the average salary for a trained and experienced medical billing professional at around $35,000 per year plus benefits, hiring 1.5 workers can cost more than $50,000 per year. Benefits would include health insurance, dental insurance, life insurance, 401K, unemployment insurance, and various other taxes that an employer must pay when they choose to hire a new employee. In addition to those costs, there are miscellaneous costs associated with supplying those medical billers with the equipment and supplies they will need to properly complete their job duties. These expenses will include software, workers’ compensation insurance, postage, clearinghouse fees, HCFA/CMS-1500 forms, paper, printers, additional computers, envelopes and office furniture. Outsourcing your medical billing to a reputable company can save you 30-40% of your annual cost. Running an in-house doctor billing department can be very expensive, so if you can find a reputable company to outsource your billing to, it’s in your business’s best interest to at least hear how they can help you lower your overall cost.

Focus on patient care

Physicians spend years and years in undergraduate school and medical school. During those years of being inundated with information that can help save human lives, doctors don’t learn much about billing and fighting with insurance companies. In fact, most doctors know very little about insurance. However, they are not expected to be efficient in billing physicians. In fact, doctors cannot be efficient in their work if they are always stressed about the finances of their practice. This is an advantage specific to small practices because one physician can focus on providing excellent care to their patients, while one medical billing team handles all physician billing and practice management services. Outsourcing medical billing and practice management services is particularly advantageous for smaller practices because they may not have the money to pay for a large medical staff. Therefore, by outsourcing these services they will have access to a team of experienced medical coders, medical billers, and accounts receivable representatives.

Reduce billing errors and response time

Most physicians would like to be paid for the services they provide to their patients within weeks of providing those services, rather than months. Well, when there are errors in your billing methods, it can take months to get paid. However, when you submit clean claims, those claims will be paid within weeks. My mantra is simple: “Eliminate the claim for the clean door the first time.” When you consider outsourcing, you allow professionals and experts to take over tasks where mistakes can be timely and costly. We have been educated and re-educated on the constant changes in the industry, in regards to new codes, deprecated codes, modifiers and more. All of these things must be taken into account when submitting claims to any and all insurance companies for services. Medical billing services are one of the most important aspects of a medical practice because a large percentage of your income can come from a direct benefit of having a great medical billing services company by your side.