7 Things to Consider While Choosing a Medical Billing Company
You have made a wise choice to outsource medical billing. More than 70% of physician practices see an increased payment and reduced AR if they are able to find the right medical billing company. It can be overwhelming to select a medical billing company that you can trust. Below are key 7 aspects to evaluate and choose your medical billing outsourcing partner. We have distilled it down to what matters most to physician practices – “SERVICE”
1. Service Quality
Ask questions about what checks and balances the medical billing company deploys to deliver high-quality medical billing. Do they have a dedicated quality manager responsible for audits? What’s the monthly performance review process?
2. Expertise
Understand the knowledge and expertise by discussing your pain points in detail and asking how would they handle them and what new ideas they can bring to the table. Be sure to find who would be your day-to-day point of contact and their expertise?
3. Reporting & Analytics
Reporting and Analytics are very critical for increasing the payments and reducing AR. Ask what standard and special reporting that you would be receiving. Does the medical billing company benchmark its performance with MGMA or similar benchmarks?
4. Voice of Customer
It is a good practice to speak with 2 clients of the medical billing company as references. Confirm the references about the quality of service, communication, proactiveness, knowledge and impact on the financial performance of the practice.
5. IT Systems and Tools
Be sure to ask if the medical billing company has a system manager or a team that has the knowledge to set up the EHR/PM system, electronic statements, etc. Can they troubleshoot the technical issues and help improve and automate the workflows.
6. Competitive Price
Understand what all is included and excluded in the scope of service. Depending upon the size of your practice and scope of services, the price range for a high-performance
billing provider should be between 4-5% of the payments. Be sure to discuss carve-outs relating to your specialty if any.
7. Experience
The longer the billing company has been in service, the higher experience the team members would have and mature the quality process would be. The size of the medical billing company also matters. A medical billing company with 10 years or more in service and staff strength of more than 20 is a good indicator.
In summary, there are many medical billing companies ranging from small, medium, and large in size. Small ones with a size of fewer than 20 employees may provide more personalized attention but may not have the expertise, quality processes, system knowledge, and resources. Medium size ones with employees 20 to 100 might be able to provide the personalized attention your practice needs along with the best practices and resources that you would look for in your medical billing company partner. Large ones might not be able to provide the personalized attention the small practices usually need. They are good for larger groups with high volumes.
