Your Billing : To Outsource or Not To Outsource

MedCorp recommends that you conduct a formal analysis of your practice to see if outsourcing is for you. An outsourcing arrangement can ensure that the dollars invested generate a positive return. That is why by outsourcing you can boost revenue and save money.

There are four basic factors to consider: control, performance, communication and cost.

Control
Physicians must have the ability to control the quality of the outsourced product or service. This is especially important with billing, a process for which physicians are responsible whether it is managed in-house or at an outside billing service.

Performance
To achieve a positive outcome, the performance of the outsourcing service must be equal to or greater than that of the in-house service. Gauge the performance of the billing service by measuring its three critical indicators – percentage of AR over 120 days, days in AR and net collection rate – against industry standards. This indicates the current level of performance and the opportunities for improvement.

Communication
By its nature, outsourcing can hamper communication, but hiring a good professional billing service can bridge the communication gap. Also, ask for and call the references of the billing vendor to inquire about the effectiveness of its communication methods.

Cost
The cost of the service must be equal to or less than the cost of managing the product or service in house. Otherwise, why bother? The cost of the billing operation should be considered as a percent of collections. Typical billing costs for back-end billing range from 4 percent for surgery practices to 12 percent for emergency medicine practices, with primary care and most medical specialists somewhere in the middle around 8 percent. Comparing your TRUE costs against these industry averages should indicate whether there are opportunities for improvement. Remember most professional billing services have dedicated professionals whose only concern is to collect your money so that they can get paid. Your office staff is often distracted with multiple responsibilities which prevent them from being able to concentrate on collecting your money.

Should I outsource my billing checklist:

• Is your overall collection rate declining?

• Is your accounts receivable too high?

• Are you experiencing an increased number of denied claims?

• Is your overall frustration level regarding your billing/business office very high?

• Are you having a difficult time keeping or hiring experienced billing staff?

• Are you spending too much time on the business aspect of medicine?

• Are you concerned that your staff or office manager has knowledge of your income?

• Are you completely reliant upon your office manager?

• Are you planning to expand your practice?

MedCorp brings more service to your practice, we provide you with expertise and solutions that you may have never even considered.   Many of the practices helped by MedCorp were not aware of undercoding or that carrying a large accounts receivable was costing them money.  Several did not know what a large accounts receivable translated to in real dollars.  This is where an analysis by our trained experts can be beneficial.  For the right solution at the right time, contact us today to setup your analysis.