Friday, October 19, 2012

Pros and Cons of Outsourcing Medical Billing

Medical billing services are sought by many medical practices mainly due to the reasons that are given below:

•    They are fed up of the red tape of collections and billings
•    They are tired of managing internal collectors and billers
•    They are nervous or are unsure about HIPAA compliance

However, as every coin has two sides, there are some pros and cons associated with medical billing services as well. Discussed below are some of the positive and negative aspects of hiring medical billing companies for medical billing services.

Pros of Medical Billing Outsourcing

•    The cost of maintaining employees is lowered. If medical billing is done internally, the cost associated with the salary of employees can be quite high. With outsourcing you need entertain no concerns regarding the recruitment and maintenance of billing staff.

•    It can help in the growth of the medical practice/organization. As there is growth of business, there is growth of revenue. However, the workload associated with medical billing and coding increases as well. Sometimes, the business grows to such a point when the workload cannot be handled by the in-house personnel. At such a point of time, the help of a medical billing specialist becomes indispensable to maintain a steady revenue cycle.

•    With medical billing outsourcing, there is a reduction in employee turnover. There may be times when some specialist might leave the job due to some reasons. In such cases, the vacant spot has to be filled right away to avoid any kind of compromise on the cash flow.  Often, companies may end up hiring someone who has very little experience in medical billing. Such personnel tend to make errors and due to these errors, the practice may be severely affected. In such cases, medical billing outsourcing definitely proves to be of great help.

Cons of Medical Billing Outsourcing

•    Sometimes there are chances that you end up with the wrong billing service. A medical billing company is no less than your partner in business and so, it should always be ensured that you have the right company working for you.

•    Sometimes, sensitive patient details may leak. This problem may occur even when the company has adequate security measures. Data leak can compromise your integrity and get you into trouble with both insurers and patients.

Proper homework will definitely help you in finding the right company. The Internet is the best place, where research about the best medical billing companies can be done.

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