We know that one can reduce denials and increase profits by working with a medical billing company. But choosing a medical billing agency that can take care of your medical billing requirements with suitable services is challenging.
The medical billing industry is huge. Outsourcing medical billing is not a new thing. There are thousands of medical billing companies working from offshore and within the USA. Choosing a medical billing company that is trustworthy will certainly reduce your costs and improve your RCM. The selection of a service that works best for you depends on several factors. Having knowledge of these factors will help you have a broader understanding of the medical billing companies. This will give you the opportunity to negotiate better with medical billing companies and save you a lot of money.
Factors To Consider While Choosing The Right Medical Billing Company For Your Needs:
1. Size Of Your Health Care Facility:
The amount of billing that your company does is an important question to ask when hiring medical billing services. It will help you select a medical billing company to suit your need. Small clinics with few patients do not need to hire a big medical billings company. Even a small company with a very small number of employees will work for you.
2. Functions That You Want To Outsource:
It is always better to have an understanding of the functions that you want to outsource. Look into your previous data and see if you need help with coding, denial management, payment posting, or any other key area. By identifying your area of concern, you can hire a medical billing Agency for specific functions only.
3. The Experience Of The Hired Medical Billing Company:
The medical billing services that you have hired or going to hire, should be an experienced one. You can ask the medical billing company to let you know about their previous work and disclose their personnel strength.
4. Look Into Offered Services And Available Tools :
While hiring any medical service you must look at the kind of services they are offering. You should also know if they have the technical and personnel skills to carry out those tasks. By knowing this you can judge if they can be good enough to meet your requirements.
If your business uses a set of software already, it will be difficult to switch to a new one. The second thing that must look into is the kind of medical specialty they can handle. For example, if you are a heart surgeon, you should preferably hire a medical billing company with similar experience and ability to handle your cases.
5. Experience Of Medical Coding And Charge Entry Department :
Medical coding and charge entry errors are the main causes that lead to delays, refunds, and denials. Most of the time it is human error or lack of skill behind these mistakes. It is common for medical codes to get updated from time to time. Therefore, medical coding professionals must train themselves up to date. You can evaluate the coding and charge entry team by looking at how experienced and updated they are. You should see if they will require further training. If it is the case, it will surely lead to an increase in cost.
6. How Medical Billing Company Will Bill You:
There are different ways by which a medical billing company can bill you. Most of them will bill you as per the number of cases handled or the FTEs assigned, while some charge a percentage. Therefore you must carry out an analysis to know what suits you the best while choosing a medical billing company.
7. Make sure the company adheres to HIPAA regulations:
You should always work with a HIPPA( Health insurance portability and accountability act) compliant company in order to protect yourself. Knowing that a billing company’s practices adhere to follow HIPAA guidelines and PHI(Protected Health Information) regulations will make you stress-free. Also, it put a stamp on the fact that they do not misuse confidential patient data.
Why You Can Trust Virtual Healthcare:
Virtual health care fulfils most of the requirements that you ideally want in a medical billing company. Our medical coders get training as per the latest updates and have several years of experience. Moreover, our company is HIPAA compliant. Our services can meet the requirements of individual doctors, clinics and hospitals as well. We can take stock of your needs and offer the best services combining the best of skilled personnel and modern software. Contact our experts to know how we can help you with your RCM.