Outsourcing has become an integral part of the healthcare industry. Healthcare industries mostly face 2 possibilities – train the existing staff or outsource the billing. This is often a complicated decision.
Both these points have their own advantages as well as disadvantages. The medical billing and coding companies in India have grown at a rapid pace. There are all-around improvements.
The automation and the technology used by these companies improve the overall efficiency of the institute. Virtual Healthcare provides you with the optimum budget-friendly billing solutions. This will ensure minimizing the burden on the hospital staff.
The Difference
The in-house billing process has been the only way for settlements till a few years ago. With an increase in the footfall of the institute, the staff does not have sufficient time to complete all the tasks. Therefore, it becomes essential to take up additional measures.
When there is a disturbance in the smooth billing process, there is an impact on the revenue flow of the institute. The hospital staff generally completes the billing process. But with the increasing workload, it was soon realized that this impacted the efficiency of the workers.
The need for outsourcing:
Reducing the workload
The hospital staff generally has added workload of taking care of the billing as well as the medicine. This leads to mistakes and a decrease in efficiency. Hospital staff should concentrate primarily on quality care for the patients. The insurance claims and the billing process adds to the unwanted stress on healthcare workers.
Quick settlements
Outsourcing the billing process helps in avoiding delays in settlements. This is because of professional staff working on billing and claim processes. This ensures that there are no mistakes in the billing process. There is an overall increase in the revenue of the institute.
Maintaining records easily
Maintaining records of bills and insurance claims manually at the hospitals becomes a cumbersome process. The billing company maintains all data digitally, making the process simple and increasing efficiency.
Office cost
Outsourcing the billing process means the staff can now only concentrate on the quality care of the patients. There is no need for supervision, additional workstations, etc.
Proper understanding of revenue generation –
The billing companies provide regular updates on the revenue flow of the institute. Having proper knowledge of the revenue will help in taking strong financial decisions.
Issues In Training
The software-based billing and coding process requires the staff to undergo training. This requires an expenditure. Apart from this initial expenditure, there are other spendings in the form of workstations, hiring additional staff, etc.
The healthcare staff requires mandatory training before they can become competent enough to finish the billing process on time. The staff requires training on all the key functionalities. This includes –
Gathering information
At the time of admission, the front desk staff must be competent enough to gather all information. The staff should not take a lot of time, but wind up the process in a short span of time. The staff should have excellent communication skills.
Using advanced technology
The staff at the billing should have a thorough knowledge of the billing process. The advanced RCM tools use the latest software. The staff requires training on this software. The healthcare staff generally have very little knowledge of billing. Requiring them to work on complicated coding software leads to enormous stress on the staff.
Following up on claims
There are situations when there are claims denials. It becomes added responsibility of the hospital staff to look after the rejected claims. With new bills coming up, the staff generally tend to ignore the denied claims. This leads to a severe impact on the revenue of the institute.
Lowering A/R days
The outstanding balance of the institute contributes to the A/R. This is the minimum number of days before a claim settlement. It is essential to keep this as low as possible. This will ensure smooth revenue flow.
To overcome all these difficulties, it is not practically possible to only train the staff. This will increase the burden on them. It is therefore essential to ensure the lowering of the staff workload by outsourcing the billing process.
Way Ahead
Although the billing and coding process may look like a simple process, there are numerous technicalities related to it. Training the staff requires additional expenditure. It is better to spend that expenditure on hiring a medical billing and coding company.
Virtual Healthcare will not only lower the workload on the staff but also ensure a smooth flow in the revenue of the institute. The staff can fully concentrate on providing quality care to all the patients.
The medical billing and coding companies in India offer affordable pricing. There are no requirements to spend something out of budget to improve the working process. Just incorporating an outsourced billing company will improve the efficiency of the staff.