Which Medical Billing approach is better, Inhouse Medical Billing or Outsourced Medical Billing? – The Final Show-down!
Arbitrator:
Welcome to the 3rd and final day of our debate – Inhouse Medical Billing or Outsourced Medical Billing, which approach is better?
Till now, we established that although size of the medical practice may give a direction regarding which approach to select, at the same time dependence on a good Medical Billing Software is crucial to attain an efficient Medical Billing process.
Let’s start, today our focus shall be on “Stress Management and Transparency”
Mr Napolean
Research indicates that a 71% of preventable Medical Billing errors occur because of unaddressed workplace stress caused because of miscommunication between nurses, physicians, clinical-care staff and administrator.
I want to avoid such a situation at my Medical Practice. Outsourcing enables my staff with an opportunity for work-life balance keeping them satisfied at work and preventing any kind of work-over load or conflict. This, as a result, allows them to give their undue attention to patients keeping patients delighted hence improving patient retention bringing in revenue.
Ms Gretchen
Practitioners do feel over worked especially these past 3 years, but stats show that stress is multifaced. Think of it this way; your doctors are giving all their undue attention to the patients. Their care service is top notch but the third-party medical billing company has an inaccurate medical billing process causing a high denial rate. Doctors even after so much effort aren’t getting timely reimbursements. The stress this situation causes is far more.
Inhouse Medical Billing helps keep the medical billing teams connected with staff and patients therefore reducing any misunderstandings. As the team works together within the same office and time zone, it’s easy to get the changes done more quickly, reducing errors and fast tracking the claim life cycle. With an in-house team, one can leverage several benefits, such as;
Data Safety
Patient Relationship Management
Transparency in Medical Billing process
Easy communication
Source: (MGMA)
Mr Napolean
That’s the thing, suppose I am dissatisfied with my Medical Billing Company, I can easily outsource to a new one whereas if I hired a team inhouse and they aren’t performing well, getting a new team hired and trained will cost me an unbearable amount.
Inhouse medical billing teams are expensive to maintain. The most underrated benefit of outsourcing is bringing an expert on board without any long-term commitment.
Today’s market landscape is highly competitive, it requires quicker solutions and teams that can contribute to Medical Practice growth in a short time. Outsourcing my Medical Billing process enabled us to leverage our medical billing company’s expertise. It also helped us in preventing staffing issues and cost associated with it.
73% of medical practices rank staffing as their biggest pandemic challenge, and 76% of practices have outsourced operations in response to shortages.
Ms Gretchen
Building a good medical billing team is one time effort and with an excellent Medical Billing software, teams can just monitor the process while the software does its work.
Outsourced Medical Billing take away the control from the staff leaving post care services to a third company that do not care much about the patient relationship building.
74% of millennials (and 27% of Baby Boomers) would switch healthcare providers for a better experience with payments and post service. (Ibid)
Staffing is an issue yes, but so is patient retention. One need to weigh which side can be controlled via automation and which should be dealt with empathy and compassion i.e., internal teams
Arbitrator:
This brings us to an end, lets summarize our findings.
Important point here is to keep in hindsight the impact of a good Medical Billing software on the Medical Billing process. More so, factors like the size of practice plus the no of years it’s been in service are important when considering which approach is better.
As mentioned in day 2, a third approach might be a winner here.
Inhouse Medical Billing with an exceptional Practice Management Software vendor that supports the Medical Practice with technology and billing best practices.
Find out more about this third approach in our upcoming blog.
AltuMED is a Medical Billing Service and Solution Company that understands the importance of prompt, systematic Medical Billing Performance Analysis. Why not contact us for a complimentary analysis that can help us understand the reason for increase in your AR rate?
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