Is Outsourcing Medical Billing Worth the Cost? Essay

Medical billing translates a healthcare service into a billing claim. The medical biller makes appointments, transactions, and follows the claim to ensure the practice receives.

The state healthcare marketplaces have increased new insurance companies in their markets and many of these state healthcare marketplaces will increase new health plans as well. These additional physician opportunities will be imperative for them to understand how the contracting process affects their practices.

Hire one or two experienced medical billing and coding specialists to handle claims. They can do the work and keep it in-house. The practice gets compensated and all is good.

The biggest difference of the billing process of health care compared to other industries, is the payer. In business, the recipient of the product or service sold is the payer, and the one setting the price is the seller. In health care, the majority of payment is made through a third party, and the rates

The real problem as pertains to the reimbursement of managed care organizations is that these managed care has had an effect on slowing the rates of growth concerning the costs of hospitals and specialist physicians. For both the hospitals and practitioners, the sources of revenue have been shifted with over 20 percent of the charges being paid from the pocket, others coming from third parties who demand for complex accounting of the charges, lack a pre-authorization process and they can review in a retrospective manner and deny the reimbursement (Furrow et al., 2013). The

One question that faces every medical practice, hospital and urgent care center is whether to continue in-house billing or outsource their billing. Needless to say, there are pros and cons to each of these billing methods. However, there are several benefits to outsourced medical billing that are frequently overlooked.

Offices need janitorial staff to keep them clean. Scheduling patients and staffing the reception desks will necessitate clerk jobs. The doctors will need nurses and medical assistants to administer care to the patients. All of these jobs are better paying than standard minimum wage jobs. In addition, not only will billing create jobs in the community, but also it will bring in outside money from insurance companies and government reimbursement programs. The economic benefits my not bear fruit immediately, but will help to sustain the targeted communities for years to

The advantages of costs within outsourcing medical billing is of course lower costs. As stated earlier a medical coder/biller’s annual income is $32,250. The costs of paying a billers’ salaries, employee benefits, and buying the proper technology systems can add up over time and be significantly higher in cost versus outsourcing TPC operations. As reported by Healthcare News “A good medical billing company can improve the quality of the billing cycle, as well as reduce in-house staffing costs; minimize cash-flow problems due to staff turnover, absenteeism, or computer problems; free up space for additional exam rooms; and provide continuously trained billing and coding expertise” (Patenaude, 2006). Outsourcing medical billing can be more cost effective with maintaining the ever changing coding modifications that could lead to a practice have to get the up-to-date technology in order to stay

Every business try to reduce cost; health care industry is no different. If by outsourcing the cost can be substantially lowered then that decision is a “no brainer”. This can be achieved because the company to which the outsourcing is offered will have advanced technology and specialized

Medical practices are taking resort to outsourced Medical Billing services in the current wake of healthcare reforms and payment fee schedule 2015. It is predicted that most individual practices will either merge to form group practices or take resort to outsourcing their billing process to strike a balance between their administrative tasks and generating revenue. Specialists provide complete Medical Billing Outsourcing Services to medical providers.

Educate your patients: Most patients don’t understand- Include your payment policies (e.g., copays are required at the time of service) in your new patient paperwork to help patients understand their financial responsibility. Consider including a glossary of health insurance terms (copay, co-insurance, deductible, provider network) in your orientation packet. This will keep your

According to Woolhander and colleagues, the total insurance overhead expenditures in the U.S was 5.9% of total healthcare costs compared to only 1.3% of Canada’s insurance overhead costs. In an IOM report, it is stated that a major portion of the administrative costs is related to billing and insurance (BIR) activities or processes. It was estimated that the total costs of BIR were of $105 billion dollars, the authors acknowledge some uncertainties of BIR estimations and state that more research is needed to know how much BIR costs will be reduced in order to choose the right legislative measures that reduce waste (Yong PL, Saunders RS,

_At least 2 years or more of experience as a Medical Billing Specialist working in primary care

As part of the Patient Financial Services (PFS) department, a student intern was assigned to me to assist in my task. When asked by my student intern to explain what the main function of the PFS department is my response would be that the department which is commonly also known as Patient Accounts or the Business Office. Is responsible for recording patient transactions, such as charges, payments, adjustments, and write-offs. The PFS also prepares insurance claim forms and patient statements depending on the circumstances. Not only do we process and handle the financial end for the hospital. Most importantly we have to be able to understand and be able to resolve billing issues in order to assist patients should they encounter any questions

The role of the Medical Insurance Specialist is very important to the financial operation of a doctor practice, hospital or other medical facility. A Medical Insurance Specialist collects all the information necessary to prepare insurance claims, enter patient demographics and insurance information, enter ICD codes and CPT billing codes, research, correct and resubmit rejected and denied claims, bill patients and answer patient questions regarding charges. The billing process is actually the process of communication between the insurance specialist, medical provider, patient and the insurance company. This is considered the billing cycle. The billing cycle could takes days to complete or it could take months.