It’s not easy to choose a provider for any service these days as there are innumerable choices available. When it comes to choosing a vendor for physician medical billing services provider, these 3 factors are the most important:
- Price is not Everything
While you need to consider your financial situation, settling for the cheapest provider may prove to be expensive in the long run. A full-service vendor of physician medical billing services that possesses technologically advanced revenue cycle management and a staff of experienced billing professionals, will charge higher for their services, and their total collections are higher too.
With a vendor who charges less, you may end up with less revenue. Discounted rates often mean inadequate insurance claim follow-ups, and many claims can remain unpaid every month. You need billing and coding staff who are experienced, productive, and efficient, and a vendor committed to collecting maximum.
Make sure sufficient number of experienced employees are assigned to your account, and that they are up to date on codes and regulations. Check for data protection measures and policies that may impact your processes, and what insurance they have for breaches and errors.
2.Technology is Important
Physician medical billing services vendors who use advanced technology offer the following advantages:
- Connect your office to remote billing office
- Streamline workflows and RCM processes
- Minimize errors
- With direct access to all necessary information, coders can code every interaction perfectly
- Denials can be received and processed fast
- Comply with HIPAA data storage regulations with cloud solutions
- Integrate solution with physician EHR
- Get auto-reminders for denials and claims deadlines
- Standard procedures for disaster recovery and data backup
3. Look for 100% Transparency
Previously, when physicians outsourced physician medical billing services, they had to depend on the service provider’s reports to understand the financial health of the practice. Often the reports would be received too late for making real-time adjustments or take decisions proactively. Additionally, if any of the payers made a sudden request for new reports for claim reimbursements, physicians had to rely on the biller’s software vendor; custom reports would take a lot of time.
But now, with cloud-based systems, you have 24/7 access to any information you need about claims. You can also generate any type of report for charges, payments, superbills, collections, aging claims, and so on. Make sure you check with the vendor that you will be able to generate all the reports your practice needs before you sign on a vendor.
To sum up
By now, it’s evident that you need both advanced technology, and experienced professionals, when you want to outsource physician medical billing services. The provider should be a company with well trained staff and who understands the value of RCM software. When you find both, ask the right questions to be sure – and your home.
