Whether you’re running a small practice between 1-5 physicians or are a bigger practice capable of treating a large number of patients, medical billing outsourcing services are probably of interest for your practice. 

Patients don’t always have the resources to pay for their consultations and treatments upfront and often require billing at a later stage. 73% of health care providers report that it takes longer than one month to collect payment from their insurance and even more from the patients. 

The growing need for external medical billing services is reflected by the pace at which the market has grown over the last several years. Statistics show that the worldwide medical billing outsourcing market was worth USD 10.2 billion in 2020. The market is predicted to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.66% between 2021 and 2028. 

What are Medical Billing Services? 

Medical billing services are outsourced third party companies that take care of accountancy and debt collection requirements for health care providers. Typically, they work alongside practices to implement a system to track and chase payments from insurance and patients. The process often involves the use of medical billing software which streamlines the operation. 

How Does it Work? 

Most medical billing services these days operate on cloud-based platforms or medical billing software. This digital advancement diminishes the need to install or set up any complicated system. It’s designed to streamline your working process and to help your practice save the time and energy spent on chasing up bills. 

Benefits of Outsourced Medical Billing Services for Small Practices 

Outsourcing medical billing services for small practices are less of a “good idea” and more of an immediate necessity. Without them, your practice’s working process can experience heavy disruptions. 

Not having a medical billing service set up can also lead to significant cash flow problems which threaten the good standing of your practice. Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of outsourced medical billing services. 

Less Stress 

When your patients don’t pay their bills, it results in cashflow mishaps, making it more difficult for your practice to pay the bills and operating costs. Having this constant threat looming in the background causes stress to everyone involved in making sure the practice is running smoothly. 

Choosing outsourced medical billing services and getting started with medical billing software can eliminate this issue. 

Improved Workflow 

When you opt to outsource your medical billing services to a trusted third party, you immediately relieve a practical and psychological load. Without having to worry about chasing up unpaid bills, your practice will notice an improvement in workflow and productivity and obviously focus better on treating patients. 

Saving Time 

Typically, individuals who get into healthcare don’t do it because they love administration and chasing patients for money. They do it because they like to help other people manage their health. 

However, unless your bill collection requirements are being met by someone else, you’ll end up spending more time chasing down bills than actually practicing. 

If your practice caters to several hundred patients in a month and each of them needs to be contacted and chased for payment, it’s easy to see how that could become extraordinarily time-consuming. It would almost be worth hiring another full-time employee to take care of it. But is that really the best option? 

Saving Money 

While hiring another employee solely for the purpose of collecting payment may sound like a good idea at first. However, you should also consider the extra cost in terms of paying for paid holidays, employee healthcare, training costs to keep up with ever-changing guidelines, and employee benefits. 

Choosing outsourced medical billing services allows you to bypass all of these extra costs while also catering to possible variability. For example, it might not take always take full-time hours to get the job done, and it may vary from week to week. Medical billing and coding services from a third party are a great solution for getting the job done in the most efficient manner possible. 

Bill Compliance 

Non-compliance to bill payments is one of the largest threats to small medical practices. Choosing to delegate your bill collection to a trusted partner is a strategic and highly recommended move. It eliminates the threat of patient non-compliance to bills and helps practices get paid on time. 

Patient Satisfaction 

Not only do outsourced medical billing services help you and your practice run smoothly, but they also improved patient experience and satisfaction. Medical billing and coding services offer more streamlined ways to pay bills which contributes to the overall patient experience. 

Increased Revenue 

Having debt collection taken care of by a third party will increase your work productivity and improve your practice’s cash flow. All of the benefits mentioned above result in an overall increase in company revenue. 

Streamlined System 

You shouldn’t have to go through a demanding training session to understand the system and maximize your medical billing services. Instead, you can expect your system to be up and running in less than a day, and your personnel to be completely comfortable using it after only a few hours of training. 

The Bottom Line 

Poorly organized bill collection systems are one of the greatest threats to small medical practices. Luckily, you can outsource your medical billing needs to a third party who will take care of everything so you can do the work you love. 

Choosing outsourced medical billing services has many advantages, including saving on time and costs, increasing revenue by increasing bill compliance and improving efficiency, and reducing workplace stress.