2020 has been a year to remember…….or perhaps, forget. A deadly pandemic engulfed the entire world and still continues to claim precious lives even in 2021. Hospitals and medical practices that were running successfully are now facing steep financial challenges. In such circumstances, healthcare providers are considering the benefits of outsourcing medical billing servicesand joining hands with reliable billing and coding companies.
With a raging coronavirus, healthcare providers emerged as our front-line heroes, who worked for 24 hours putting their own lives at risk. Therefore, they don’t have sufficient time to concentrate on the non-medical obligations to their healthcare facilities.
Before discussing the role of medical billing companies in ensuring the financial stability of medical practices, it’s crucial to have a quick glance at the current financial situation of the healthcare industry, particularly the US healthcare system.
Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, medical practitioners have to shut down the non-emergency services, which results in a 60% decrease in patient care across the board. This situation impacts healthcare revenue cycle management drastically. Statistics show that revenue losses are reaching $50 billion a month.
Moreover, due to the lack of time, physicians are not paying attention to the medical billing and coding. Therefore, the trend of outsourcing medical billing services has become a new norm in the medical industry.
Outsourced medical billing experts help you to get your healthcare facility back on the right track by streamlining the revenue cycle management. They can help you in the following ways.
- Reduces workload
Medical billing and coding is a time-consuming and hectic job. Which requires a specific billing and coding team. It’s very challenging to manage the healthcare RCM while fighting against the ongoing pandemic. Meanwhile, one of the top benefits of outsourcing medical billing services during the COVID-19 outbreak is the reduction of excessive administrative workload.
Outsourced billing experts help you to release the additional stress of your medical staff, so they can concentrate on the core aspects. That is to provide quality care to the patients. While highly trained medical billers would work hard to ensure the optimization of your revenue collection management.
Moreover, your staff will spend less time in managing the hectic procedure of medical coding, charge entry, claims submission, follow-up, denial management, and payment posting.
They can utilize this saved time in enhancing the patients’ care. Thus, it would help medical practitioners to develop long-term relationships with their patients easily.
- Saves Administrative Expenses
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken over the healthcare industry in ways that could not have been foreseen. This situation increases the financial burden of medical practitioners.
Because they have to invest a significant amount of money in hygiene training, sanitation, and infrastructure to treat the COVID-10 patients and IT resources.
They have also needed to sustain additional expenses in procuring expensive medical equipment like ventilators to better treat COVID patients. Spending on such factors is important because, without the proper sanitation and infrastructure in place, healthcare facilities would not be able to provide standard aid and prevent infection spread.
In such circumstances, bearing the expenses of operational costs associated with medical billing and coding is not easy for the physicians. Therefore, they are stepping towards outsourcing medical billing and coding services to a trusted billing agency.
Saving a hefty amount in terms of cost overhead is one of the major benefits of outsourcing medical billing services that a physician can enjoy. Moreover, due to the COVID-19 breakout, it has become crucial for healthcare providers to hand over their revenue cycle management to certified medical billers and coders.
Because it’s very difficult for your in-house staff to keep pace with the current changes in medical coding and telehealth billing etc. Because they stay engaged in providing quality care to the patient and don’t have sufficient time to undergo constant training.
On the other hand, when you hire a professional medical billing company, you don’t need to worry about the hiring and training of billers and coders. Off-shore billing experts have extensive industry experience and the required skills to manage your revenue cycle management in this challenging era.
- Get Paid Faster
You cannot ignore the benefits of outsourcing medical billing services. As healthcare providers have been facing critical financial challenges in terms of the high rate of claim denials, revenue loss, and disruption in cash flow. Because the ongoing pandemic brings a lot of new challenges for medical billers.
For instance, this disease has never been documented before. Medical coders were confused because they didn’t know how to code certain conditions of COVID-19. Moreover, due to the special conditions (related to pandemic) of regulatory bodies, the medical billing for the COVID-19 patients is different from normal billing.
If medical billers are not adequately trained in the new codes, your medical practice may face financial loss. Furthermore, the changes in insurance policies, medical billing, and coding rules have made the revenue cycle management extremely complicated.
As a result, the medical practices are struggling with the high rate of claim denials. So, in order to improve the productivity of your healthcare facility, it is necessary to identify the loopholes in the current medical billing system and process the medical claims to maximize the reimbursements.
As efficient claims management is a time-consuming process, healthcare staff find it very difficult to manage it while focusing on patients’ care. So, while keeping in mind the benefits of outsourcing medical billing services, they are preferring to hire reliable coding and billing agencies.
Off-shore, medical billing companies have a dedicated workforce that collectively shares a common purpose, which is to increase the profitability of your healthcare facility.
Outsourced billing experts always stay abreast of changing payer conditions and coding requirements. Which enables them to submit the claims with an updated set of medical codes. They ensure the submission of claims that optimize the revenue collections management of your medical practice.
- Streamlined Cash flow
The benefits of outsourcing medical billing services don’t end here. Off-shore billing and coding experts play a crucial role in making your healthcare practice more productive and efficient. They ensure the timely filing of claims that are coded appropriately for maximum reimbursement.
Hence, by reducing the operational costs and timely submission of clean claims, outsourced medical billing experts streamline the cash flow of medical practice.
Medical Billing Benefits is a reliable healthcare news wire that keeps you updated with the latest trends in the medical industry. Visit our website to know more about the strategic ways to cope with the healthcare financial challenges and the benefits of outsourcing medical billing services.
Throughout the year, our writers feature fresh, in-depth, and relevant information for our audience of 40,000+ healthcare leaders and professionals. As a healthcare business publication, we cover and cherish our relationship with the entire health care industry including administrators, nurses, physicians, physical therapists, pharmacists, and more. We cover a broad spectrum from hospitals to medical offices to outpatient services to eye surgery centers to university settings. We focus on rehabilitation, nursing homes, home care, hospice as well as men’s health, women’s heath, and pediatrics.
