Top 5 Reasons To Outsource Laboratory Billing Services & Benefits It Offers?
When you just started your medical lab, it made sense that you could handle medical as well as billing tasks on your own. As a small business, you were able to ace both tasks easily but with the passage of time, now it has become extremely difficult for you to manage accounts, file medical bills on time, stay updated with the ever-changing medical codes, and fulfill the medical obligations of your practice as well.
Then it is the right time for you to outsource laboratory billing services to a professional lab medical billing company. Now that your practice is growing, with new healthcare providers and patients bringing on additional concerns, the last thing you want to deal with after a long day is making sure that you’ve collected complete compensation for your hard-earned services.
At this place, a professional laboratory billing company cannot be less than a savior for any healthcare lab or pathology practice. If you’ve ever wondered why you should outsource lab billing services then this article would help you understand the benefits from a financial and operational standpoint.
So if you’re in the midst of deciding whether to outsource lab billing services or not then stay tuned with this article till the end.
What Is The Actually Meaning Of Outsourcing Laboratory Billing Services?
Before we delve into the specifics of the advantages offered by outsourcing lab billing solutions let’s talk about what the real constitutes of the outsourcing concept i.e. what will you have to outsource, how does it work and how do you manage your business after outsourcing billing services?
Here is the key information about outsourced laboratory billing services;
What Is Outsourcing Medical Billing Services?
The process of outsourcing medical billing services for labs starts with the search for a professional laboratory billing company which is a third-party agency with its own medical billing and coding team who are dedicated to proceeding with your medical claims (preparing, filing, and submitting them to insurance companies) to collect your reimbursements.
A medical billing company works as a virtual extension of your office-based medical billing and coding team. They collect charges from healthcare providers, apply medical codes to prepare medical claims and submit these claims to insurance companies from remote locations.
In this way, you don’t have to look for an individual employee to fulfill the staffing needs of the medical billing department and clerical office. In return, it saves your time and recruitment expenses and also keeps your business operations running seamlessly.
Moreover, if you choose CureCloudMD to manage your lab healthcare revenue cycle management and billing tasks, then you will have access to on-demand billing solutions and other outsourcing services like medical credentialing, medical billing services, account receivable (AR) recovery services, and much more.
In this way, you can get streamlined solutions for all non-medical obligations of your healthcare practice and pay attention to the core of your practice (delivering satisfactory patient care services).
Moreover, we provide highly transparent laboratory billing services in compliance with HIPAA policies so you can get better control over your practice revenue cycle management.
What Is The Difference Between In-House & Outsourced Laboratory Billing Services?
The major difference between an in-house and outsourced billing team is the billing location. An in-house billing department works in the office premises of the healthcare providers whereas a medical billing company provides outsourced billing solutions from an off-site location. It also impacts their working ways and changes their course of billing solutions in the following ways;
Impact On Medical Billing Errors
Usually, in small and medium-sized healthcare practices, the medical staff also takes over the billing responsibilities from documentation to medical billing and coding to payment posting. It makes the medical staff up to their neck in excessive workload, boosting high chances of;
- Billing and coding errors.
- Unsatisfactory patient experience.
- Reduced or delayed payments.
- Excessive backlog and staff shortage.
Although, large hospitals and healthcare organizations hire experienced medical billers to manage their healthcare revenue cycle management-related tasks within their office promises. However, it increases their cost overheads, requires a huge capital amount for a discrete department and takes effort to sustain employee retention to keep their medical billing tasks get going.
Outsourcing laboratory billing services provides a flexible solution to all sizes of healthcare practices. Small and medium-sized healthcare practices can reduce their work stress as well as medical billing errors. Also, large-sized practices can avoid exceeding cost overheads and worry less about employment retention and smooth workflow of their billing process.
Control Over The Billing Process
With an in-house medical billing team, a laboratory can fully control its billing and coding procedures. Although it is perceived to be a great decision it can set back your practice’s growth because it puts a lot of work on the plate of healthcare providers. In this way, healthcare providers neither manage the medical obligations of their practice completely nor they can get better control over their billing procedures.
A well-reputed medical billing company offers a competitive edge to healthcare providers allowing them to access real-time insights into their healthcare revenue cycle management. For example, CureCloudMD is a highly transparent laboratory billing company that regularly provides analytical reports about your medical bills, claim denials, and reimbursements collected so you can gauge the growth of the healthcare revenue cycle management (RCM) process and business productivity.
Extensive Medical Billing Expertise
No doubt, healthcare professionals come from a long journey of education and knowledge. However, their areas of expertise are focused on providing quality patient care services but not on the finances.
Although the medical billing process involves more than using EHR-suggested medical codes and preparing digital claims without knowing the dire consequences of coding errors (upcoding & under coding), not enrolling with reliable insurers and billing mistakes.
Therefore, a laboratory billing company comes in handy for medical labs & pathologists. It allows them to access a full-fledged team of expert lab billing and coding specialists at a fraction of an in-house billing team’s expenses.
For an in-house medical billing team, you have to pay the salaries of industry experts who should also be acquainted and experienced in billing pathology and lab billing services. Definitely, they’ll charge more salaries than general and fresher medical billers and coders.
Moreover, you have to invest a huge capital investment to buy a separate IT setup, pay for performance bonuses, paid leaves, holidays, and annual appraisals for each billing employee.
On the other hand, you only have to pay a fixed percentage of your net revenue to the laboratory billing company providing resources for your entire healthcare revenue cycle management.
In addition to being solely concerned about your billing tasks, a professional lab billing company always stay updated with any changes to the regulatory environment and medical codes. They also assist your office-based staff to tune your practice management and medical billing solutions according to the latest billing standards.
In this way, you can not only ensure the efficiency of your medical billing system but also get real-time guidance about how to stay always compliant with the legal and industrial standards of laboratory billing and coding.
5 Reasons Why Should You Outsource Laboratory Billing Services? Advantages It Offers!
Did you know 70% of healthcare providers tend to outsource laboratory billing services in the USA? The primary reason for this growing trend is the “convenience” offered by outsourced medical billing services.
In thriving and expanding labs, outsourcing medical billing services can typically ensure better sustainability, consistency and workflow of the healthcare revenue cycle management (RCM) in the long term.
Over time, an outsourced lab billing agency offers way more benefits than billing and coding across your entire practice.
Here’s why you should consider outsourcing medical billing services to improve the productivity of your business;
It Ensures Faster Payments
When a professional medical billing company starts managing your bills then they are obliged to ensure accuracy through their entire billing services according to the contract. It eliminates errors and mistakes from your medical billing system which reduces the occurrence of claim denials/rejections.
It increases the first-pass resolution rate (when the claim is approved and reimbursed in the first attempt of submission) so you can collect your reimbursements faster than ever.
It Reduces Cost overheads Of Your Practice
There are alot of hidden expenses required for the maintenance of an in-house medical billing system. By outsourcing lab billing services, you can reduce a number of overhead expenses such as training costs, R & D costs, benefits, employee insurance, and payroll for hardware/software installation costs.
Unfortunately, several healthcare practices don’t have the disposable income or the time to maintain a completely discrete department for medical billing, ensure the employee retention and find a replacement anytime an employee leaves. With the help of a laboratory medical billing company, you can benefit from a more controlled and sustainable approach to revenue cycle management at the fraction of existing IT expenses.
You Can Get Better Transparency
When you outsource lab billing services to any company then ask them how would they reports and engage you with their medical billing services. It helps you make sure to get better transparency and access to outsourced billing solutions.
Reliable medical billing companies like CureCloudMD ensure transparency by regularly reporting the healthcare providers about their medical bills, revenue growth, account receivables and team performance analytics.
In this way, you can maintain control over your practice healthcare revenue cycle management without having to micromanage or even oversee any medical billing personnel.
Ensure Compliance Without Any Hassle
It can be extremely challenging to ensure compliance with the rules and regulations to proceed with medical billing and coding because healthcare regulations change regularly. New Medicare, Medicaid, and third-party insurers protocols are always being updated.
Also, AMA (American Medical Association, WHO (World Health Organization), and CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid) keep introducing changes in CPT, ICD & HCPCS codes respectively.
It is essential to make sure to regulate innovative healthcare procedures to meet the growing and revolutionizing demands of the patients from the healthcare industry.
A professional lab billing company provides a complete team of expert medical billers who are able to understand the trends and predict how, when & why standards will change. It takes a qualified expert to stay on top of the latest information as it emerges in order to properly follow each changing protocol.
Therefore, lab billing experts at CureCloudMD not only keep up with the changes but also guide your staff on how to tune your practice at every step of healthcare revenue cycle management.
It Helps You Ensure Better Patient Satisfaction
When a patient visits a healthcare office then the purpose is to get more attention and care (which is why a medical practice works). However, if a patient doesn’t get the much-needed care due to the lack of attention of the provider then it impacts the credibility and name of the healthcare practice. Which results in fewer repeated visits of the patient and a reduced customer base.
With the help of a laboratory billing company covering all your billing-related tasks, you can take something off your team’s plate and help them focus on the medical obligations of their practice.
As a result, your staff will have more time to fulfill the unique needs of your customers distinctively, resulting in higher satisfaction rates and customer base retention.
Looking for a reliable laboratory billing company? CureCloudMD is a US-based laboratory billing company offering a wide range of outsourcing services including medical billing and coding services, medical credentialing services, account receivable (AR) recovery services, claim denial management services, prior authorization, and medical billing audit services.