Billing is a critical part of running a medical practice. When it’s right, it keeps the money flowing, but when it’s done wrong, it can hurt your bottom line. According to the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), getting payment for claims is the providers’ biggest revenue cycle challenge. That’s nearly a quarter of your total earnings. Billing isn’t just paperwork; it's a lifeline for your practice’s income. A study from Becker’s Hospital Review found that 80% of medical bills contain errors.

These mistakes not only deny payment but also lead to claim denials, which will cost you money. Moreover, a study from the Black Book Revenue Cycle Management survey found that 68% of RCM providers stated that technology improved their net collection level. But without any technology, around 10% of claims get denied. So, if your practice handles 100 claims a week and around 10% of claims get rejected, that’s $300 lost in every cost. Moreover, over a year, it adds up to $15,600. But here, the physician billing solutions can help you with this. So, before you know the benefits of a third-party billing company, know about the impact of inefficient billing.

1) Billing errors Drain Revenue

Billing errors are one of the biggest threats to your bottom line. These errors mostly happen when the healthcare staff are unable to comply with the updated billing regulations. The American Medical Association (AMA) stated that denial rates for healthcare claims range from 5-10%. Let’s say you submit 1,000 claims per month, each worth $100 on average. If 7% are denied due to billing errors, that’s 70 claims, or $7,000, tied up until you fix and resubmit them. If it takes 30 days to resolve each denial, you’re waiting a month for that cash.

But do you know that there are some denials that take literally years to resolve? A MGMA study found that 49% of medical practices reported an increase in days spent in account receivables. The longer your money sits in AR, the less you can invest to improve your patient care. So, that is how the billing errors impact your ROI.

2) Slow payment hits cash flow

Slow payments are another billing problem that hits your bottom line. It happens when you do not write the patient's details correctly. According to the Becker's Hospital Review, 83% of physicians are at or above their workload capacity. It is because of the delay in the claim payment process. For example, if your average claim is $150, and it takes 45 days instead of 14 days to get paid, you’re missing out on that money for an extra month.

Apart from these problems, there are problems with coding errors and manual billing processes that cause billing issues. But do you have any solution to this problem?

The solution is to outsource physician billing services which can take care of all your billing-related tasks. So, let's know how they can help you with this.

How Physician Billing Solutions Help?

• Their experts comply with all the regulations: The healthcare regulations are continuously changing. Moreover, it is becoming difficult for the healthcare staff to solve all the complex billing nuances as they have very little time. That is where the physician billing company provides experienced experts who comply with the CPT and ICD codes. Furthermore, they strictly follow the HIPAA law to make a streamlined billing process.
• They help with prior authorization: Prior authorization is a very difficult process. It consumes most of the time of the healthcare staff, which refrains them from providing quality patient care. On the contrary, the billing service double-checks all the patient details to ensure no claim denial occurs, thereby streamlining the prior authorization process.
• They provide dedicated resources: The providers spend most of their time in solving the billing operations. That leaves them no time to do other important healthcare tasks. Here, billing solutions provide dedicated experts who take care of your billing process, providing you with ample time to do other important tasks.

Final Thoughts

The PMC survey found that lack of billing education leads to claim denials. That is where using advanced billing technologies comes in handy. So, if you don’t have time to use these technologies, it can be a feasible option to outsource a third-party billing service that can streamline your billing operations. Their experts use advanced technology to reduce billing errors in a shorter amount of time, thereby leading to quicker claim submission and faster reimbursements.