If you’ve recently begun taking steps in opening your own private therapy practice, chances are you’ve thought long and hard about what kinds of techniques you want to use, want kind of environment you aim to create, and what scope of practice you want to specialize in.
If you haven’t thought about choosing a medical billing company quite yet, you aren’t alone.
A medical billing company is an incredibly valuable resource for any medical professional running their own private practice. While it may not be the most entertaining task in the world, it’s vital.
So, how do you choose a reliable, trustworthy medical biling company for your private practice? Here are a few tips to get you started:
Benefits of Medical Billing Companies:
Medical billing companies handle just that, medical bills. By taking the heavy and often overwhelming load of finances off your back, you’re able to focus on what your passion is: therapy.
Medical billing companies have tight-knit relationships with insurance providers so you don’t have to wait on hold for an hour just to speak with a representative.
Submitting insurance claims, and filing necessary paperwork are just two of the many useful tasks delegated to billing employees.
Every insurance company often comes with a plethora of paperwork that can get exhaustive after only a short time. Medical billing companies hire professionals that know the ins and out’s of this paperwork while being able to handle billing any excess fees to the patient.
What To Consider When Choosing a Medical Billing Company:
1. Experience:
How many years has a particular billing company been in service? What is their track record for satisfied clients? Billing companies that have been providing services for a longer amount of time have clearly found a way to keep their accounts happy.
2. Coding Knowledge:
A proficient medical billing company will have sufficient knowledge in the International Classification of Disease (ICD-10). Thoroughly understanding the ICD-10, and how each medical diagnosis is coded will make for a smoother process all around. If medical bills are coded incorrectly, the billing process can easily become a tangled mess.
3. Quick Communication:
Any medical billing company that wants to provide exceptional costumer service to their clients will be responsive to communication. Not only is speed of response important, but availability as well. Nobody wants to wait days on end to hear back for an important financial matter.
4. Cost of Service:
With any third party service, you want to ask the proper questions to ensure there are no surprise financial costs. Ask questions such as:
- What is the cost for the provided services?
- Are there any hidden charges to know upfront?
- Are any discounts available for large amounts of billing requirements?
While you want to choose the best medical billing service out there, finding the best that fits into your budget is just as important to keep in mind.
5. Ensure HIPPA Compliance:
When it comes to privacy laws, there is no room for any sort of risk. Take the time to verify a billing company is ISO-certified, and upholds the rules and regulations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. This way, you’ll have your bases covered and won’t have to worry about confidential client information being mismanaged.
6. Confirm Deadlines:
Making sure you choose a company that is honorable about meeting deadlines is vital to keeping the flow of your private practice stable. Not only are deadlines critical for you, the therapist – they’re extremely time sensitive for insurance providers and the patients themselves.
7. Check Software:
There are a variety of medical billing software programs on the market. What a particular billing company uses to handle their tasks may not be the billing software you want to use. Communicating the need to use a particular software in advance can help dodge any technical problems that may arise in the future.
8. Ask About Denials:
The event that an insurance company will deny a claim is inevitable. When teaming up with a professional and reliable medical billing company with a history of successful denial claims, you won’t have to worry about any of it.
Nobody Is Perfect…
When you begin to make a checklist of the items listed above, you’ll come to find that every medical billing company is weak in one aspect or another.
However, medical billing is a decision that should be made with much thought and careful consideration. The medical billing company you choose will affect your business on every level, so doing your research into each company is important.
Ask around. If you know any other medical professionals that have opened their own private practice at some point, see who they recommend.
However, keep in mind what works for them, may not work for yours.
Keeping a list of the most important aspects you desire a company to have can help you stay on track to finding the best fit for your company.
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