The Good:

1. Efficiency: Billing software can significantly increase efficiency by automating repetitive tasks, such as data entry and invoice generation. This can save time and reduce the risk of human error.
2. Accuracy: Modern billing software is designed to be highly accurate, reducing the likelihood of billing errors that can lead to financial disputes or regulatory issues.
3. Cost Reduction: Using billing software can reduce the need for extensive manual labor, leading to cost savings in terms of employee salaries and operational expenses.
4. Data Security: Good billing software often includes robust security features to protect sensitive financial data from breaches and cyberattacks.
5. Analytics and Reporting: Many billing software solutions come with built-in analytics and reporting tools, allowing companies to gain insights into their financial performance and make data-driven decisions.

The Bad:

1. Cost of Implementation: Implementing billing software can be expensive, including the initial purchase cost, training, and potential customization to fit the company’s specific needs.
2. Learning Curve: Billing software can be complex, and employees may require training to use it effectively. This learning curve can lead to temporary disruptions in operations.
3. Dependency on Technology: Relying heavily on technology can be risky if there are system failures, technical glitches, or if the software becomes outdated.
4. Security Concerns: While billing software can enhance security, it can also be vulnerable to hacking and data breaches if not properly protected and maintained.
5. Lack of Customization: Some billing software may not fully meet a company’s unique requirements, necessitating additional development or workarounds.

Regarding the billing company’s usage of the software, it’s crucial for them to:

• Understand the Software: The billing company should have a thorough understanding of the software’s capabilities and limitations to maximize its benefits.
• Employee Training: Adequate training programs should be in place to ensure that employees are proficient in using the software efficiently and securely.
• Procedures and Compliance: The billing company must establish procedures that align with industry regulations and best practices to ensure compliance when using the software.
• Regular Updates: Keeping the software up to date is crucial for security and taking advantage of new features or improvements.
• Data Backup and Recovery: Robust backup and recovery procedures should be in place to protect against data loss.

In conclusion, while billing software offers numerous advantages, it’s essential for billing companies to carefully consider both the advantages and disadvantages and take steps to mitigate potential pitfalls. Proper education, training, and procedural safeguards are crucial for harnessing the full potential of technology in billing operations while minimizing risks. Fortunately, Merem Healthcare Solutions encompasses ways to mitigate both the bad and good in technology, so you don’t have to worry about anything related to your revenue cycle management operations.

The post Technology: The Good and The Bad appeared first on MEREM Health.

By utilizing an experienced team of medical billers and coders who are knowledgeable in various specialty medical codes and trends, you can rest assured that things are being handled properly behind the scenes while you and your medical team can take care of patients upfront.

Chances are what first brought you into the healthcare industry was wanting to help others. You wanted to make a difference in people’s lives and give them more quality years. However, as you started your own private medical practice, you probably saw it was filled practice management tasks leaving you with less time with patients and more time behind a desk dealing with insurance and other revenue cycle demands. 

Be More Proactive in Your Medical Billing and Coding

According to Healthcare Business & Technology, more than 80% of medical bills contain errors. Medical billing errors are the biggest reason for the disruption of cash flow in a physician practice. 

Fortunately, by making sure everyone on your team is on the same page when it comes to documentation (as well as having a strong medical billing and coding team), you can greatly reduce these errors so that cash flow in your medical practice continues to move in the right direction.

No Errors Allowed!

As you well know, most medical billing errors are due to:

• Incorrect patient information, which includes insurance provider information
• Duplicate billing
• Poor documentation
• Unclear claim numbers
• Wrong codes being used

However, by putting the proper training in place and outsourcing your medical billing and coding services, you can ensure that a majority of your claims will not be denied. 

When these medical billing and coding errors take place, claims come back denied. Resubmitting a fixed claim denial with the correct information can take weeks for review and approval on the other end. In addition, this puts a delay in not only payment from insurance but also slows down the payment received from the patient. 

Medical billing errors add up quickly. Before you know it, your medical practice is starting to lose money rather than gain. However, by utilizing an experienced team of specialized medical billers and coders who are knowledgeable in various medical codes and trends, you can rest assured that things are being handled properly behind the scenes while you and your medical team can take care of patients upfront. 

Give Your Patients the Experience They Deserve

Even during a normal health care checkup, a patient’s anxiety can be high. Therefore, having a warm welcome can make all the difference in starting the patient’s experience off on the right foot within your medical practice. 

Allow our team to handle the billing and coding services behind the scenes so that your front office staff, along with other members of your medical team, can focus on the patients walking through your door and providing them with the best experience possible! 

Remember, happy patients will not only return. The chances are high that they will bring friends! 

Discover how our team at MEREM Healthcare Solutions in Birmingham, AL, can help your medical practice avoid medical billing and coding errors. 

Merem Healthcare Solutions offers services for every step in a practice’s revenue cycle management. We can start from the beginning from credentialing and end with payment posting once an account has been satisfied. We offer a wide range of solutions which include auditing, billing, coding, consulting, credentialing, payment posting, practice management, and pre-collections training. Check us out on our website or feel free to call us to see how we can help run your practice like a well-oiled machine – (205) 329-7519.

The post Outsource to Avoid Medical Billing and Coding Errors! appeared first on MEREM Health.

Therefore, while we don’t want to take away from the amazing work of physicians, nurses, front desk employees, etc., our team at MEREM Healthcare Solutions also wants to make sure medical billers and coders receive the recognition they deserve for the critical role they play within the healthcare industry.

What Do Medical Billers and Coders Do?

While your patients might not see them during their visit to your medical practice, medical billers and coders are there every step of the way—from the initial examination to diagnostic tests to the overall treatment of the patient. Medical billers and coders are responsible for translating the entire patient visit into special ICD-10 codes for proper billing.

But, before you start thinking, “How hard can that be?” did you know there are more than 140,000 ICD-codes? And each ICD-10 code has its own purpose. For instance, there isn’t just one code for “pain.” Rather, there is one ICD-10 code for pain in the arm that is unspecified. Then, there is another code for low back pain, and so on and so forth.

Not only is it vital for these specific codes to be known, but it is also vital that they are used correctly, as one wrong code entry could cause a delay in billing and payment, which can hurt a medical practice’s profitability.

The Unsung Heroes – Off-Site or Outsourced Medical Billers and Coders

Although some medical practices try to utilize their front office staff to assist with the medical coding and billing of patients, this practice of sharing responsibilities is not as conducive for the profitability of the medical practice as outsourcing the billing and coding to a third party.

For example, a patient walks into your medical practice. Depending on your specialty, your patient might already be high-anxiety. When they walk in, the front desk person isn’t able to welcome them warmly because he or she is on hold with an insurance company. All the patient has done at this point, is walk into your practice, and everything is already off on the wrong foot.

However, if your medical practice outsourced your medical billing and coding, not only can you reduce your chances of errors when it comes to cash flow, you can also allow your front office staff and medical team to focus directly on the patient, which can both improve patient outcomes and patients reviews—which is a win-win!

Discover how our team at MEREM Healthcare Solutions in Birmingham, AL, can help your medical practice avoid medical billing and coding errors.

Merem Healthcare Solutions offers services for every step in a practice’s revenue cycle management. We can start from the beginning from credentialing and end with payment posting once an account has been satisfied. In addition to outsourced medical billing and coding, we offer a wide range of solutions which include auditing, consulting, credentialing, payment posting, practice management, and pre-collections training. Check out our website or feel free to call us at (205) 329-7519 to see how we can help run your practice like a well-oiled machine.

The post Don’t underestimate the integral role medical billers and coders play in the healthcare industry appeared first on MEREM Health.

Any business wants to see growth, and medical practices are no exception.
Our team at MEREM Healthcare Solutions is here to help offer tips on how specialty physician practices can attract new patients, keep current patients happy, and improve your chances of growing your medical practice in 2019.

Start Growing Your Medical Practice ASAP!

Fortunately, you do not have to wait until tomorrow to start down the journey of growing your practice. Rather, you can start taking steps today to actively build up your practice revenue and keep your growth moving forward sooner rather than later.

“Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.”

— Benjamin Franklin

Market to Your Target Patient Audience

When building your medical practice, you want to make sure you are marketing to the right target audience of potential patients as well as their caregivers. If you own and run a specialty practice such as an OB/GYN practice, marketing to men is most likely going to be a moot point. Therefore, you need to make sure you are on target with your marketing techniques to reach women local to your practice who are within the age of conception so that you are reaching and attracting potential new patients to your practice.

Every medical practice only has so many dollars to put towards marketing in their overall budget. Use them wisely, but use them to inform potential patients and don’t be afraid to answer their questions.

Make Sure Your Team Is On Board

Many times, your medical team is responsible for making the first impression your patient has with your practice. As a result, you need to develop a compassionate medical team who represent and reflect the same goals and values of your overall practice.

When your patient first walks in the door, is he or she greeted with a smile? Or, is your front office staff too busy dealing with insurance companies and billing needs? Are they laser-focused on collections or quality patient care?

Give your front office staff the chance to make a strong first impression on your patients. Improving your front office processes and coaching your front office staff, you can increase your clinic output.

If this is a major concern or pain point for your patients, MEREM Healthcare Solutions can serve your medical practice’s front office staff with patient pre-collections and staff training. Contact Us for more information on Consulting Services.

Additionally, you should consider lightening that burden by allowing a third-party to deal with your medical billing, so that they can focus on benefit verification and up-front collections and most importantly,

• giving your patients a warm welcome
• listening to their needs
• helping them with questions or concerns they might have walking into your medical practice.

For the most part, patients visit medical practices when sick. They are already nervous and anxious about what is to come. By having your team warm and inviting from the beginning of their visit you can help to settle patients nerves and set the tone for a positive and comfortable visit.

Patient Care Doesn’t End when the Patient Leaves

Patient Care Doesn’t End when the Patient Leaves. In fact, the moment your patients walk in your medical practice, is only the beginning of building a relationship with your patients. Follow-up communications is key in establishing stronger bonds with patients so that they have the ability to gain trust in you and your medical practice.

Patients who feel they can trust your medical practice will continue returning when they need your expert care, as well as telling their family and friends.

In the world of social media, word-of-mouth plays a huge role in attracting new patients to your medical facility. Patients will check-in at your clinic on social media, give countless recommendations and leave positive reviews when they have a great experience. So you may also want to email a follow-up message after a patient’s visit to ensure a positive experience and to foster that relationship and trust with your patients.

POSITIVE PATIENT EXPERIENCE = TIMELY PAYMENT

Patients will also be quicker to pay their bills after a great experience.

What are current patients saying about your medical practice right now?

Discover how our team at MEREM Healthcare Solutions can help your medical practice.

MEREM Healthcare Solutions offers services for every step in a medical practice’s revenue cycle management. We can start from the beginning from credentialing and end with payment posting once an account has been satisfied. We offer a wide range of healthcare solutions which include auditing, billing, coding, consulting, credentialing, payment posting, practice management, and pre-collections training. Check out our website or feel free to call us to see how we can help run your practice like a well-oiled machine – (205) 329-7519.

The post Keep your medical practice moving in the right direction—forward! appeared first on MEREM Health.

Fee schedules are getting reduced every year. This means if you’re not on top of your patient collections at all times, revenue will be lost.

At MEREM Healthcare Solutions, one thing we know for sure is that poor revenue cycle management can be disastrous for a practice. The codes required for obtaining maximum revenue payout for billing medical claims are constantly changing, which brings numerous challenges for coders in an already busy practice. The coding and reimbursement landscape continues to change.

Impacts of High Deductible Health Plans

Due to patients having more responsibility for their healthcare costs, High-deductible health plans have a significant impact on your bottom line, from patient collections to bad debt.

You must also add in additional labor costs for the time required for your staff to focus on the collections side. Your billing process can no longer be something that gets a couple of hours of attention a day, it will constantly evolve and requires a dedicated staff or team to file and consistently work claims as well as dedicate additional time speaking with patients to discuss coverage and out-of-pocket costs.

Medical Billing and Coding – Let MEREM Health Help

With the increasing prevalence of High Deductible Health Plans and other aggressive patient cost-sharing models, it has never been more important to the financial health of your practice to have an efficient patient pre-collections program in place.

With a typical Medical Billing company, their patient collection efforts only go as far as issuing statements and generating “bad debt” reports of accounts that need to be turned over to collections. However,  we have found that when accounts reach this point, less than 50% of these balances are ever recovered.

At MEREM Healthcare Solutions, we work with our client partners to develop a Patient “Pre-Collections” strategy that is both aggressive and fair. We work with your front office staff and management to develop a Point-of-Service (POS) collections process to effectively collect more money up-front.

Additionally, you will have the added support of a dedicated medical billing team and a patient collections representative. Our patient collections reps work diligently to collect patient balances in full or to make payment arrangements within 90 days and will help you identify and transmit delinquent accounts to a third-party collections agency of your choice.

Contact Us today to learn more about our Patient Pre-Collections Services.

Patient Pre-Collections Solutions

Our Patient Pre-Collections Solutions include:

• 20 hours of consultant time to develop your customized solution
• Statements and collection letter processing
• Managing payment plan list to ensure patients meet their terms
• Running auto-dial lists to notify patients with delinquent accounts
• Aggressive follow-up on past-due surgical balances
• Custom reports to aid in POS collection efforts
• Diligent management of third-party collections accounts
• Ongoing support from our patient collection reps and management consultants

Request an Assessment of your patient AR to see how much money you could be leaving on the table! Contact MEREM Health at (205) 329-7519 or click here to send us an email.  We look forward to hearing from you!

MEREM Health provides exceptional collections and medical billing, coding and credentialing services for specialty physician practices, urgent cares, and diagnostic imaging centers. Take advantage of our medical billing and coding expertise today!

The post Significant Impacts of HDHP on Your Medical Practice appeared first on MEREM Health.

How Do You Determine
The Best Fit For Your Practice?

Have you struggled with choosing an outsourced Medical Billing Company?  Is your medical practice overwhelmed with the paperwork of billing and coding?

If you have outsourced your revenue cycle management process, how did you know that the outsourced medical billing and coding services company you are working with was the right fit for your practice? 

With a reputable billing and coding service, physicians can stop focusing on billing issues and get to what’s important: the patient.

Outsourcing your medical billing and coding to a professional healthcare solution company is advantageous for a number of reasons. Understanding what to look for is essential when choosing a company to outsource your medical coding. 

Check out the list below provided by MEREM Healthcare Solutions for the top the things to consider before choosing the best medical billing and coding company for your practice.

Are you still unsure about outsourcing your medical billing and coding? If so, check out our latest article,

“Should You Outsource Your Medical Coding? Yes!”

How Much Is the Medical Billing and Coding Company Willing to Do for You?

Looking for the best fit?  The best medical billing and coding companies perform above the industry average. The most basic medical billing company will provide:

• claim submission,
• carrier follow up,
• payment posting and processing,
• patient invoicing,
• and collections.

You’ll want to seek out and choose a medical billing and coding company that delivers more than the basics. Ask about their specific performance metrics, including net collection ratio, days outstanding, denial/rejection rate and the average number of days in accounts receivable (AR).

For many practices to even consider outsourcing, patient follow-up is key. If a patient fails to pay, you should expect that the billing company you are outsourcing these matters to will pursue that debt, right? Unfortunately, some will not.

Also, does the billing company provide frequent and detailed analytics and reporting to help your practice recognize what they can do to grow? Or do they just provide a bank statement once a month?

Any company that you are considering to partner with should be transparent about the services that they will deliver in order to help you determine which is the best fit for your practice. Choose a company that goes above and beyond the basic credentials. You also want to find an outsourced solution working within your specialty field of medicine.

Choose Experience And Specialty Expertise

When choosing a medical billing company, experience matters. After all, experience can ensure a smooth, problem-free onboarding process.

The number of years a company has been in business matters, but it’s not the only consideration. You also want to look for a company that has worked for a sizable number of years in your particular specialty. This ensures that they fully understand your field and have more intimate knowledge of the specific requirements for medical coding, documentation, compliance, etc. related to your specialty—whether it’s Advanced Imaging and Radiology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, or Gastroenterology.

Perhaps they have only been open for three years, but those three years were spent learning the specific, highly-detailed ins and outs of your specialty. Ask your prospective medical billing companies the following questions before you commit.

• How many years of experience do you have working in your area of expertise and in our area of medicine?
• How many clients in that specialty do you currently have?
• What size practices are you used to managing?

The answers to these questions will help you to weed out the companies who aren’t a good fit and can help ease your mind about partnering with an outsourced healthcare solution that is ready and able to seamlessly take on your practice’s medical billing and coding.

Discuss Technology… The Good and Bad

Technological advances have made for some fancy billing software. Find out what type of software the billing company is using. Does the company understand the full usage of the software? What kind of software education and procedures are in place for their employees?

Your practice wants to ensure there is not a violation of HIPAA privacy rules. A loss of data would most likely shut down your medical practice. Be sure your paperwork is safe and private by asking: 

• How does the medical billing company go about sharing your patient’s data?
• Is there a backup plan in place in case a security breach is made or the system fails? 

At the end of the day, it is essential that you ask all the right questions to ensure that you are getting a full-service medical billing and coding company that can properly handle your practice’s needs. 

Looking for the Best Medical Billing and Coding Services?

Turn to MEREM Healthcare Solutions. Get a free quote and learn more about our uniquely designed support system for revenue cycle and operations management needs. At MEREM, we don’t just provide services, we deliver solutions. 

No matter the size, healthcare organizations need a strategic partner and that is what we are here to provide. Let us help you save time and ensure proper coding for all your medical billing needs. You will feel the difference through the level of dedication and commitment we provide to our clients.

The post Finding the Right Fit appeared first on MEREM Health.

If you could relieve stress on your medical team, as well as improve the profitability of your medical practice tomorrow, what steps would you take? We invite you to take time and consider how outsourcing your medical billing solutions could impact your practice.

Why Should You Outsource Your Medical Billing?

Relinquishing control of any aspect of your medical practice can be hard.

Our team at MEREM Healthcare Solutions understands the desire to be in control of the medical billing. But wouldn’t you rather have your healthcare team be less stressed while also knowing that payments are getting handled efficiently so that your profit margins are where they should be?

Let’s take a look at three reasons why you should really consider outsourcing your medical billing.

1. Your Dollars and Your Time Will Be Spent More Wisely

How much are you currently paying in overtime? Is your front office team working more on keying in information and handling insurance companies than spending with patients who walk in the door?

As a medical practice, you want your patients to feel welcomed and cared for as soon as they call your office or walk in the door. However, that is difficult for front office staff to handle as they juggle phone calls and if they are on constant hold with insurance companies.

By outsourcing your medical billing processes, you can obtain a knowledgeable and experienced team who stays up-to-date on the latest CMS changes. MEREM Healthcare Solutions can handle your medical billing needs while your healthcare team focuses on something more important—your patients.

2. Your Claims Will Be Processed Faster

Medical practices are no different than any other business. It needs cash flow in order to run and operate. Therefore, the last thing your medical practice needs is coding errors, late payments, insurance denials, etc., to impend on your operations budget and slow down your medical practice’s ability to turn a profit and run proficiently.

By outsourcing your medical billing to MEREM Healthcare Solutions, our professionals are able to streamline and speed up your medical billing process of efficiently filing claims while also reducing billing and coding errors. As a result, you are paid faster because these errors don’t occur, and many claims do not have to be re-processed.

Time is money. In fact, when medical billing processes are completed correctly, a claim can be reimbursed as fast as 7-14 days! How great would that be for your medical practice’s bottom line?

3. Your Patients Will Be Happier

Depending on the reason for their visit, patients can be nervous or anxious about their visit even before they set foot in your medical practice. This is especially true for our Ambulatory Surgical Centers and Advanced Imaging/Radiology clients.

When you outsource the time-consuming office tasks, your medical team is able to really focus on your patients and improve your patients’ experience by having more time to answering all questions and keeping them comfortable. When your patients are happy with their experience, you are able to see a faster return on billing collections and you will receive more positive patient feedback since your focus in on the patient and the quality of care you are providing is at the optimal level.

Discover how our team at MEREM Healthcare Solutions can help your medical practice.

Isn’t it time you give-away the paperwork so that you can get back to why you got into the medical field in the first place? Allow our team to handle your medical billing processes so that you can provide the quality care you desire for your patients!

Merem Healthcare Solutions, in Birmingham, AL, offers services for every step in a practice’s revenue cycle management. We can start from the beginning from credentialing and end with payment posting once an account has been satisfied. We offer a wide range of solutions which include auditing, billing, coding, consulting, credentialing, payment posting, practice management, and pre-collections training. Check us out on our website or on social media.

Feel free to call us to see how we can help you run your practice like a well-oiled machine. Call MEREM Healthcare Solutions today at (205) 329-7519.

The post Benefits of outsourcing your medical billing processes appeared first on MEREM Health.

• When was the last time we reviewed our process or improved our technology?
• How accurate is our documentation?
• Can we improve

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Our team at MEREM Healthcare Solutions wants you to know how to be as prepared as possible in case your medical practice finds itself in the middle of a CMS audit this year. One of the best ways to avoid a CMS audit is to be prepared at all times, the best way to do so is by conducting internal audits within your medical practice.

When Was the Last Time You Reviewed Your Process?

Every medical practice has its own unique operations “process.” Is your process working for your medical practice as it should? Internal audits can be helpful in identifying areas of improvement such as your practice management software/technology and can highlight challenges within each step of your revenue cycle from documentation and coding, to billing and collections.

Technology is always changing to provide improved accuracy, especially when it comes to medical billing. If your medical practice is still using technology from years ago, then you may face a higher chance of errors in addition to your team being limited in their ability to work as effectively and efficiently as possible thorough streamlined pms processes.

Conducting an internal audit can allow you to see if the time has come to update your medical practice’s “process,” also known as “technology.”

An internal audit can also prevent revenue loss from occurring, as it can point to where issues are happening so that you can identify areas to focus on improving. For example, if your practice is facing a signifacant amount of claim denials due to coding mistakes, it might be better to consider outsourcing your medical billing and coding to a team of experts that have the experience,and ongoing training for coding within your specialty —like us!

If it has been a while since your last internal audit, you might want to conduct one sooner rather than later.

How Accurate Is Your Documentation?

When it comes to a patient health record, there is absolutely no room for error. Not only can it cause harm to the patient, it can also cause your medical practice harm and possible fines if caught while undergoing a CMS audit.

There should be no discrepancies whatsoever when comparing medical information, such as health records, which should be filled out properly throughout the entire process. Every detail is key.

MEREM Healthcare Solutions Is Here to Help!

A lot of concerns that we’ve discussed with potential clients particularly come from Pain Management physicians because they are a high risk for audits and they want to make sure everything is being coded and billed correctly and ethically to keep them off the grid from auditors.

As we explained earlier, one of the best ways to avoid a CMS audit is to be prepared at all times, which includes conducting your own audits within your medical practice. If you are noticing your medical practice is losing money or you do not have 100-percent faith in your team’s coding accuracy, it may be time for an internal audit! We can help you.

At MEREM Healthcare Solutions, you can feel confident that our knowledgeable and experienced team provides the coding accuracy your medical practice needs in order to keep insurance claims correct and get your medical practice paid for services provided.

Discover how our team at MEREM Healthcare Solutions in Birmingham, AL, can help your medical practice avoid and/or prepare for a CMS audit.

Merem Healthcare Solutions offers services for every step in a practice’s revenue cycle management. We can start from the beginning from credentialing and end with payment posting once an account has been satisfied. We offer a wide range of solutions which include auditing, billing, coding, consulting, credentialing, payment posting, practice management, and pre-collections training. Check us out on our website or feel free to call us to see how. Our customized healthcare solutions can help you run your practice like a well-oiled machine – (205) 329-7519.

The post How Can Your Practice Avoid An Audit? appeared first on MEREM Health.

• Reduce labor costs.
• Increase availability for patient scheduling
• Eliminate the cost of recruiting and training
• Improve accuracy and reduce claims denials
• Lower continuing education expenses in your medical billing and coding departments

Improvement in just one area of your medical practice can mean a significant improvement to your revenue cycle. However, with the many outsourced healthcare solutions that MEREM Health delivers to specialty medical practices, our experienced team can become a great asset to the overall productivity of your practice.

As an outsourced healthcare solution specializing in the areas of coding, billing, revenue cycle, and education, we see the benefit of having more knowledgeable people in the field with billing and coding to support practices. As an outsourced solution, and practice management consulting partner, we can help reduce the overspending and waste when it comes to the healthcare operations.

When to Consider Outsourcing?

Typically, a practice manager considers outsourcing their billing for one of two reasons.

Either their collections are too low, or their overhead is too high.

Chart A

When to Consider Outsourcing

Outsourcing your billing and collections is a valuable investment for a practice manager pursuing timely collections and a streamlined front office.

If you are unaware of the current state of your medical practice’s financial health, or if you are seeking an annual industry benchmark comparison, you may find it valuable to request a Revenue Cycle Audit.

These assessments help practice owners identify areas of weakness within their revenue cycle process.  And that information can be used in assessing and selecting the right outsourced solution to meet the needs of your practice.

5 Steps to Conducting an Assessment of your practice versus an Outsourced Medical Solution

1. Analyze net collection ratio, length of time it takes to receive payment for services provided and the way staff manages claims that are denied.
2. Review the number of employees to determine if additional staff is needed and whether your practice is willing to pay for the additional training, technology costs, and benefits.
3. Compare outsourcing services to determine what sets them apart.
4. Ask outsourcing vendors if they charge a fixed monthly fee or if they are paid based on a percentage.
5. Evaluate and compare your current cost for collections to the cost of outsourcing.

Once you have successfully completed your assessment, you will need to factor in your practice’s actual and allocated costs (payroll, benefits, training cost, etc.)  To calculate your internal costs as a percentage of billing and collections, take your total billing and collection costs and divide that by your annual collections (Chart B). Compare your results with a vendor to see what works for your practice.

Chart B

Calculating Internal Costs to a Percent of Collections

Annual Collections

$4,000,000

Salary, Wages & Benefits

$198,149

Statement Costs

$13,800

Server Costs

$2,175

Software Costs

$10,980

EDI Costs

$5,125

Training Costs

$5,000

Staffing Turnover Costs

$4,000

Communication

$3,000

Real Estate Occupancy

$12,000

Lost Revenue as Result of 5% Errors

$150,000

How Can I Outsource?

If your practice is interested in outsourcing your medical billing, collections and credentialing, please contact MEREM Healthcare Solutions for more information.

Outsourcing medical billing and coding significantly increase a physician’s confidence that the billing is handled accurately and efficiently. Merem Healthcare Solutions eliminates time, frustration, and expense associated with building and maintaining skilled professionals needed to achieve optimal reimbursement in the ever-changing and very challenging insurance industry. Above all, Merem clients know their business interests are in the hands of competent committed professionals.

The post Why Should I Consider Outsourcing My Medical Billing & Coding? appeared first on MEREM Health.