Medical Billing

# 7 Things You Should Consider when Starting or Selecting a Medical Billing Company

- June 9, 2020
- Posted by Kristen Edwards

09 Jun

To take care of the non-medical obligations that your practice is facing, selecting the right medical billing company is vital. It is what will help it to divide the responsibilities in a way that does not create issues for the practice. These medical billing companies aim to reduce the overhead of the practice. This is possible as they take care of things like billing, coding, and collections. The concept of hiring a medical billing company comes under outsourcing. However, it is a useful step if the right company is chosen. Otherwise, it will lead to a major economic loss for the practice.

To choose the right medical billing company near me, you must ask the right questions. This is because of the variety of available medical billing services. Each one is different from the others. Considering the importance of billing and coding in healthcare practice, the selection must be carefully undertaken. That means asking the following questions to see how well a company fits your practice’s needs.

### Service Cost & The Average Time for Receivables

The first thing to be considered when selecting a billing company is its cost. What amount is expected by them for their provided services? The ideal way to approach this is that a specific percentage is decided. This is the percentage of all net collected receipts that they receive. It is preferred that a company charges around six percent or less if this manner is adopted. Any percentage greater than this would be considered too high.

It is also important to make sure that any additional charges are clarified. This can include the fees of startup, termination, data conversion, and patient collections. Along with these, another important factor is the average time for receivable. It is considered better to choose a billing company that has an average time of 14 to 30 days. This factor is also dependent on payer rules.

### Reduction of Administration Tasks

The purpose of the medical billing company is to take on non-medical tasks. This includes administrative tasks mainly. Therefore, for evaluation, code edits, and payer rules of a company must be considered. There are three aspects of a good billing company. These are accuracy, coding, and correct payment. It is also encouraged that the company should be asked questions regarding claims. This includes questions about fixing a denied claim and its time duration.

### Number of Practice Management Systems

There are different management systems in the market. This means that different practices have different systems. Therefore, it is a good step to go for a billing company that is already familiar with your management system. The market has various reliable systems including:

- Allscripts
- Athenahealth
- Cerner
- Epic
- eClinical
- Idx
- Ge centricity

All of these systems are pretty common in nature which is why a good company will be familiar with them. It will make it easier for you to rely on them with your activities.

### Their References

References are something considered important in all fields. They are vital in terms of professional billing services as well. Therefore, it is important to gain information about the company in terms of its past projects. You should look for certain similarities in their past work. This includes their size, scope, and specialty. Testimonials may help you in this case. This means you should not be hesitant in approaching satisfied clients.

### HIPAA-Compliant Companies

HIPAA is otherwise known as the health insurance portability and accountability act. Its compliance is expected from organizations that deal with patients’ confidential medical information. This applies to medical billing companies. Ensuring that the company is HIPAA compliant will help you gain answers to all kinds of questions.

### Presence of Transparency

According to the above factors, it is obvious that transparency is a very important element. A reputable medical billing company will be up-front about all their dealings. This includes its data and services. Such transparency will allow you to gain an accurate and timely report about the finances of the practice.

This is integral since it is the dealings of your practice that come under question. This means that your practice deserves to know anything related to it. It does not matter whether the information is technical or outside the practice’s area of expertise.

### Services Provided and Not Provided

Practice should make sure that they know the services provided as well as the services not provided. This will help them to avoid making any assumptions about billing and coding duties. It is possible that some tasks related to it are not catered to.

Approaching this topic at the start will avoid any confusion and mishap from taking place. The practice will be able to plan or find another more appropriate billing company.

### Conclusion

People deliberating on how to start a medical billing company should also leverage the defined elements on this guide. It will help them form the right billing company offering utterly professional billing services around their specialty.

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