In considering outsourcing,
its important to think with a long-term vision in mind.
The single biggest reason why Physicians eventually
decide to outsource the billing functions is difficulty
in managing the human resource cycle. Human resource
management problems arise from employee turnover and
practice growth.
Employee
Turnover
Many medical practices go through
high turnover periods, while others find loyal people
who dedicate many years to working for the same Physician.
The human resource management cycle can be very difficult
for a Physician to maintain, since once the Biller leaves,
the Physician is left with no other option and is usually
forced to hire someone who has very little experience.
Ask yourself this question, when would you be the most
worried; when your receptionist quits or when your biller
leaves? Do you really have the time to find someone
who is experienced and reliable and can do the right
job with the amount of attention your billing deserves?
Organic Growth
Growth is a normal part of any business. As a practice
grows, revenues grow and ultimately, the workload grows.
It becomes important to hire new people to meet the
new workload demands. If a Physician has kept his/her
billing in-house and, when it comes time to hire another
biller, the Physician is increasing his/her fixed cost
substantially, and all at one time. Not only is finding
the right person for the job difficult, but hiring an
extra person can be a heavy cost-burden.
With a billing service, the human resource management
problems are eliminated on the part of the Physician.
HealthQuist goes through periods of turnover, but we
are able to absorb that attrition because we have a
number of employees within our organization. When we
work with a client, we work as a group; i.e. we do not
give one employee all of one client’s billing.
In this way, we can easily manage the normal attrition
that occurs in companies and medical practices today.
In addition, as you grow your practice, your cost/revenue
percent remains the same without any large increases.
See our Cost Analysis section
Cost-effective Solution
When you
outsource, you save money and resources in many
areas such as:
Computer
hardware
Maintenance fees / support contracts
Software and upgrade costs
Delay in claim research
Delay in claim resubmission
Time spent on phone with insurance
companies
Training seminars / education
Human resource recruiting
Holiday, vacation and sick pay
Wages, taxes and benefits
Office space dedicated to billing
functions
Ability
to Demand Accountability from a Billing Service
When you outsource to a billing service, the billing
service is typically collecting a percent of whatever
is collected; therefore, the incentive and the headache
to collect falls on the billing service. In addition,
you can demand accountability from a billing service
as compared to an employee – where too much pressure
can lead to the inevitable – “I Quit!”
The misconception is that by outsourcing to a billing
service, the Physician loses control of his/her billing.
However, we maintain that outsourcing actually gives
you full control of your billing, since the ease at
which you can switch between billing companies is much
simpler than switching between employees.
