Family Practice Medical Billing

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Family practices are some of the busiest medical professionals in the healthcare industry. They meet with a wide variety of patients regularly, from children to elderly patients. Oftentimes, family practitioners specialize in more than just one medical field and have tons of responsibilities everyday. For this reason, it can be difficult to stay on top of back-end tasks like family practice medical billing! Not to mention, medical billers must have extensive knowledge of family practice medical procedures and codes to efficiently complete the medical billing process. That’s why many family practices today, big and small, take advantage of professional family practice medical billing companies. Outsourcing helps practices avoid the stress and complications of medical billing and coding procedures.

Family Practice Medical Billing: In-House vs. Outsource

When it comes to medical billing and coding, family practices have two options. They can either hire a back-end staff to handle billing and coding in-house, or they can partner with a professional medical billing company and outsource the billing process. Outsourcing is becoming a more common option for family practices because of the extensiveness of the billing and coding job. Given their huge client base, family practitioners are responsible for a long list of medical procedures in various medical fields. This means that their billing staff must have extensive knowledge of medical billing and coding in order to get the job done efficiently. Oftentimes, the best method is to leave this job to credentialed professionals who specialize in family practices billing and coding.

Here’s the good news. With much of healthcare going digital, outsourcing family practice medical billing is easier than ever today. There are lots of great medical billing and coding companies who can handle your entire revenue cycle management (RCM) process and take the weight off your shoulders. Plus, it will likely save you money in the long-run. Medical billers maximize family practice revenue and you won’t have to spend money on medical billing software.

Why Outsource Family Practice Medical Billing?

Why exactly should your family practice outsource medical billing? To put it simply, the pros outweigh the cons. Today, for most family practices, medical billing services provide the most beneficial method for managing medical billing and coding. Consider some of the reasons and top benefits.

Large scale of medical procedures

As mentioned, family practices complete a huge variety of medical procedures in many different fields and specialties. As a result, your in-house billers would have to memorize hundreds of codes for procedures in order to bill properly. Independent billers that have this degree of knowledge are hard to come by. Not to mention, they are expensive in terms of a salary! On the other hand, professional family practice medical billing services are highly trained in this area. They can help you produce great results, saving you money in the long-term.

Customized billing for your needs

Many family practices have particular billing demands. Most family practice medical billing companies will work with you to set up a customized plan that suits your practice’s specific needs.

Billing and coding updates

Given the extensive list of medical procedures that family practices complete regularly, family practice medical billers must stay up-to-date constantly on billing and coding updates. This can be very time-consuming, although very necessary! Professional medical billing companies build training and updates into their schedules, so you’ll never have to worry about errors.

Reduce error and get paid faster

One of the top reasons to outsource your medical billing is to reduce error and get paid faster. Professional medical billing companies are very skilled at this! It’s the medical billing service’s job to get your billing completed without error, so that claims get submitted faster and ultimately, you get paid faster.

Maximize revenue

Similarly, it’s in medical billing companies’ best interest to work to maximize your revenue. Their pricing model is often based on a percentage of revenue they earn for your practice. So if they don’t help you get paid, then they don’t get paid either! Family practices that use medical billing companies typically report higher revenue as the service helps them to efficiently and quickly collect patient balances.

Focus on patient care

Without worrying about medical billing in-house, your family practitioners will have more time to focus on patient care and patient satisfaction. Your workday will be less stressful and you’ll get to focus your attention on what you do best.

Family Practice Medical Billing Tasks

Which tasks do professional family practice medical billing companies handle? For the most part, family practice medical billers can handle as much or as little of the revenue cycle management process as you’d like! There are full-fledged practice management solutions as well as simpler medical billing options. It depends on the provider and the types of customized solutions they offer. Here are some of the medical billing and coding tasks that family practice medical billing companies offer.

  • Easy electronic patient enrollment
  • Insurance verification
  • Entire billing and coding process
  • Payment posting
  • Electronic claim submission
  • Claim denial management 
  • Patient balance collections 
  • Detailed revenue reports
  • Patient appointment setting and reminders

Pricing

How much does family practice medical billing cost? It will depend on the medical billing company, as there are a few different typical pricing models:

  • Percentage of amount collected: Under this pricing model, the company will charge a percentage of the revenue they helped you earn. This usually ranges from 4%-10% of total revenue earned when using the service.
  • Total claims submitted: Sometimes, a company will charge you based on how many claims they submitted on your behalf.
  • Fixed rate: A medical billing company may charge you a fixed rate per claim submitted, such as $1-$2 per claim. This model is less common.

The most common pricing model for family practice medical billing companies is “percentage of amount collected". You should expect to pay no more than 10% of net collections. Note: this is also the fairest pricing model. The medical billing company will have to work just as hard as you to earn money. All in all, however, for most family practices, outsourcing will cost you less overall compared to paying the salaries of an in-house billing staff.

Choosing a Medical Billing Company 

How do you find the best medical billing company for your practice’s needs? Luckily, there are tons of reliable, high-quality medical billing companies that help family practices today. To continue your research…

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