So, you had previously decided to outsource your office’s billing process. And you are pleased with the results. Your insurance aging report is much improved, collections have increased, payment posting is up-to-date, and your administrative staff is not burdened with the billing tasks they once had to handle. You've experienced the advantages of outsourcing your insurance billing and believe your practice is in excellent financial shape.
So, what exactly is next? Do you still need the services of an outsourced billing company now that your insurance claims process is under control and is providing the cash flow necessary to operate your practice successfully?
In this article, you'll learn why getting rid of the outsourced team that manages your billing might not be in your best interests, despite the fact that your insurance collections are current, and your aging report is clean.
Outsourcing your billing process has allowed you to:
Spend more time doing what you do best—practicing quality dentistry and caring for patients.
Discontinue recruiting, supervising, and training billing personnel.
Avoid having to deal with vacations, illness, and personnel turnover.
Streamline the pay and compensation packages for yourself, your staff and your fellow professionals.
Spend less on software and hardware, office equipment, offices, and training costs.
Reduce costs of compliance training and yearly coding.
Repurpose space that would otherwise be allocated for billings to generate alternative income sources.
Devote greater resources to a smooth conversion to electronic dental care records.
Commit to a certain proportion of revenue for some of your operational expenditures.
Avoid investing in a costly billing system.
Some of those advantages might possibly continue even if you decide to designate one responsible existing staff person to administer a super-efficient billing system. But outsourcing your billing process is not something that, once it has solved your collection problems, can be discontinued. Maintaining vigilance over your billing process is a continuing need that must keep up with constantly changing rules, codes, and insurance technology. It is most cost-effective when the individual or team conducting your process is constantly updated with the most current practices and therefore avoids errors and hassles that might otherwise occur. It's a full-time job that requires the concentrated attention of at least one person.
The pros and cons of hiring an in-house billing coordinator
Pros:
In-person interactions can benefit the teamwork among staff members collaborating on projects. These face-to-face interactions can help generate new enthusiasm, which can lead to improved and innovative ways of doing things.
Being able to pay a good salary and offering the potential for advancement helps retain quality staff personnel. These employees will also be more invested in the practice over the long term.
Intellectual property is more likely to be kept private and confidential. Employees may be asked to sign non-compete agreements, which prevents employees from contacting patients if they leave the practice.
Cons:
Finding quality talent may be difficult, particularly in less populous areas with a lesser talent pools. The majority of outstanding talent in the area might already be employed.
Top performers may require health and dental benefits, and perhaps a 401(k) plan match. The expense of providing these benefits can quickly add up. These do not have to be paid to a freelancer who works as a 1099 employee.
Recruiting, screening, and training new employees is time-consuming and energy-sapping and, if an employee leaves, the process has to start all over again.
Surprisingly, two-thirds of all dental offices in the United States have been victims of embezzlement or fraud. At least some of the other one-third may also be victims but aren’t aware these crimes are being committed by those on their staffs. As honest and reliable as you believe your personnel to be, shocking things can be done by good people, particularly when their personal circumstances have put them under financial duress. Furthermore, you may have temporary or short-term contract employees working in your practice from time to time, who see opportunities for mischief and have no loyalty to you. It's simply smart business practice to have a proper counterbalance in place, along with another set of eyes routinely watching your practice’s financial affairs. To error is human, regardless of malicious intent. New hires and temporary workers are likely to just be "more human" than your more loyal and trusted employees. A few extra sets of eyes reduce the likelihood of mischief. Outsourcing your billing process should practically remove thoughtless errors that could otherwise be committed by the everyday office distractions to which your team is subjected. It may also serve as an excellent check and balance, assuming of course, that you select a very highly respected firm.
Cost, skill, and adaptability. These three considerations may be the primary influences on a decision about the correctness of in-house employment versus outsourcing.
Terminating your billing company and not hiring an insurance coordinator?
If no one person is responsible for insurance billing, your collections will sacrifice, and your practice will realize comparatively less revenue.
Your chances of fraud, embezzlement, and errors will dramatically increase.
Your team will suffer, and morale will decline.
You’ll experience more insurance denials and have to constantly be filing appeals.
Your patient experience will erode, and you will see patients leave your practice for your competitors.
If you hold one person responsible for billing on a full-time basis, your dental office will show a healthier bottom line. On the other hand, if your billing procedures are shared among multiple staff members and one person is not explicitly held accountable for the process, this will result in errors and longer reimbursement timeframes. There are a lot of moving parts to the process of insurance billing, beginning with insurance authentication even before the patient has been seen. Then there's generating, batching, and submitting the claim, all of which entails double-checking time-consuming information. Finally, there is a need to follow-up to ensure that the claim is reimbursed by insurance and correctly reported and posted.
Professionally organized and operated financial processes are an important element of the patient experience. It just takes one minor billing or posting error to undermine a patient's faith in your team and/or the accuracy of your billing system. A mistake might prompt a patient to wonder how frequently they have been incorrectly billed in the past. As much as they may appreciate you and your team for your professional competence, once you lose their confidence over an administrative issue, you typically lose that patient.
You are less likely to be able to effectively manage the billing process role in-house as you would if you outsourced the work. Insurance firms seek justifications for denying claims and appeals. You are advised to seek the services of a dental billing business that has high-quality personnel, efficient systems, and a track record of profitable collections and appeals.
Your professional responsibilities should take up the bulk of your attention and time. You didn’t follow your passion for dentistry because you enjoy dealing with administrative headaches. Some aspects of running a successful practice can become too much for a single individual to handle. That is why parting ways with your billing company without a Plan B is not a smart choice.
Maintain a high collection rate and a low insurance reimbursement aging report
Give yourself the peace of mind that comes with either hiring one individual to be responsible for your dental insurance billing or outsourcing this process to a firm such as Swift Claims Dental. Swift Claims Dental's skilled staff are always accessible to you and your employees. You’ll find that we can also provide an additional set of eyes that can detect internal errors and error patterns. In any case, having a dedicated individual or group focusing on the process from start to finish can not only expedite all the elements of the entire billing procedure, but will also increase your practice’s revenues.
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