Not only are the rules and regulations concerning medical billing changing, but they are also changing for health care as a whole. Updates and major changes administered with the Health Care Reform bill have increased the number of insured Americans by more than 30 million, so proper medical billing procedures are more important than ever.

Sourcing Medical Billing Services
Medical practices now have to worry about insurance companies' unique rules along with new and changing coding standards. With the burden of knowledge being so heavy, they're losing money due to lost or ignored claims, denials, and underpayments.

Hiring a third party for billing services can often times be an effective way to improve revenue cycle and gain control of the situation.

Outsourcing Medical Billing Services
Outsourcing medical billing sounds expensive upfront. However, when everything is added up, it may end up being more beneficial over time. Here's why:

• Most medical billing services charge on a percent-basis, meaning they will only charge a percentage of the revenue they are bringing in for your company. With this in mind, they are going to be a lot more diligent about faster collections and resubmitting claims. Your current employees don't have time to run through denied claims. A third-party professional is dedicated to this.
• Employing a staff for billing purposes can get expensive. Even to hire just one new person, a practice has to think about the costs of training, the employee's salary, benefits, and taxes, as well as compensation for turnover. Using an outside billing service eliminates the headache of training and familiarizing a staff with your billing software, procedures, coding, etc. A billing service has already trained professionals, who only make money when you do.
• The amount of time doctors and nurses spend on billing and staffing concerns can be eliminated. This freed-up time can be used to care for patients - which is what you're goal is in the first place.
• Odds are, outsourced billing companies have more billing and coding expertise, and necessary resources. Even if you are still concerned with internally handling billing, an outside service can assist in providing proper software, such as EMR (Electronic Medical Records), packaged billing, and practice management. Sometimes for an added fee, there are companies that provide appointment reminders, electronic eligibility verification, patient follow-up, coding, consulting, and data reporting. For one lump sum, you can outsource medical billing services that might have been costly to handle within your practice.
• Certified billing companies are compliant with the latest health care laws, like HIPAA and the Health Care Reform bill, so your staff can rest assured that the law is being followed.