For any practice, medical billing is a time-consuming, often confusing process with ample room for error and rules that change regularly. Here, we’ll look at three reasons medical billing is so difficult to keep up with.
Reason #1: Ever-Changing Rules
One of the main frustrations of medical billing is that the rules always seem to be changing. New coding systems and updated compliance regulations come out every so often, and if your practice doesn’t keep up with the latest development, you’ll suffer a deluge of problems, setbacks, and rejected claims – all of which can result in major payment delays.
Reason #2: Insufficient Staff
Keeping a dedicated billing specialist on your staff is great – if you can afford to do it. If you can’t afford it, then your regular staff will have to handle the billing on top of all their other duties, which will likely result in poor morale and a higher turnover rate. And if you can’t keep your staff on board, that means you’ll spend a lot of extra time training new employees, only to watch them walk out the door six months later because the workload is completely unmanageable.
Reason #3: Too Much Problem-Solving
Rejected claims. Late payments. No payments. Improper coding. The list of potential problems your practice will spend time solving includes all these things, plus other issues like software malfunctions. When your already overworked staff is having to figure out billing problems and pursue past-due accounts, then a bad situation has just become much, much worse – and this kind of heavy, scattered workflow just isn’t sustainable.
So What’s the Solution for Medical Billing Difficulties?
The medical billing process isn’t likely to get simpler anytime soon, so what’s a practice to do? Outsourcing your medical billing is a great option because it takes the whole thing off your plate. Instead of correcting a bunch of inaccurate codes or calling patients to collect overdue payments, your staff can put their focus where it should have been all along – on the patients they serve.
Improve your workflow and revenue cycle. Boost staff morale. Call Medical Business Management today, and let us handle all your medical billing needs!
