Is oncology medical billing affecting your mental health as managing the extensive process is getting out of hand? Or you are finding it difficult to manage healthcare along with administrative tasks. You are not alone. This is the plight of many healthcare providers nationwide as they struggle to maintain the desired revenue while rendering services to the patients.
A trustworthy way to deal with these issues is oncology medical billing services. As a healthcare provider, it is possible that you are not completely aware of the benefits of medical billing services. However, outsourcing is the answer that you may be looking for in your practice.
Before getting involved and making major changes for your healthcare practice, it is important to understand what outsourcing is and how it can benefit your oncology practice.
This blog is a testament to how and why oncology medical billing services are useful for your healthcare practice. Let's dive deep into this topic and touch upon all the important parts of outsourcing.
Outsourcing Medical Billing Services
Outsourcing is essential from the business point of view for a healthcare provider or practice. It means to hire an external company that offers medical billing services. It can be a medical billing firm or a business processing outsourcing (BPO) company. These services take over the administrative process and free the healthcare providers from the hassle.
This proves to be an efficient strategy to enhance the revenue cycle management, especially for oncology practice. When we talk of the revenue cycle, it is the most vital part of medical billing. The smooth functioning of RCM results is adequate reimbursement. Outsourcing partners help in reaching this point by improving the operational workflow and practice management.
Outsourcing is a great method to shift the focus from tedious oncology medical billing to patient care. Apart from taking care of the billing process, such services also stay updated with regulations and industry standards.
DID YOU KNOW?
The U.S. medical billing outsourcing market size is experiencing an upward trend, and it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 12.9% from 2023 to 2032
Another imperative part of medical billing is the strict government regulations and guidelines. Staying current with such guidelines is difficult and a failure to comply adds to the financial burden as well. Outsourcing partners, on the other hand, offer complete regulatory assistance while ensuring a smooth revenue cycle management.
The range of services that an outsourcing partner renders has a wide scope; and involves accounts receivable follow-up, denial management, payment posting services, and many more. Along with that, they incorporate the latest technologies such as electronic health record (EHR) systems and hospital information networks.
Vital Advantages of Oncology Medical Billing Services
Outsourcing can be a new term for many healthcare providers, and this can discourage them from choosing it for their practice. Knowing the advantages of medical billing services will counter such thoughts. Here are some points that will give you some insight into outsourcing:
Ease of Tracking Unpaid Claims
Often healthcare providers find it hard to navigate through claim processing. Oncology medical billing services keep a proper track of claims. The services also ensure to keep track of unpaid claims to further take steps to correct the mistakes and reclaim the lost revenue.
Smooth Onset
Starting with an outsourcing partner is extremely effortless. The healthcare practice does not require any effort to train the staff. A medical billing company has a team to handle the administrative tasks, and everything is managed by professionals. Here, healthcare practices just have to choose their medical billing and the rest will be taken care of.
Coding for Oncology
Coding for oncology is quite challenging due to the complexity of diagnosis, treatments, and procedures. However, experts understand every aspect of translating a cancer patient’s data into accurate numeric codes. Also, they are aware of the wide range of CPT codes for the practice of oncology. This is the most vital advantage of partnering with medical billing services as the maximum errors are caused due to coding errors.
Transparency in Services
Oncology medical billing services offer complete transparency of their services to the clients. They share detailed reports with the healthcare practice and keep them informed about the financial position of the practice. The healthcare providers can get a clear idea of the number of claims submitted, the amount of reimbursement along with accounts receivable and denials.
Increase in Administrative Efficiency
Partnering with productive medical billing services, healthcare practices experience an increase in administrative efficiency. This happens as these services utilize advanced technologies to streamline the workflow and manage the billing process. As a result, healthcare practice becomes aligned and earns adequate revenue.
Considering the fact that outsourcing is a cost-effective method best for all sizes of medical practices and eliminates the hassle of maintaining an in-house medical billing team. These reasons are convincing to make the change and shift to medical billing services.
However, there are many companies, and making an informed decision can be challenging. That is why, take care of the following points before finalizing your choice.
Important Points of Outsourcing Oncology Billing Services
Look for Experience in the Specialty
Oncology billing requires handling from experienced professionals who understand the range of complexities and can tackle those challenges. You must look for experienced billing services that are well-versed in the specialty of oncology. This is essential to improve the revenue cycle and enhance workflow efficiency.
Apart from that, you must check for knowledge of oncology medical coding and other services. Knowing these details will help you decide according to the unique requirements of your oncology practice.
Don’t Prefer Immensely Affordable Services
While selecting an outsourcing company for your practice, don’t get influenced by immensely affordable services. Services at an affordable rate are good but if an outsourcer offers extremely cheap prices, then there might be some hidden charges that are not shared. This establishes that the services may not be very transparent or as experienced as their counterparts.
Know Complete Services
Before deciding, gather complete information about the services such as claim scrubbing, claim denial management, analytics and reporting solutions, PMS and EMR access, and other RCM-related services. You must also check the billing system and see if it matches your existing system or not. Generally, a system that is the same as your current system can easily integrate and lead to smooth processing. Also, check if the services are up-to-date or not.
Check for HIPAA Compliance
HIPAA rules and regulations are vital for PHI’s integrity and confidentiality. These government requirements prevent the unauthorized use of sensitive patient information. A failure to comply with HIPAA leads healthcare providers into legal trouble where they have to endure penalties and other legal consequences. That is why you must ensure that your service provider follows all the compliance rules.
Choose Technological Services
The world is getting more technologically advanced every day and this raises the need to be at par with these trends for the efficiency of your administrative practice.
The billing you choose must keep up with these trends as it may be vital in enhancing financial performance. Technological advancement is necessary to eliminate manual errors and reduce denials. Apart from that, it streamlines the process, making it more reliable with the use of computers. It is the best way to move towards more modern ways and leave behind traditional billing methods.
Look for Reliable Services
You cannot miss this point as generating profits depends on this factor. Choose a medical billing company that values the needs of the clients and offers services accordingly. But how to know if the company is reliable or not? If the medical billing company is responsive to your queries and requirements, then you can consider that company. Apart from that, the outsourcing partner must offer a prompt billing process that maximizes revenue collection.
Compare your Prospects
Before finalizing any medical billing company, compare your prospects and see how every service provider is different. Compare the cost of their services, experience, and all the above factors. It will help you make an informed decision based on the price and the quality of service that each company provides.
In Summary
If you are tired of dealing with the administrative activities of your oncology practice, then outsourcing can be the best decision for you. Your oncology practice will not only improve the revenue cycle, but you will also get more time to improve the quality of patient care. Billing professionals have the required skills and knowledge to handle challenging oncology medical billing.
Unify Healthcare Services – the leading medical billing services in USA and offers top-notch oncology medical billing. Our expert billers and coders offer end-to-end solutions to streamline operational workflow and maximize reimbursement. Enhance your oncology bottom line with the latest technological services.
