Outsourcing Medical Billing Services: When to Call for Help

There are many times throughout the life of a medical practice when getting outside help for your ENT billing and coding can be a big help. Whether you are just getting started, are in the middle of a transitional phase or if you just want to keep your focus on your patients and not on clinical coding optimization, professional clinic and hospital consultants can be a huge advantage. Figuring out when it is time to hire a professional for outsourcing medical billing services can be a challenge, but once you decide to change your approach to clinical coding optimization, the only thing left to do is to figure out who to hire.

Why Do Some Clinics Outsource Services?
Brand new medical clinics and practices who are operating on a budget can really benefit from outsourcing medical billing services. Hiring staff specifically to handle ENT billing and coding can be a large expense, including training, certification, computers, software and other support materials and services that are required to ensure that the clinical coding optimization is done correctly and without error. You don’t want to have any delays, penalties or issues resulting from incorrect billing. Sometimes hiring a pro to take care of these essential details for you is the best way to go until you can afford to purchase equipment and hire specialty, experienced and trained staff.

However, even established clinics can use some help with ENT billing and coding from time to time. Most recently, the transition that is happening between the ICD-9 and ICD-10 coding requirements has frustrated and stressed out many offices. Clinic, billing and hospital consultants have been working overtime to help practices get on track, provide training and offer certification options for in-house staff, as well as for outsourcing medical billing services when extra help is needed. Small offices can also benefit from outsourced assistance, allowing medical staff to keep focus on patients instead of being distracted with billing issues, training and other important changes to the medical field.

Is Outsourcing Medical Billing Services Right for You?
Before you dive into hiring a professional company to take care of your ENT billing and coding for you, it is important to evaluate whether or not the benefits of outsourcing will be worth the cost of investing in this type of service. While the needs of Ear, Nose and Throat physicians are very similar, the specific needs, capabilities and resources available to each practice will vary wildly.

Some this to consider include:

• COST – we try not to make everything be about money, but the truth is that the bottom line is essential; compare the cost of hiring clinical coding optimization specialists and having to hire/train staff or purchase new computers and software to achieve the same results
• TIME – do your nurses double as your ENT billing and coding staff and would their time be better spent working with patients and helping you to provide care? or has your practice grown to the point where your in-house billing department can’t keep up or needs to be re-certified in order to meet the demands of the new ICD-9 to ICD-10 conversion requirements?
• SPACE – some practices are outsourcing medical billing services to make room for more exam rooms, storage rooms and other useful space at their clinics and in-hospital practices; the space used to house computers, servers and other related ENT billing and coding equipment might be better used to serve your patients’ needs
• STAFF – have you made recent changes to your staff and want to outsource billing work until your new team has been trained to your expectations? MD Pro Solutions also offers a wide variety of clinical coding optimization training and certification for new employees or staff that are transitioning to billing services

How MD Pro Solutions Can Help
If you are thinking about outsourcing medical billing services – whatever the reason – you should consider hiring MD Pro Solutions for all of your ENT billing and coding needs. Our team is highly trained, experienced and specialized in the area of otolaryngology and can help your medical practice or clinic to maximize your billing and earning potential through a wide range of professional services. Give us a call today at 508-946-1665 to learn more about our services or for a FREE consultation to determine which of our services would best suit your individual and unique needs.