A medical practice having anywhere from 2 to 5 providers is considered a small practice. According to a survey of 10,888 family physicians over one-half of respondents worked in solo or small practices.To be precise, small medical practices were the largest group with 36% respondents. This survey was conducted in 2013 by the American Board of Family Medicine(source). According to statista.com, the largest percentage of U.S. medical practices in 2018 were small practices. These statistics demonstrate that more Americans prefer small medical practices over medium and large ones. This could be because small practice physicians tend to provide better care and more individual attention. According to a study, compared to medium medical practices with 10-19 physicians, practices with 1-2 physicians had 33 percent fewer potentially preventable hospital admissions, and practices with 3-9 physicians had 27 percent fewer(source). Moreover, according to a survey conducted by MEPS in 2016, the percentage of adults with four or more visits to their office-based Usual Source of Care (USC) was higher among adults whose USC was a large practice than the percentage of adults making four or more visits to small or medium practices(source). All this illustrates that small practices are providing quality healthcare.
The data provided above highlights the fact that more patients visit small practices as compared to medium and large practices. Due to a large patient base, small practices require efficient, competent, and professional medical billing services more than other practice sizes.
So, What Are the Requirements of Proficient Medical Billing?
Minimum Coding and Billing Mistake
Billing and coding errors can result in rejected claims and delays, so it is absolutely essential to submit error-free claims. Also, in case of a mistake, your medical biller should be able to quickly rectify and re-bill.
Patient Data Safety
It is critically important to follow the data safety protocols and best practices to safeguard patients’ data against hackers and data leakage.
Compliance With Regulations
The problems can be severe if you fall out of compliance with the governmental regulations in healthcare. Therefore, your medical billers must file bills that are compliant with the regulations and protocols.
Is Outsourcing Medical Billing Services Feasible for Small Practices?
Outsourcing medical billing can be beneficial for small practices. Let’s take a look at a few reasons why you should consider outsourced medical billing services for small practices?
Lower Costs
It is estimated that outsourcing medical billing costs less as compared to hiring in-house billing staff because billing companies enjoy the economy of scale.
Faster Claims Processing
Patients sometimes lag in paying their bills, which can oftentimes lead to more staff overhead to get the compensation for services rendered by physicians. This can be a hassle for a small billing department, but a billing company can issue timely payment reminders.
Better Consistency
In a small practice, it is not easy to hire too many employees not directly involved in providing healthcare. On the other hand, bills will start to pile up if a billing employee gets sick, takes FMLA, or go on a vacation. A proficient billing company will process your bills consistently and on time, no matter how small your practice is.
Better Returns
Since medical billing companies perform better at collecting bills than billing departments of small practices, which translates into revenue increase for your medical practice.
Focus on Healthcare
Clearly, no one goes to medical school to spend precious work hours filling out paperwork and arguing with healthcare insurance providers. Medical staff should have the comfort to focus on what matters the most i.e. caring for patients. By letting a billing company what they do best, physicians can better focus on providing quality healthcare.
How BillingFreedom’s medical billing experts support Small Practices
BillingFreedom is one of the top-ranked medical billing companies committed to solving some of the toughest challenges that small practices face. BF provides end-to-end healthcare solutions and a wide array of services for small medical practices. Notably, we help healthcare providers get paid quickly and save a considerable amount of time. Our latest coding and reimbursement techniques improve the returns for medical practices. Our staff has the training and expertise to work with your current EMR/EHR. Give us a call at (855) 415-3472 for more information.
