9 Signs That It Is Time to Outsource Billing
When coupled with the fact that ABA therapy is an ever growing and changing field, it becomes even more obvious that you need to have the right system in place in order to effectively deal with billing —- and so your clinic can stay successful and growing.
Amvik Solutions understands that there is a lot of time and effort put into the billing process and that’s why we offer medical billing services for ABA therapy clinics. If you have been wondering about outsourcing billing responsibilities, then consider these 9 signs that it may just be time to do so.
- You are new to ABA therapy and the business.
Starting up a new ABA therapy practice is hard enough without all the complexities of medical billing and coding. Outsourcing these responsibilities to a medical billing team such as Amvik Solutions can help you in a number of ways including:
- Keeping overhead down by reducing labor costs associated with in-house billing personnel.
- Keeping cash flow steady which is essential for new businesses.
- Allowing you to concentrate on the patient experience and quality of service rather than administrative tasks.
When you consider everything it takes to get a new clinic up and running, it might be in your best interest to allow an outsourced team to help with some of the heavy lifting.
- Your clinic is growing.
A growing clinic can have just a many challenges as a brand new one. When growing your business, reputation is everything, and failing to provide the same quality ABA therapy services to new patients can lead to some detrimental effects.
As your employees will likely be tasked with more responsibilities and duties during this growth period, why not ensure they can still provide meaningful services by taking some of those administrative duties off their hands. Your personnel will thank you for this by continuing to provide quality care to patients, which in turn will help you to continue growing. It’s a cycle of positivity.
- Too many billing errors are costing you money.
The American Academy of Family Physicians notes that a 5-10% denial rate is the industry average but that practices should try to keep this rate below 5%. While this number is related more so to traditional clinics, it provides a standard to consider within your own ABA clinic.
As claims denials come with additional costs to correct, as well as requiring more of your personnel’s time and energy, it becomes evident that outsourcing can effectively put a stop to issues related to errors, including resubmission processes and fees. It’s also worth noting that only about 35% of providers appeal denied claims, which means your clinic could be potentially losing out on thousands of dollars —- if not more.
A billing service provider like Amvik Solutions will ensure that billing errors do not occur, or even when they do, will handle the processes and expenses related to the mistake, including resubmission.
- You’ve noticed a lot of employee absences on your billing team.
- Your revenue stream has slowed down.
- Organizational staffing issues.
- In-house billing costs you too much.
- You need to focus on more than just billing.
- Your billing team or system is just not effective.
- Billing—private insurance, school, regional center or private pay
- Automatically using correct CPT Category III codes for billing
- Automation of ERA processes
- Payroll
- HR module
- Electronic signature feature
- Customizable reports
- 24/7 access on any platform
- HIPAA compliance
- Management control
Because of the nature of billing, as well as the time constraints associated with it, an employee’s absence can negatively affect the claims process and your revenue stream.
Not only does this relate to your everyday occurrences, for instance, employees calling in because of sickness or emergencies, but it can also become a major issue during seasonal downtimes when personnel are more likely to take a vacation, such as during the winter holiday season or summertime.
Outsourcing billing responsibilities essentially guarantees that a dedicated team of qualified professionals will be working on your claims around the clock, all year long. That’s a stronger cash flow and improved efficiency for your clinic.
You need a solid income stream to keep your clinic operating effectively. If billing mistakes, coding complexities, and reduced reimbursements or denials have negatively affected your collections, then you need to consider outsourcing your billings and collections to keep your company from falling victim to a bad revenue stream.
Not only does this keep your business running optimally, it also allows your personnel to focus on other responsibilities and ensure quality customer service.
If your personnel is under experienced or not up-to-date on all the compliance and regulatory issues that often arise within the medical billing industry – and especially in a newer field such as ABA therapy – you are looking at additional trainings and time to get them up-to-par. This may not be a viable option for you.
Or even if you’re willing to provide trainings and quality programs to get personnel on track, this still can require extensive oversight and management that can take away from your own tasks as the owner of an ABA therapy clinic.
Then, of course, there are issues with staff turnover. While you might be willing to spend resources on training staff, there’s no guarantee they’re going to stick around for long.
Outsourcing your medical billing provides you with a team of professionals that you will NOT need to train, oversee, or worry about leaving when you need them most. You’ll get high-quality services without the managing oversights (or costs) that can hurt your bottom line.
When you take into account the costs associated with hiring an in-house medical biller, you might be surprised that it’s costing you more than simply outsourcing. Consider that you have to pay salary, insurances, social security, and other labor expenses.
On top of this, you’ll likely be spending money on equipment, software, printouts, and more. All these in-house billing costs can quickly add up, leaving you with less to work with to grow your business.
Outsourcing your billing can be a cost effective measure to reduce this waste.
Billing and coding require a substantial amount of effort, time, and resources. If you don’t have a dedicated team to handle this, this major responsibility can fall on the shoulders of clinic owners, physicians, ABA therapists, or other vital personnel.
This means less time to deal with patients or to build relationships with hospitals and potential partners. Without meaningful relationships with the local healthcare community, you may not be able to grow your business.
Outsourcing is the perfect solution in this scenario.
It’s an unfortunate reality but one you must be able to accept if you really want to develop your ABA therapy clinic to its greatest potential. If billing just isn’t one of your company’s strengths, then you need to take the necessary steps to fix the issue.
Not only can outsourcing medical billing help to improve your business, it can also lead to better customer service and an improved practice model.
Let Amvik Solutions handle your ABA clinic’s billing so you can focus on providing meaningful quality care to patients.
Amvik Solutions’ WebABA practice management software and billing services are perfectly designed to automate processes to improve your collections and your clinic’s finances.
Our WebABA practice management software can support your ABA therapy practice in a number of operations and tasks including:
If you need a billing and collections solution then contact Amvik Solutions today at (805) 277-3392 to find out more about our WebABA services, billing services, credentialing services, and other options we provide.