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Medical billing outsourcing solutions are revolutionizing the way healthcare professionals work. Thanks to amazing providers, like Billing Savi, medical practices are able to focus on the work they love, outsource the things they don't, and build profitable organizations that genuinely help patients improve their lives.   

Unfortunately, many medical professionals encounter myths about medical billing outsourcing when considering whether or not to take advantage of these incredible services. We wanted to take some time to clear up these myths and get to the truth behind the wonderful benefits of utilizing a great medical billing outsourcer.   

Myth #1: Billing Outsourcing is Just Another Unnecessary Expense

Many owners of medical practices think that outsourcing their medical billing is just a 'nice to have' service. They think it will just leave a bigger dent in their wallet and would rather put in the elbow grease required to get the work done in-house.   

This couldn't be further from the truth!   

Great medical billing outsourcers typically save their clients money by turning their organization's revenue cycle into a well-oiled machine.

Although it can seem like paying an external medical billing provider will cost you more money, it can actually boost your total revenues significantly. By improving the collections process, outsourcing companies like Billing Savi are able to actually increase total collections for many different practices.  

By outsourcing medical billing processes, medical practices are able to submit claims much faster, helping speed up the payments they receive.     Additionally, medical billing outsourcing professionals have the expertise to reduce errors and detect denials which can be reworked and submitted for payment as well.    

Myth #2: In-House Staff Can Handle Billing Tasks Just as Well

Medical practices also tend to believe that in-house staff can do just a good job of managing revenues and billing as an outsourcing company. Although staff may be familiar with many billing tasks, it is highly unlikely that they have the capabilities to handle billing operations as well as the specialists.   

The medical billing industry is constantly changing and it takes specialists to be able to keep up with the innovations and alterations that regularly take place. Additionally, new software and technology requirements are always hitting the market, requiring billing professionals to upgrade over and over again.   

For these reasons, it makes sense to let billing professionals handle these important revenue based tasks. A great medical billing outsourcer will know of the latest and greatest ways to handle billing procedures and also be stocked with the latest software and technologies that are needed.   

Myth #3: Only Established Medical Practices Should Outsource

New medical practice owners tend to think that they should outsource billing operations after they have been established for a while. In reality, new medical practices have a ton to gain from outsourcing their revenue management in the early days when they're getting started.   

A new medical practice requires the coordination of hundreds of tasks and the establishment of countless procedures and business systems. Trying to figure out how to properly handle and execute on billing and revenue management during this time can cause a lot of friction and bottleneck issues.   

By outsourcing these complicated tasks, new medical practices can focus on more important tasks while starting their organization, such as taking care of their patients and establishing a stellar reputation.   

Outsourcing medical billing makes sense for so many reasons. By allowing specialists to handle billing processes, healthcare practitioners can focus on their crafts and ensure their revenues are being managed by professionals. 

To learn more about how medical billing outsourcing can benefit you, please contact Billing Savi by clicking here. 

Although it may sound counter-intuitive to some, outsourcing can have a tremendously positive impact on the operations of a medical practice.   

The benefits are numerous. From cutting down on costs to freeing up resources for core business activities, outsourcing menial tasks can provide medical practitioners the support they need to build a successful organization. 

The benefits are numerous. From cutting down on costs to freeing up resources for core business activities, outsourcing menial tasks can provide medical practitioners the support they need to build a successful organization. 

  In 2016, Deloitte released a survey which revealed that 59% of participants were outsourcing to save money, and 57% wanted to dedicate their time to their core business activities. Additionally, over 50% of respondents found outsourcing helped add value through various business development and strategic activities.   

In fact, almost 80% of participants felt great about their decision to outsource and their outsource partners. When considering outsourcing options for a medical practice—especially medical billing processes—the benefits can be substantial.   

Doing so can give employees the ability to focus on other more important responsibilities while simultaneously helping build a consistent revenue stream for your practice.   

Boosting Medical Practice Revenues 

Want to get paid faster? Then focus your attention on cash flow! How much time you spend in revenue cycle time has a huge impact on your profitability.   

By outsourcing your medical billing processes, your practice can submit claims much faster, helping speed up payments you receive.  

Additionally, the medical billing outsource professionals you hire have the expertise to reduce errors and detect denials which can be reworked and submitted for payment as well.  

Outsource the Boring

Running a business means that a number of responsibilities will need to be taken care of by your staff, whether they want to do them or not. Tasking staff members with things that don't apply to their skill set can lower the quality of service at your practice. 

Thankfully, outsourcing menial tasks can help employees refocus on what they do best, like providing incredible care and attention to patients.   

Outsourcing projects that could be handled by those that specialize in those tasks can free up your staff to focus on things that really matter and make a difference to your practice.    

Save Money by Spending It 

By outsourcing, your medical practice can actually save money as the years go by. By outsourcing to specialists, practices can save thousands in yearly salaries and benefits for in house staff.   

You also won't have to buy a bunch of different software, maintenance services or annual upgrades for these additional requirements.   

When staff doesn't have to worry about menial responsibilities, their stress levels go down and workplace satisfaction goes up.   As you can see, these changes also have a positive effect on employee turnover. These savings can really spike up profit margins while making both your staff and patients happier at the same time!    

In Conclusion 

Although you may think that outsourcing is the last thing your practice needs, you will definitely see and understand the benefits once you start making the investment.  

Hire skilled staff members and let them focus on what they're really good at - not repetitive menial tasks they don't understand. Outsource the things your practice doesn't specialize in and focus your energy on satisfying your patients instead.   

To learn more about how Billing Savi can help you save on your medical billing process, contact us by clicking here.   

Being HIPAA complaint is very important. Read on to learn everything you need to know about HIPAA compliance.

Keyword(s): hipaa compliance

What's a physicians least favorite animal? A Hippo, since it's only one letter away from Hippa!

You can have that joke for free, as a bonus to this article. Consumers love HIPPA since it makes it easier to get personalized and sometimes secret care. However, it can create a lot of problems for practitioners and their staff, if they don't follow the regulations.

Correct HIPPA compliance is essential to any functioning clinic. But how long do you take to tell each new employee what it is and how to follow it?

Sometimes it takes weeks. That legal language is hard to wrap your head around. Instead of trying to translate - read our guide instead.

What is HIPPA?

The five letter acronym stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. It came to be in 1996, but we didn't hear it really talked about until the mid-2000's with the passing of Obamacare.

Its purpose is to protect patients from having their information and health history spread. It protects specific patients from being mentioned in research or papers. If Suzy Q had an interesting reaction to a hysterectomy and her doctor wanted to do a study on it, her name would be patient x.

Or something of the like.

Why Have HIPPA?

Before they put HIPPA into place, almost every health care network had their own processes for claims. HIPPA changes that by making everyone use the same system.

It's like if some clinics in the states were using the metric system while others used imperial. If an imperial clinic had to send records to a metric, that would be a pain. So now, everyone is on the HIPPA system.

It also came from some security breaches of patient confidentiality in the 90's. Along with that, the legislators behind Obamacare knew there would have to be some stricter regulations with a government controlled system.

What Does it Change?

Other than giving everyone the same system, HIPPA changes what different people at different points of the medical process see. If the doctor needs to share information with another doctor, they can see the patient's whole file.

However, if billing is processing a treatment the patient had, they only have enough information to get the job done. That may just mean name, age, a treatment code, and insurance information.

It puts regulations and restrictions on the number of eyes that can see sensitive details of a patients file.

What Must I Change?

Most of us are already familiar with HIPPA compliance, which means we avoid the use of certain "unique identifiers" when discussing patient history. Unique identifiers are anything that could give someone the true identity of the patient in question.

Here's a comprehensive list of all the HIPPA identifiers.

• Name
• Address (smaller than state)
• Telephone number
• Fax number
• Email address
• Medical record number
• Serial numbers of any device (medical or other)
• Images of the patient
• Account number
• Social security number
• Health plan number
• Fingerprint or other biological identifiers
• IP address
• Personal websites
• Anything else that separates patient A from patient B in identity or personality.

Let's look at an example. Say you were doing an experiment on two patients for a medication.

A HIPPA friendly report wouldn't have any identifiers. So the following information could not go anywhere until the identifiers are removed.

Information with identifiers:

We are studying the effects of medication A on two patients, Thomas and Andrew. Both patients agreed to take the medication for a reduced cost in exchange for follow up appointments.

The appointments are every Wednesday from 3-5 PM at the patient's home hospital, ABC hospital. Patient Thomas has a heart pump, serial number, 3234234.

See how much information is in that about Thomas and Andrew? Here's what that information looks like as HIPPA compliant.

Two patients agreed to test the side effects of Medication A at ABC hospital. They are receiving reduced cost in exchange for follow up appointments and research tests. One patient has a heart pump, which is a potential extraneous variable to track.

Patients check in once, weekly, for two hours to talk to researchers and run tests.

See the difference?

You still understand the purpose of the experiment and what's going on without identifiers. That way both Thomas and Andrews's identities stay safe and they can go on with their lives.

HIPPA After Death

One a patient dies, they're still protected by HIPPA regulations. As the law stands now, their records need to stay compliant for fifty years from the day they died.

There are some cases where identifiers of the deceased can be shared, but it required approval by family or specific doctors.

HIPPA Exceptions

Finally, there is one situation where you can share the identifiers of a person. If the patient gives you reasonable reason to believe they're going to hurt themselves or others, the doctor is allowed to share that information for prevention.

This could be to parents, law enforcement, or social workers. Doctors do need to tell patients that they're required to report this information, which is part of the reason we require HIPPA consent forms.

Maintaining HIPPA Compliance Practices

The information covered in this article as identifiers can also be referred to as PIH, or private health information. The same PIH apply to all sectors of medicine, dental offices, and the like.

If you handle health information and records, you're required to work with Hippa compliance. If you're not, your clinic could be fined large amounts, sued, or even shut down completely.

That's not something you can risk. Make sure you use our billing services and programs - we build our compliance in. Check it out here.

Running a successful medical practice comes with its own set of challenges. New practitioners have to overcome a large learning curve when it comes to the dos and don'ts of starting their own business for the first time.   

In addition to all of this, it is common for health care professionals to make mistakes when it comes to their medical billing process.

Unfortunately, these mistakes can cost their practice dearly when it comes to revenue and their bottom line. To assist practitioners in avoiding these costly errors, we have compiled a list of some of the most common medical billing mistakes.

By taking note of this list, your practice can improve its chances of increasing revenues and building a solid foundation for success.   

Unbundling Codes 

Often times, there is one code that can successfully capture payment for multiple parts of a medical procedure. Sometimes health care professionals incorrectly use multiple CPT codes for various parts of a single procedure, when it is this single code that should be used for everything.   

Medical practices that unbundle their codes can do so out of a lack of understanding or in an attempt to increase their bill on purpose and fraudulently. To learn more about unbundling and how to avoid it, contact a medical billing service provider.    

Upcoding   

When health care professionals incorrectly change billing codes so they show a more serious diagnosis or service, "upcoding" occurs. Upcoding is highly illegal and falsely inflates patient bills. For example, if a practice meets with a patient for only 15 minutes but charges them for a full 45-minute session, this would be upcoding.   

Other frequent upcoding violations include things like listing a name brand medication when a generic brand was actually the one used or stating a normal office visit was a more specialized one.   

Consequences of upcoding can be quite serious, as practitioners can be fined hundreds of thousands of dollars or even be excluded from participating in various medical programs.   

Billing Multiple Times for the Same Service  

Double or triple billing can occur when different members of a practice charge a patient for the same thing. For example, medication could be billed at both the time of prescription either on purpose or unintentionally. Sometimes hospitals also bill patients for the first few days of their stay, multiple times.   

This happens because the first few days of a hospital visit often cost more than days later in the visit. Multiple billing is one of the biggest reasons behind high medical bills.  

Be sure to keep an eye out for potential situations within your practice that could be vulnerable to multiple billing. Setting some safeguards to prevent this from happening can make a big difference.   

Mistakes in Patient Information  

If your practice makes any mistakes in listing a patient's information, insurance companies can easily reject your claim. Errors in medical billing are pretty common thanks to the fact that medical bills come under contact with so many different people at a time.  

Mistakes can fall through people's fingers and be passed down to the next individual in charge. Enforcing safeguards when processing patient information is key to avoiding additional mistakes that could affect your claims.   

There just a few of the most common billing mistakes healthcare providers make. By becoming familiar with these frequently occurring errors, medical practitioners can get their new businesses off to a strong start.  

Take the time to set some safeguards so your practice doesn't get sued or fined by different medical organizations. It only takes a few mistakes to lose the trust of your patient base or get fined so much money that your practice has to shut down.   

To learn more about how you can prevent medical billing mistakes, contact us by clicking here. 

By now it's clear that populations around the world will continue to spend more money on health care as years go by. Unfortunately, many healthcare organizations will see their operational costs rise along with this increased spending within their industry.  

Medical billing complexities are no help to these providers, as coding continues to grow more intricate. Thousands of unique codes exist for different medical systems, procedures, and situations. These codes will always change and evolve with the industry.   

Thankfully, the medical billing and coding industry is moving towards increased efficiency and effectiveness. Here are some of the latest innovations and trends helping move the industry in the right direction:  

Blockchain Technology

Blockchain technology has been showing really interesting possibilities for the future of Electronic Health Records (EHR). The innovative ways in which blockchain functions has pushed it as an increasingly common way to improve the security and standardization of healthcare data.    Many have touted blockchain as the next big innovation in healthcare technology.

In fact, blockchain technology could potentially transform the very nature of EHRs.   Here are a few reasons EHRs should consider implementing blockchain data storage:

• Much better privacy protections
• To make information exchange easier and more efficient
• To increase patient control over their data

There is also tremendous potential for how blockchain could potentially improve revenue cycle management and claims processing for healthcare providers across the world.  Blockchain would give providers the ability to record tests, results, medical billing, and payments in an unchangeable register. 

This change alone could help practitioners reduce fraud and potentially save money by reducing the amount of time, energy, and money currently used to track this type of information through different systems.   

Computer Assisted Coding (CAC)

Computer-assisted coding is currently growing rapidly, especially when it comes to coding inpatient claims. In fact, reports indicate the global market for CAC software could reach $4.75 billion by 2022. Some healthcare professionals are concerned that this new technology could take jobs and replace many industry workers within the next ten years.

However, it is important to realize that computer-assisted coding software works best as an aid to human workers.    According to a recent study, CAC helped increase coder productivity by over 20% and lowered coding time by 22% relative to those who didn’t use CAC, all without reducing accuracy. On the other hand, CAC software is actually less accurate when used without the help of a professional human coder.   

Aligning EHR 

Unfortunately, inaccuracies in record keeping can lead to a mountain of problems when it comes to getting reimbursed. Most medical practices spend a tremendous amount of time searching for the right diagnostic codes instead of getting to know their patients better. Thankfully there are ways to improve the effectiveness of your record keeping activities.

Finding ways to integrate technologies can be a great way to do so. For example, there are so many benefits to aligning your EHR and medical billing software. Furthermore, if your medical billing offers CAC, the process can go even faster.  These integrations can make it possible for automated coding suggestions to pop up at the point of documentation, helping make codes more accurate right from the beginning.

Your practice could also auto-populate patient data into billing documents, helping save your staff valuable time and potential errors.  Integrations such as these can helphealthcaree providers reduce errors, save time and provide more in depth reports than traditional EHR and billing methods of the past. 

For more information on medical billing & coding innovations, please contact us by clicking here!

These days many medical practices are deciding to outsource their medical billing operations to specialists.  

However, it can be confusing to know whether it's best for your specific practice to keep billing in-house or ship it out to the experts. Which option will bring you more benefit?   For these reasons, we wanted to point out some things to keep in mind when making this important decision.

If the reasons below apply to you, it may be worth contacting a reputable medical billing service provider, like Billing Savi, to learn what they can do for you.   

1. Your Staff is Constantly Changing

If your in-house billing employees are not typically around for the long-term, your revenue might be taking a significant hit.

Optimizing your billing process requires highly trained staff that are well-versed in the latest billing techniques as well as the unique day to day operations of your individual practice.  

If your organization has not yet found reliable, highly trained billing employees, your revenue and claims processing will likely experience a significant slowdown. In this situation, it is highly recommended to outsource billing to experts that can establish a consistent flow of cash and bring in money as quickly as possible.   

2. Your Office Isn't Exactly Tech Savvy

 Do you consider your practice to be at the forefront of technological innovation?  

In order to keep billing operations in-house, your practice will need to stay on top of the latest billing technologies, technical problems, and software updates. Additionally, your staff will need to constantly be trained if you want to keep up with new innovations and improve your success with internal billing operations.   

Getting nervous just thinking about this process? Then you may want to dial in the experts to stay on top of any billing innovations and apply them to your practice as time goes by.   

3. Your Practice is Just Getting Off the Ground

Did you just start your practice?  

If so, your days are likely full of many different tasks and processes that need to be established. New providers have so much on their plate and establishing successful internal billing operations can sometimes be too much for them to take on in the early days.  

By outsourcing medical billing operations during this time, practitioners can focus their energy on establishing other areas of their practice with full force. Hiring and training new employees to set up a brand new billing system can be particularly challenging in this regard.  

Take some stress off yourself by outsourcing billing operations in the early days of your practice. Once you experience the relief of having experts in charge of this critical area, you'll be glad you did.   

4. Focus on What You Do Best - Helping Patients

Chances are you started your practice to fulfill your passion for helping patients improve their quality of life.

Unfortunately, many practitioners start to lose enthusiasm for their business once management responsibilities start to overshadow their passion.   Running a business is a job in itself, and managing operations like billing can take medical professionals away from their true love of helping others with their health.  

For this reason, it can be tremendously helpful to practitioners to outsource medical billing operations to experts like Billing Savi. Doing so allows practitioners to do more of what they love every single day.

For example, they can focus on learning about innovations that can help their patients instead of innovations in medical billing practices.   

5. Your Billing Process is Getting Worse

Are you watching your collections get lower and lower as time goes on? Is your time to collect getting longer as well?   

When a practice has billing issues such as these, it obviously leads to a significant negative impact on total revenue. Eventually, an in-house medical billing team struggling with success will need help to turn things around. This is a great time to bring in medical billing experts that can identify what went wrong and make tweaks within your operations to streamline processes and improve collections.   

Although it can seem like paying an external medical billing provider will cost you more money, it can actually boost your total revenues significantly. By improving the collections process, outsourcing companies like Billing Savi are able to actually increase total collections for many different practices.

This combined with decreased stress and a renewed ability to focus on helping patients can make hiring billing experts a great decision. 

Medical billing errors might seem like simple mistakes but they can cause major problems. Find out the biggest mistakes to look for and how to avoid them.

Keyword(s): medical billing errors

You're in the office when you notice there's a small error on a returned medical bill claim. You aren't too worried, of course; it's an honest mistake that can be fixed. Nothing to be afraid of...right?

Actually, having medical billing errors can be a big deal, and they're becoming a common problem. In fact, a 2014 study established that almost half of all Medicare claims filed that year were erroneous.

Depending on the size of the problem, it could add to your processing time, cost you money, and even put you at risk of losing your position.

The question is, how exactly do you avoid this from happening? What sort of steps must you take to make sure you create an honest and accurate billing statement?

It's good to know that you can take some measures so your statement reflects only the facts. We've put together a list of common medical billing errors to keep a close eye on, as well as ways to avoid them.

1. Incorrect Coding

As we all know, medical coding is a monster in its own right.

Each case that comes into the office has its own medical code. These codes are very specific, and are known to be written down to a decimal point.

For example, the codes "401.0" and "401.1" mean the difference between having benign and malignant hypertension.

With each number representing a particular medical condition (sometimes down to the hundredths place), it's important that the numbers be precise. Unfortunately, this doesn't always happen.

Mistakes like these are the fault of the practitioners, and it's up to us to correct them. Knowing about this problem early on in the statement will help to correct the statement faster.

2. Late Claims

This is a simple and honest mistake, but one that should be avoided nonetheless.

Of course, there are many different types of medical insurance providers out there. Each provider gives you a window of time to submit your medical claim to them.

For example, if your client has the ACA (Affordable Care Act) your window of time is only a year (12 months), whereas other companies are known to give anywhere from 15 to 27 months.

In any case, if you aren't aware of the time to submit your claim and it's past the date, you may very well be denied.

To keep this from happening, find out how much time you have to submit your claim, and then try to submit it as soon as you can to guarantee it will go through.

3. Duplicate Claims

When two claims have been submitted for the same exact encounter, they are known as duplicate claims.

This is not a dramatically serious issue, but still one that should be avoided as it can postpone processing for your client.

To keep such happenings to a minimum, make sure you train your staff to double check all the files they submit.

Carrying out this simple measure may seem to make things move slower, but the good thing is that you will make fewer mistakes, and it will help to make processing smoother as a whole.

4. Missing/Incorrect Client Information

Missing client information is another common medical billing error.

It's quite easy to add incorrect information about a client, especially when you are in a rushed medical environment where mistakes are all too prone to happen.

Missing information like the demographic code, the incorrect code for the plan, or even omitting the social security number are just a few things that could cause a patient's claim to be rejected by their insurance company.

Luckily, there is a way to keep this from happening. Before submitting any claim, make sure to read through all the information on the patient's file and see that it matches the information that you wrote down on the medical statement.

Again, although doing this "double check" method may seem to slow you down - and time is of the essence in the medical practice - it is better to check twice and be sure than to rush things and have to go through the rejection process.

5. A Denied vs A Rejected Claim

The difference between a denied claim and a rejected one is pretty important, as that is the difference between "just an error" and something more serious.

When a claim is rejected by the medical institution, it's almost always because of actual errors. Of course, these errors can happen on both sides of the field, between either the institution or the insurance company, or both.

In the case of a rejected claim, one can correct the errors and resubmit, and (hopefully) that's that.

When it comes to denied claims, it's something entirely different.

A denied claim is one that has been determined by the insurance company to be unpayable. Of course, this could also be the cause of errors, but more than likely it's because the insurance plan doesn't cover it.

Now, your client is stuck at a crossroads: Either they try to resubmit the request and hope for the best, or they have to find another means of paying for it - which could include pulling from their own funds.

This is why it is always a good thing for your client to read and understand exactly what their coverage offers them so that they can know what the policy limitations are.

We Will Help You Avoid These Medical Billing Errors

Even after learning about how to deal with medical billing errors, you may still be a bit worried about dealing with them on your own. The good news is, you don't have to.

Here at SAVI group, we make sure that your medical statements are processed fairly. We specialize in revenue cycle management, EMR management, denial management, and claims and payment processing.

Do you have any questions that you would like for us to answer? Simply give us a call. We'd be happy to handle any concerns you may have. 

Growing a successful medical practice can seem like a daunting task for many healthcare professionals. Thankfully, there are many ways to significantly boost your revenue and successfully grow your organization into the future. 

By following solid medical practice fundamentals, analyzing areas for improvement, and building a solid team, your practice will be on its way for long-term growth and prosperity. 

So what can you do to boost revenues and growth within your practice? Here are five great ways to get started:

1. Improve Staffing Efficiencies

The biggest component of medical practice success is, of course, the people that run the organization. Take time to motivate your staff. Encourage them to challenge themselves and find ways to improve operations and revenues.

Instill a mindset within your team that is always on the lookout for new ways to save while also generating new income streams. Reward those that help the practice innovate in these ways, and always encourage a positive environment in which people are happy to come to work. 

2. Lower Cancellation Rates

Medical practices can lose thousands of dollars every year due to cancellations and missed appointments. Thankfully, physicians do have options in which to address this issue. One great way to lower cancellations is to make sure all patients are aware of your cancellation policy.

By having a clear statement and guideline about what happens when an appointment is canceled, patients will be more likely to keep their original times. Another great way to lower cancelation rates is to offer flexible appointment options such as virtual or remote meetings with your clients whenever possible.

These days, patients have a lot on their schedules including work, family life, and demanding traffic routes. Offering flexible ways to meet can go a long way in boosting revenues. 

3. Outsource Medical Billing to Specialists

Did you know that nearly 75% of physicians reported getting reimbursed on time and maintaining a healthy cash flow as the two greatest challenges they face in their medical practice? 

In fact, 20% of practice revenues originate from patient co-pays and yet physicians typically collect only 60% of what's due! 

Hiring medical billing specialists, like Billing Savi, can go a long way in boosting total revenue while establishing a consistent flow of cash for the practice. Most organizations simply do not have the level of billing expertise within their offices to do a great job of collecting all the revenue they possibly can.

For these reasons, hiring a medical billing outsourcer can be an incredible investment for physicians. 

4. Optimize Your Appointment Schedule

Analyzing your appointment scheduling process is a great way to find additional opportunities to bring in revenue. Your goal should be to have a consistent flow of patients throughout the day by looking at ways to smooth out both slow and rush hours.

For example, what bottlenecks are causing long wait times for patients at certain hours? What can you do to boost business during slow periods in the day?

One option may be to allow for virtual appointments during lulls in patient visits. Work with your staff to encourage patients to book appointments that round out your schedule and avoid gaps throughout the day. 

5. Encourage Word of Mouth Through Patients

Having a happy and satisfied patient is one of the best parts of running a medical practice.  One of the best ways to boost awareness of your practice and grow revenues is by encouraging those satisfied patients to spread the word. 

Offer patients incentives to refer their friends and family to your practice.

Ask some of your favorite patients if they'd be willing to give you a testimonial that you can share on your website.

Encourage happy patients to leave positive reviews about your practice on platforms such as Yelp

Great word of mouth and satisfied customers are some of the best ways to boost revenues and grow a successful practice. Making a difference in someone's health is highly rewarding and means so much to each and every patient. Be sure to leverage your success so other people can take benefit of your incredible services. 

Conclusion

There are so many ways to boost medical practice revenues and grow your organization well into the future.

If you have any further questions or would like to learn about more ways to grow revenue, please contact Billing Savi by clicking here. 

How well are most medical practices run? Are they built for success?

Unfortunately, most medical professionals don’t receive any type of training or guidance on running a successful business. This can become a real problem for those looking to run and grow their own private practice.

A poorly run practice can trigger many problems and inefficiencies that end up affecting profitability, patients, staff and physicians.

Although most medical professionals know this, they seldom address the numerous bottlenecks, redundancies, and wasteful operations that exist in their practice.

In this blog post, we wanted to share some steps medical practices can take to run better businesses.

By addressing common challenges and inefficiencies, medical practices can improve their patient care process significantly.

 Create a Solid Business Plan

When starting any new business, it is a great idea to create a business plan. Doing so provides a valuable road map that outlines how different areas of the medical practice will function both independently and with other departments.

Business plans also help shed a light on the financial aspect of running a practice. These cost forecasts can cover everything from start-up costs to monthly reoccurring payments for staff, rent, etc.

Financial projections can also help owners estimate the number of clients and revenue they expect to generate in the next few years.

Another great benefit of writing a business plan is the opportunity it presents to define your medical practice’s strengths.

What sets your practice apart from others? What will you focus on to provide a better value and experience for your clients? 

Front Office Success

Your practice is only as good as the people running it. For this reason, it is absolutely essential that your staff is trained properly and positioned for success.

Implementing effective and efficient systems, leveraging the latest technology, and making smart hiring decisions are all key to creating a medical practice that runs smoothly.

One of the key areas to analyze is the front office. Try to set up a systematic way of handling incoming phone calls, faxes, patients, and paperwork.

Without properly training front office staff and setting up an operations system that works, your medical practice could easily descend into chaos.

Back Office Success

Back offices are also common areas for medical practice inefficiencies. Issues tend to arise during chart preparations, test ordering, and referrals.

To avoid any confusion, think ahead and devise a standard process for preparing patient charts. You will need to ensure that test results and referral reports are recorded in charts accurately, and that staff members have affective means by which to obtain these results.

The same procedural approach applies to handling tests and referrals. Designate staff to order tests and complete paperwork.

Establish timelines for when tasks need to be completed. Your medical practice staff members need clear procedures, timelines and responsibilities for all parts of back office operations.

Stay in Touch with Your Community

It is important for any business to stay top of mind with their partners, customers, and community. Doing so reminds them that your practice exists and is always there if they need to stop by.

Establish some communication channels that you can utilize to constantly share news, medical tips, and interesting events.

A recurring email newsletter or social media posts are great way to stay in touch with your patient base and spread awareness that your practice exists.

Providing valuable content can also lead your base to share your updates with their own networks, helping spur more word of mouth.

Build Your Reputation

Over time, you want your practice to develop a positive reputation within your community. Taking action to spur this process on can do wonders in helping your business grow more successful.

Some great ways to do so are to ask for customer testimonials and feature them on your practice’s website.

You can also collaborate with related organizations to write articles sharing your expertise with their audience members. For example, an eye doctor may want to reach out to a Diabetes based organization about the impact of diabetes complications on vision and eye health.

Conclusion

These are just a few ways in which medical practices can improve their business operations and success levels. It is important to remember that although you are a medical professional, at the end of the day a medical practice still needs to be run like a well-run business.

Taking the time to identify bottlenecks, train staff properly and implement effective operational systems can make an incredibly positive impact on the success levels of any medical practice.

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Healthcare Industry Seeks Efficiencies

Healthcare providers across the globe are waking up and recognizing the incredible benefits outsourcing revenue cycle management can have on their practices.

According to a new market report, global healthcare revenue cycle management outsourcing market is projected to increase significantly from $11.7 billion in 2017 to $23 billion by the end of 2023. This projection could mean a growth of 11.9% during this period.

There are a few reasons outsourcing is becoming so essential to these medical providers. The healthcare industry is going through a shift in which competition is steadily increasing, pushing providers to provide quality care at lower prices to their patients.

As these changes take impact, it is essential for healthcare organizations of all kinds to focus on reducing costs and increasing efficiencies.

In order to make some headway in this area, medical practices are turning their attention to simplified administrative costs to offset their expenses. In fact, a recent Black Book survey showed that 80% of hospitals are vetting or considering full revenue cycle management outsourcing by 2019.

Revenue Cycle Management Offers Solutions

Revenue cycle management (RCM) is the fundamental process that enables companies like Billing Savi to be paid for providing their services. For most medical practices, RCM includes everything from pre-registering a patient all the way through settling any balances for a particular visit.

Outsource medical billing providers are gaining traction thanks to their ability to align activities and documentation of front-end physician practice administrations and the back-end central billing office.

Their work also provides valuable analytics that can help deliver insightful results while streamlining operations and improving patient collections, workflows, and care.

Practices that outsource their revenue cycle management function to third-party experts like Billing Savi typically experience significant improvements in their collection rates, denial resolution efficiency, patient satisfaction rates, and revenue.

These practices also gain assistance in dealing with the hefty regulatory burdens and bureaucracy within the health care industry.

In today’s challenging circumstances, outsourcing the administrative functions to third-parties seem to be a reasonable solution. This will not only help physicians focus on their core task by freeing up their time and resources but will also improve their practice’s revenue.

Continuous Industry Innovations Predicted

Innovations will continue to impact the future of outsourcing and its effects on the healthcare industry. Investors remain optimistic and are willing to invest more in developing technologies that can help medical practices become even more efficient and effective in providing quality patient care.

As the healthcare industry continues to change, it is becoming increasingly important for medical practices to reduce the complexities that exist within their organizations.

Outsourcing medical billing and revenue cycle management is a great way to simplify operations and divert attention back to patient care. It is of course essential to properly research and analyze any potential partners of third-party vendors to ensure a high level of quality and service.

 To learn more about Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) and how it can help your organization, please contact us by clicking here. We offer free consultations and enjoy helping medical practices make decisions that improve their operations and levels of success.