One of the key methods for ensuring the longevity of your medical practice is to maximize your revenue cycle. This cornerstone of your practice’s operations impacts every aspect from attracting new patients to ensuring the medical billing process goes smoothly. But if your team is already stretched thin and struggling to keep up with new billing regulations or rejected claims, then it’s time to make a change.
Partnering with a medical billing firm can immediately maximize your revenue cycle; keep reading to learn how!
A revenue cycle refers to the identification, collection, and management of a medical practice’s finances based on the services provided. Following that line of thinking, revenue cycle management (RCM) entails the processes required to make those components of a practice’s financial outlook streamlined and efficient.
Managing your revenue cycle in a manner that is optimized is a surefire way to maintain profitability and continue to deliver quality care to your community in the long run. Poor revenue cycle practices can lead to delayed payment, unnecessary costs, and put the future of your practice in jeopardy.
Who’s involved in the revenue cycle at your medical practice? In a word: everyone. Any person involved in your medical practice, ranging from your staff to your patients to your payers—whether that’s the patient, private insurance, or a government program like Medicare—all of these people play an important role in the success and longevity of your medical practice.
With so many moving parts, it’s important to make sure that your healthcare revenue cycle management strategy is effective and doesn’t add additional, unavoidable costs that could impact the financial health of your medical practice. For example, properly managing claim denials and developing processes that address errors in your claims is a foundational step to optimizing your revenue cycle management strategy.
Common Revenue Cycle Mistakes
When you want to maximize your revenue cycle, it’s helpful to know whether or not you’re making some of these common mistakes that can be slowing down your revenue cycle:
Not Verifying Patient Insurance Eligibility
Since health insurance companies are a core feature of your overall paying process, it’s crucial that you confirm your patients’ insurance status and eligibility for services. This small yet valuable step can save you and your team tons of time, effort, and headache in the long run. As a whole, navigating the insurance payment process can be tricky and lead to various road bumps along the way of getting paid. Anything from rejected claims to inaccurate coding on the claims and more can lead to a slowed revenue cycle.
Not Leveraging Technology in Strategic Places
It seems that every single day brings news of advances in technology and the importance of integrating a digital workflow in the realm of healthcare; healthcare technology presents numerous opportunities to streamline your practice’s efforts and keep patient data secure and protected. Not leveraging technology in places that make sense for your practice could lead to unnecessary stress on your overall revenue cycle management strategy!
Not Addressing Problems with Patient Payments
Unfortunately, too many patients are simply unaware of their responsibility when it comes to paying for services. Whether they don’t understand the extent of their coverage or they presume the insurance company pays for all costs, it’s helpful to check in with the patient in regards to their insurance coverage, how much they’ll be responsible for paying, and more so that they are more engaged in the revenue cycle.
What Is a Medical Billing Firm?
A medical billing firm can immediately streamline your medical practice’s revenue cycle—but what exactly is a medical billing firm? Basically, this organization handles the billing component of your medical practice, including managing insurance claims processes, ensuring accurate coding, and optimizing various components of your overall revenue cycle. Since medical billing firms handle patient information, they’re HIPAA and HITECH certified and have experience in different electronic health records systems in addition to offering specialty-specific insight suited to your practice.
3 Reasons to Partner with a Medical Billing Firm
A medical billing firm can help maximize your revenue cycle in a few key methods:
Minimal Rejected Claims
If your medical practice is overwhelmed with rejected claims that include inaccurate coding or are incomplete, then partnering with a medical billing firm is your best bet to immediately reduce the number of rejected claims your practice has to deal with. Addressing errors on rejected claims takes up precious time and resources while putting a strain on your revenue cycle. By sending in clean claims from the start, you’ll enjoy a boosted healthcare revenue cycle that doesn’t get weighed down by rejected claims.
Always Current on the Latest Regulations
Be honest—how well do you and your staff wholly understand Medicare and its various programs? Probably not that well, and it’s always subject to change each year! That’s where partnering with a medical billing firm is vital to ensuring your medical practice is compliant and operates in accordance with the latest regulations. Medical billing firms are constantly current on the latest legislative initiatives, which means that you and your staff don’t have to worry about spending hours reading up on them for yourself.
Get Paid Faster
The medical billing process can be incredibly complicated and challenging to deal with on a daily basis, so it’s understandable if claims pile up on your desk before any action is taken. However, this doesn’t help your healthcare revenue cycle whatsoever! By partnering with a medical billing firm, your claims will be promptly submitted—with the utmost accuracy—so that the insurance company can get started on the reimbursement process.
Partner with NCG to Optimize Your Medical Practice’s Revenue Cycle!
Choosing the right medical billing company when outsourcing your billing processes is incredibly important for building and sustaining a successful healthcare practice. Whether your specialty or unique needs, having the right medical billing services can make all the difference when it comes to an efficient billing process and improved revenue cycle management.
At NCG Medical, we’ve been the outsource medical billing experts for four decades by handling all the ins and outs of the medical billing process. Our customized solutions can improve revenue management cycles and ensure that your practice is receiving the most streamlined reimbursement process. Contact us today to learn more about how we can transform your medical billing today.
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