External or internal billing system? It’s worth giving it a thought!

Having talked to many doctors, one common thing I have come across is that, in general, doctors are reluctant to make a decisive decision about who to hand over the responsibility of managing the financial side of their profession. Whether it should be outsourced or should be an internal matter. In my opinion, whether it is an internal or external system, they have their pros and cons.

This is one of the most important decisions to be made, as revenue is the lifeblood of any medical practice. Inadequate technology, abrupt interruption, incompetent staff can affect the health of the practice. It is immensely vital for a practice to remain healthy and by healthy I mean that it must be financially sound, so the administrative work must be done with care.

Some doctors find comfort in knowing that they can have complete supervision of their finances. An in-house billing system gives you direct control over the staff in the sense that the entire process is in your hands and in case of any issues, accessibility is the biggest advantage. Daily operations can be closely monitored and any changes required during billing can be made instantly, thus avoiding delays and errors.

While these are some of the advantages, you would incur huge costs to incorporate the new technology and with only 2-3 staff, if not one, work can be greatly hampered. Profitability depends on the competence of one or two billers.

Therefore, invoicing will not be as profitable and maintaining an optimal level of cost structure will definitely be a major concern, especially for smaller practices.

On the other hand, there are chances that an outsourced billing could be less expensive and maintain consistency, since it is a group of experts that takes care of everything. It can save you the cost of infrastructure, upgrading your technology, hiring staff and other resources. If you choose to outsource your billing, you can be stress free by having a team of dedicated professionals take care of your income, claims, etc. Despite having outsourced, you can still be in full control of your finances.

The much talked about transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10 requires a certain amount of training and this could easily be accomplished with an outsourced company. Last but not least, you can fully focus on your main profession.