Tips on Choosing an Offshore Medical Billing Company

The pressures of finding the right medical billers for a healthcare organization are real and ongoing. If you are aiming to improve your productivity as well as your revenue cycle management, you need to invest some time into finding offshore medical billing companies that can help you revive your billing processes.

With many healthcare organizations struggling to find reliable medical billers within their vicinity, an incredible opportunity arises to outsource your medical billing services offshore. This decision can help you save money, improve your operations and scalability, and get access to specialized expertise to maintain your billing needs. Hiring offshore medical billers may seem like a risk, but it can prove to be the exact thing you need.

The First Steps to Recruiting a Medical Biller

But before you get onto the hunt, there are some important factors to consider, so let’s go ahead and break down each aspect of seeking the right offshore medical billers to ensure you know exactly what to do.

Identify Your Specific Billing needs

It’s not enough that you look for someone to take over your billing processes. You should be looking for someone who understands your operations in and out and can facilitate them properly. To do that, you should know what your requirements and objectives are.

Weigh out the specific factors to deal with like the size of your medical practice, how many claims you are handling on average and any billing process needs that are specific to your practice.

Each business functions differently and healthcare organizations must lay out their billing processes based on patient histories and treatment plans, so make sure you keep those factors in mind.

Conduct Market Research

Once you know what you are expecting from a medical billing officer or organization, you can start by researching your options. Start by combing through the best offshore medical billing companies that you can find and start by comparing their compatibility with your billing needs.

A good offshore medical billing agency can help eliminate extra work for you so you can focus on patient care, so pay attention to their specific expertise and how they can assist you.

You can ask your colleagues, check referrals, and reach out to companies that you would like to contact for their billing services. Make sure that you check their expertise and ensure they are aligned with your company goals and can facilitate your practice well.

Check Your Chosen Company’s Credentials

Once you have a list of companies you would like to consider, watch out for two things. One is that they are HIPAA compliant, and their certifications are all in order. Two, their specialty aligns with

the needs of your company and their software and billing process is suitable for you. It is incredibly important that the offshore medical biller that you hire follows regulations and conducts ethical business.

Check Reviews and References

Before you sign on with any company to take over your billing processes, make a quick inquiry into their online presence. Check out their online reviews and ask for references from the company to contact their previous clients to get an idea of their reputation. There is a lot that a company can boast about, but their reviews are the real indicators of their service quality.

Selecting A Medical Biller and Establishing Contracts

Your apprehension is completely understandable when bringing an offshore medical billing company on board to take care of your billing processes. But if you keep the long-term benefits in mind, you can take simple steps to ensure you’re making the right decision. Make a checklist of the things you should know and vet before you seal the deal, and you will be set.

Fees and Cost

The first thing you need to know is the cost of onboarding an offshore billing company. Given that one of the benefits of going offshore is the cost-benefit, you need to know you’re saving money by getting into business with an offshore billing company. Identify whether they will be charging a flat fee or will there be commissions involved. Check for any hidden costs or fees and get a clear estimate of what the process will look like and what it will cost – and save you.

Contracts and Terms and Conditions

Oftentimes when establishing a deal with another company, disputes can arise within the mutual agreements. To avoid that, go through the contract thoroughly and review the terms and conditions to check for things like performance guarantees, any data ownership provisions or termination clauses. The contract should be clear and transparent and should suit your company policies as well.

Ensure Data Security Protocols

While things might be extensively covered in the contract as well, do ensure that the company has strict data privacy and security protocols in place. When you hire offshore companies, data protection points to emphasis so check for that and review their compliance policies to ensure they are following strict compliance standards.

Establishing a Relationship and Tracking Progress

Once you have smoothed out the details of the contract and welcomed an offshore company to take your billing processes into their hands, you can sit back and let them handle the workload while you focus on patient care. But as the new relationship fosters, identify some important KPIs for yourself and regularly check if the company successfully meets them or not.

Check Performance Metrics

Once you have established your Key Performance Indicators or KPIs, you can now see if the offshore medical billing company is reaching the target or not. Every company and practice will work differently than the other and your company needs to see if the billing processes have indeed become more efficient with the new system in place.

Check Customer Service Quality

If an offshore medical billing company is doing its job properly, you will notice the difference in the reactions and reviews received from your patients and customers. Check the quality of the customer service they are providing and ensure their performance is positively affecting your practice. One of the most attractive aspects of having an offshore billing company is their efficiency and dedication, two things that should naturally garner positive reviews and create satisfied customers.

How to Trust a Offshore Medical Billing Company to Take Care of You?

Well, you won’t know till you try it out, now, would you? But to put your mind at ease, there is ample evidence that companies that have selected an offshore service provider for their medical billing processes have seen an increase in their productivity and revenue cycle management.

With a dedicated team focusing solely on your billing processes, every aspect of patient information, claims, reimbursements, and record-keeping comes under one high-functioning entity. This allows for a more streamlined billing process and is bound to show you good results in the long run. Building trust within this relationship with an offshore company would be the first part of the process and you should look forward to it.

But as is the case with all business relationships, regular check-ins and reflection is also good practice. There is no harm in asking for a trial period where you can test the waters first. If you have carried out all the actions that are mentioned above, you are already safeguarding the interests of your practice and establishing an arrangement that will benefit you.

But go for a trial run or start off with a smaller project to assess the performance of the billing company and then see if you want to fully entrust your offshore medical billing processes to company. The ease that an offshore operation can bring to your business is well-established.

In the healthcare industry, where compassionate patient care should always take precedence, revenue management and billing processes are best left to competent professionals who can let you grow your practice and serve the community better.