There’s no doubt about it, medical practices are increasingly outsourcing their billing operations. As the state of the American healthcare system remains volatile and uncertain, medical billing processes are generally becoming more and more complex. Studies show that medical organizations are finding it simpler and easier to contract with outside billing specialists. Free of this administrative burden, healthcare providers are better able to focus on what they do best: provide healthcare services to patients! Outsourcing medical billing can also greatly improve the physician/payer relationship.
The 2017 Wise Guy Consultants Study
An independent organization that serves industries and governments around the world, Wise Guy Consultants provides a range of unbiased market research reports, progressive statistical surveying, and forecast data analysis in a range of public and private sectors. Wise Guy recently released a comprehensive report that predicts increased activity in the medical billing outsourcing industry in 2017. Analyzing both the production and consumption of medical billing outsourcing, it goes on to state that growth in this industry is likely to continue through 2022.
Wise Guy reached these conclusions after conducting an extensive investigation of raw materials, equipment, and consumer information. It also performed in-depth examinations of new investment projects, general industry trends, and marketing channel data.
The Prevalence of Outsourcing for Complex Claims
The polling organization Black Book echoes the findings of the Wise Guy report, particularly when it comes to complex medical claims. In December of 2016, Black Book released the results of an RCM (revenue cycle management) survey that reported an increased tendency among hospitals to outsource complex claims. It also reported a general feeling among hospital chief financial officers that outsourcing is a powerful tool to optimize reimbursement processes in general.
The Black Book RCM Survey received responses from 1,309 hospital chief financial officers and business office leaders. Drawing upon information from past financial records, it revealed that the outsourcing of complex claims to specialized medical billing service providers rose from 20.4 percent of all American hospitals in 2013 to 39.8 percent of all American hospitals in 2016. Although 91 percent of hospital chief financial officers report delays in outsourcing complex claims management in 2015, only 30 percent reported similar hesitations the next year.
Looking forward, Black Book predicts that the complex claims outsourcing market will grow by at least 18 percent annually over the next two years, adding to the nearly 76 percent of American hospitals that are already outsourcing a portion of their business office tasks. Other findings of the Black Book RCM survey include the following:
- 81 percent of hospitals and 92% of hospitals with less than 150 beds report that they lack the specialized talent that they need to resolve exceptionally difficult claims.
- 77 percent of current hospital outsourcing users report that releasing in-house staff to focus solely on optimizing traditional claims engendered significant improvements in overall internal productivity.
- 69 percent of hospital chief financial officers say that they have been forces to staff business offices with business office employees at an exceedingly high cost in order to compensate for the lack of functionality in current patient accounting systems.
- 49 percent of hospital chief financial officers acknowledge that outsourcing (including overseas outsourcing) in organizational claim processing will become an increasingly viable alternative as 2017 progresses.
For More Information
M-Scribe Technologies, LLC, working with solo physicians in private practice, group practices, multi-site medical organizations, and multi-specialty clinics to provide range of complex medical billing and coding solutions. Let us help you navigate increasingly complicated US billing policies and procedures. To find out more or to schedule a free medical billing analysis, contact an M-Scribe representative by phone at 770-666-0470 or by email at Patirck.Dougherty@m-scribe.com.
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