A survey recently conducted by the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) has unearthed information that many have been expecting for a while -- medical practices that rely on the services of a medical billing company enjoy several advantages over in-house billing solutions.

The survey found that for practices switching from in-house billing to a medical billing company:

• 73 percent of practices using medical billing companies reduce their AR;
• The same ratio of medical practices experienced higher collection rates;
• 59 percent experienced fewer lost or denied claims;
• 59 percent enjoyed significantly better reporting and practice performance insights; and
• 46 percent enjoyed better productivity among staff.

These and other findings offer factual evidence that the majority of medical professionals and practices that utilize well-chosen medical billing companies experience broad improvements in performance and productivity.

Of course, medical billing companies do present many advantages over many in-house billing solutions.

1. Medical billing companies have more scale to purchase and deploy the technologies required to properly submit claims, battle with insurance companies and collect personal balances.
2. Medical billing companies also attract better and more efficient billing specialists, and keep such professionals on the roster more easily.
3. Medical billing companies keep a deep bench of employees, so their clients don't have to deal with the risk of losing a key billing employee from an in-house billing solution.
4. Medical billing companies tend to stay on top of developing industry technology better than in-house billing departments.
5. Medical billing companies have a broader view of the medical industry as a whole because they deal with many different medical professionals at the same time. This knowledge helps them deliver better services to their clients.

A copy of the survey is available from the MGMA's website.

Copyright 2009 by Cardiology Billing Partners