Optometry billing and RCM operations are getting more stringent and complex day by day. While dealing with these complexities, it is also important for a practice to be 100% committed to its core task - providing patient care. This presents practices with the question of whether they should have an in-house optometry billing and RCM team or rely on an outsourced team.
To make this decision, it is necessary to first evaluate the costs and challenges associated with an in-house team and compare it with an outsourced team. Practices can even think about ways in which they can utilize their in-house team in case they opt to outsource their billing and RCM.
Consider these four factors that can help you assess the pros and cons of having an in-house or an outsourced team. Read more to understand why outsourcing your optometry billing and RCM team can be totally worth the investment.
Uncover True Costs of In-house Optometry Billing and RCM
For most optometry practices, the decision to outsource billing or not is largely dependent upon one factor—cost. Consequently, there are numerous optometry and ophthalmology practices that prefer having an in-house billing and RCM team in order to reduce costs. But are these practices really cutting down their expenses by managing optometry billing and RCM in-house?
With an in-house team, fixed costs such as billing staff salaries, software and hardware expenses, etc also add to the billing and RCM costs. Moreover, net collections associated with an in-house billing team are generally lower than that of an outsourced team. This is because the outsourced team submits clean claims and reduces rejections, thereby collecting a higher percentage of the billed amount.
Does Your Billing Staff Possess Requisite Proficiency?
Even though outsourcing promises significant benefits, many practices still prefer an in-house optometry billing team to have more control over their operations. However, it is essential to ensure that your in-house team is capable of effectively shouldering the billing burden of your practice.
Your in-house billing and RCM team should be able to help you reduce the possibilities of optometry claim rejections by consistently submitting error-free claims. They need to establish well-rounded processes so that you run a profitable optometry practice. Having an in-house team is thus practical only when it offers proactive services and is ensures a healthier bottom line for your practice.
Boost Productivity by Assigning New Tasks to In-house Team
An outsourced team of billing experts can streamline your optometry billing and RCM processes while ensuring quality, timeliness, and efficiency. But what will your in-house billing staff do if you outsource the services? Even after having an outsourced team, your in-house optometry billing professionals can play a crucial role in helping you prioritize patient care.
Having an outsourced optometry billing team enables you to deploy your in-house billing staff to other departments. They can also work closely with outsourced billing and RCM partners to learn more about non-covered benefits, collecting deductibles, and more. This can improve the productivity of your administrative functions and in turn, ensure higher returns for your optometry practice.
Higher ROI With Outsourced Optometry Billing and RCM
Submitting clean and error-free claims is the cornerstone of higher ROI. An outsourced medical billing team can help you submit clean claims and avoid denials to earn a better first-pass acceptance rate. The seasoned professionals of an outsourced team can sincerely manage your optometric billing tasks, such as tracking outstanding and denied claims, verifying a patient’s insurance eligibility, etc.
The proactive measures of an outsourced team can protect your practice from losing out on huge profit margins. With a smart optometry billing and RCM outsourced team, claim rejections and re-work also drops down significantly. As a result, having an outsourced optometry billing and RCM team can eliminate critical losses and generate higher ROI for your optometry practice.
At CSEye, we offer a comprehensive set of solutions that can cater to your optometry billing and RCM requirements. Our team of billing experts is experienced in working with many eye care professionals and optometry practices. Get in touch with us to know how outsourcing optometry billing and RCM to CS Eye can skyrocket your ROI.