New Practice Billing Toolbox Series 3 of 4: To Outsource or Not to Outsource

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Main Points

• The value of outsourcing vs doing it yourself

• Choosing an outsourced biller that is a good fit for you

• Knowing when and who to pick for vendors

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Utilizing vendors in business is a very common practice. If you think about it it makes sense. For example, Ford would not be able to manufacture the bolts and nuts that go into their cars and manufacture the cars themselves. So they look at other companies to work with bat manufacturer the bolts and nuts.

This idea and concept is no different in private practice. But there's a very specific way to choose which vendor to work with and when.

You have to decide the value of outsourcing versus doing it yourself. One of the ways to calculate if outsourcing is valuable is to see how much time that would really save you. For example, is it valuable for you to spend three hours a week on marketing or could you spend those three hours with patience and let somebody else do the marketing.

This is no different with billing.

Do you want to learn the ins and outs of insurance or do you want to have somebody else secure payment for you?

The other question you have to ask yourself is what is the financial burden of outsourcing compared to the value that you would be receiving. Warren Buffett often says the price is what you pay value is what you get.

Do you want to spend more time with patients or do you want to learn a skill that you will probably eventually handoff?

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Choosing an outsourced biller that is a good fit for you is an important part of the process. Not all billers are the same. Some billers operate on a weekly cycle, some on a daily cycle, some on a biweekly cycle. You have to decide what is the best fit for your practice.

You also have to ask yourself or more importantly your biller how they work and what systems they know. Do they share their work with you, do they meet with you on a regular basis, do they know your EHR, do they know mental health billing, and can they consult with you on best practices if needed?

These are all important questions that you can use to screen an outsourced to biller.

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Knowing who and when to pick for a business vendor will be critical to your practices success. There are lots of outsourced billers and private practice vendors that exist.

You can take your time and select the one that you feel you have the most chemistry with, or one that has the best character, or one that has the most competency. All of those factors are for you to decide.

One way to evaluate if a vendor is the right pick for your practices to ask your colleagues who they would recommend. The other way to evaluate whether a vendor is a good fit for you is to see who other people or influencers would recommend.

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Most importantly take your time. if the vendor has a contract you will want to read that carefully or have your attorney read that over. If there's anything in the contract that you don't like you can ask questions or request changes. Again this will be very important for the success of your practice in the future.