It is fair to say there has never been a more important time for hospital and health service providers to leave no stone unturned when it comes to improving business processes. While the COVID-19 crisis has seen clinicians rightly praised for their efforts on the frontline of the global pandemic, health executives are also under enormous pressure to manage the financial realities of a stretched health system.
Amid such difficult times, it is little wonder the spotlight has fallen on the importance of medical billing and medical coding. While a largely anonymous function to the general public, anyone who works in a health system appreciates that accurate and efficient medical billing and coding is crucial to ongoing funding and resourcing. Medical billing specialists calculate and handle payments for services, products and procedures, while medical coding is a language of all of its own that allows communication between the health sector and its insurance partners.
With the global medical coding market alone estimated to reach more than $30 billion by 2026, many health executives are grappling with how to best navigate what is an increasingly complex and crucial environment. Employing in-house medical and coding teams can be a costly affair, with salaries and wages just one part of the fiscal pie. Onboarding and training, employee benefits, office space, equipment and technology infrastructure all put a strain on budgets, not to mention the fact under-resourced and overloaded employees are more likely to make costly billing errors.
For this reason, offshore providers are increasingly helping ease the strain by offering to outsource medical billing and medical coding services for hospitals and health services of all sizes. Just as they have done with contact centers and IT support, virtual armies of highly qualified and passionate recruits in outsourcing hubs such as the Philippines are ready and waiting to lend their expertise at cost-effective rates.
Benefits of outsourcing medical billing and coding
There are many reasons the global medical billing outsourcing market is increasing at a rapid rate. Estimated to be worth $10.2 billion in 2020, it is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 12.66% from 2021 to 2028 and it is easy to understand why when you consider the benefits of looking offshore for talent.
- Reduced costs: destinations such as the Philippines have much lower living costs than Western nations, with companies able to save up to 70% on employment expenses alone by recruiting an offshore specialist or team. Furthermore, outsourcing medical billing and coding to the Philippines ensures that billing flows effectively, with invoices or claims distributed faster and payments made sooner.
- Improved accuracy: medical billing and coding is not an area to be complacent when it comes to accuracy. Employing highly trained and knowledgeable staff is essential and outsourcing specialists can recruit entire teams of people who are experts in their field and boast reputations for making fewer errors and identifying concerns before they become issues.
- Greater productivity: ask any organization that has worked with a quality outsourcing provider and they will tell you that systems and processes are often where they shine. As a dedicated medical billing and coding service, they boast the various software, tools and know-how needed to use data more effectively, be it studying trends, identifying roadblocks or enhancing communication.
- Scalability: like many sectors, healthcare demands can come in waves and outsourcing allows medical billing or coding managers to scale their workforces to meet daily, weekly or monthly schedules. Likewise, health executives can seamlessly increase or decrease their offshore employee numbers to cater for seasonal demands such as the end of financial year. There is no greater waste of resources than employees being paid when there is no work to be done and that will no longer be the case with medical billing or coding outsourcing.
- Better compliance: the safe and confidential storage of patient data is non-negotiable, with the rules and regulations that govern such areas not only strict but often evolving. Quality outsourcing partners provide peace of mind by staying abreast of the fine print and ensuring HIPPA compliance when it comes to matters such as patient privacy.
Is it time to look offshore?
Medical billing and coding are far too important to be left to chance, particularly in an era when financial and resourcing pressures weigh heavily on health executives. Looking offshore to qualified, experienced staff is the smart way to ensure you are giving your organization the best chance of running a system that delivers for your clinicians, patients and bottom line.
Offshoring has allowed one fast-paced company to meet the demands of servicing more than 600 healthcare organizations while saving more than 60% in administration costs. Find out how they did it in this Healthcare case study.
