Most practices do not decide to change billing support on a calm day. The decision usually comes after a pile-up of small frustrations. This checklist helps you look at the whole workflow before you decide.
Signs your current workflow is under strain
- Claims go out late, or you are not sure when they go out
- The same denial reasons appear month after month
- Nobody can say exactly how much is outstanding today
- Your staff spends more time on follow-up calls than on patients
- Reports arrive late or do not answer your real questions
Questions to ask your team
- Who owns each step from charge entry to payment posting?
- How quickly are claims submitted after the visit?
- What is our process for rejections, and for denials?
- How often do we review accounts receivable by age?
Where to start
- Pick one measure, such as days in A/R or first-pass acceptance, and track it for a month
- List your top three denial reasons
- Write down who is responsible for each billing step
Takeaway. If most of these sound familiar, a conversation with a billing partner can help you decide whether to fix the workflow in-house or hand part of it off.