Isn’t it time you transformed your HME billing team?
Managing an HME billing team isn’t easy, especially in the current labor market.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment costs rose 2.6% in 2018 alone. High labor costs make it difficult to create, train, and retain the right team. Employees need to process high volumes of claims quickly and cleanly.
This pressure can paralyze your team’s morale and your bottom line, but it doesn’t have to. Here are 3 easy ways to transform your HME billing team.
Request a Data Analysis
In only 30 minutes, you can start to transform your billing team. HME billing and outsourcing companies usually have several experts on staff that can analyze your current billing function and offer areas for improvement.
Your outsourcing partner first schedules a quick call – usually 20-30 minutes – to fully understand your billing team and its challenges. To determine next steps, they may ask several important questions, including:
- What are the biggest challenges facing your team?
- Have you tried to fix these issues, and if so, what worked?
- Are you currently using key performance indicators (KPIs)?
- Are you currently outsourcing your billing?
- If so, are you actively looking for an outsourcing partner?
Once they gather these details, your outsourcing partner conducts a complete data analysis of your billing function.
What does this data analysis entail? Generally, this analysis is a snapshot of where your business stands: the cash collected, billing amounts, denials, outstanding A/R, and holds. These benchmarks, when used to track your business in relation to its goals, are key performance indicators (KPIs). Our white paper, “Are You Tracking the Right Metrics?”, discusses these KPIs in greater detail, provides guidance on implementing them in your business, and how to develop a plan for improvement.
If your KPIs are off track, your outsourcing partner may recommend their services. Let’s look at what these services mean for your HME billing function.
Consider HME Outsourcing
What is HME outsourcing? Why are providers turning to it to transform their billing teams?
Business process outsourcing, as it is officially known, reduces or eliminates large departments such as billing, collections, and deliveries. As a result, HME providers can reduce their billing challenges and focus more on what matters: quality patient care. Outsourcing can also lower your overall costs. It provides better visibility into your processes and better tools for your business.
There are typically two outsourcing options. Full service billing is a suite of services that outsources the management of your entire billing function, thus cutting your labor costs significantly. With this option, the outsourcing partner you select is paid on a percentage of collections. What does that mean for you? Your partner only gets paid when you do. Staff augmentation, however, brings low-cost assistance to your existing billing team.
Check in on a Regular Basis
The real work begins when you and your outsourcing partner enter into a billing agreement. Your partner pairs you with an account manager. Then, you have weekly meetings to discuss your progress and any concerns or challenges.
Are you ready to transform your billing team and work with a trusted revenue cycle partner? Contact us today! Prochant has a highly motivated team of HME billing specialists with in-depth payer knowledge across all product lines, software, and Medicare regions.
Next time, we’ll discuss the ins and outs of HME full service billing. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn for the latest HME industry news and trends.
Prochant is the nation’s leading HME billing and process outsourcing company. Our highly-skilled team helps providers become more profitable by outsourcing or enhancing front- and back-office processes. We rapidly implement changes and proactively monitor metrics to ensure client success. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, we work with top medical equipment providers and health systems.