Patient Administration often thought of as an in-house concern
It’s true that keeping all patient administration and billing related matters with your staff gives you greater control over your practice. Many experts would argue that point, thanks to today’s intensely busy, highly competitive medical marketplace.
You know why DIY patient administration is beneficial, but ignoring the problems it causes a new medical practice is short-sighted. With expansion being your ultimate goal, here are eight ways that ‘doing it yourself’ can seriously stunt practice growth over time.
#1: Inflated Employee Costs
When it comes to reliable medical administration, your employee costs will be considerably larger than if you outsourced to a third party company. Inflated employee costs can cripple a new practice – diverting investment from the areas that accelerate real growth.
#2: The Threat of Shutting Down
With small patient billing departments, if one employee gets sick it could mean a system shut down. Getting 24/7 support for operations and technology concerns is key to making sure that your practice is earning at its best.
#3: Inconsistency & Errors
The field of medical patient administration can be complex, resulting in multiple errors and inconsistencies. Poorly managed and kept records means lost funds. You end up being the only person responsible for lost revenue in a weak system.
#4: Steals Time Away
Few doctors are excellent at treatment and patient administration . In fact, many of your doctors and medical staff will dislike this time-consuming element of their job. It takes time (58% in some studies), energy and resources away from the growth areas that matter in patient care.
#5: Promotes Theft and Liability
The patient administration department that handles your patient billing is a prime target for thieves. Embezzlement is a real concern for small practices, and it is only too easy to miss employees that are siphoning funds from your accounts.
#6: Late Bills and Less Cash Flow
A new practice without consistent cash flow is crippled from the start. Medical patient administration done in-house can cause heavy workloads, and delays in sending out patient accounts. This results in late bills being even later, which means cashflow is negatively impacted.
#7: Unreliable Account Data
Because your patient administration staff is so busy trying to keep up with their workload, data is not maintained, tracked efficiently or monitored for opportunities. As a consequence you cannot use this unreliable data to draw insights from to streamline your practice operations.
#8: A Poor Long-Term Strategy
DIY patient billing is a weak long-term strategy for a growth-centric practice. Instead of promoting transparency and accuracy it causes HR problems and billing delays. Delegating these tasks right away means better practice operations in the long term.
Patient administration done in-house might seem like it gives you more control, but it does not. By focusing too intently on billing you lose sight of practice growth and patient care.
