The complex and crucial area of revenue cycle management takes a lot of effort and time in your practice. Submitting and following up on dental claims to get reimbursed for the services provided can indeed be exhausting. Additionally, the proper management of the revenue cycle helps make sure that the practices get paid for the services rendered. Therefore, it is crucial to have skilled billers who can improve revenue for the company. Which is why it is time for practices to consider an RCM partnership. When practices first consider RCM collaborations, terms like “outsourcing,” which most practitioners fear, often come to mind. These fears may prevent your practice from fully appreciating the advantages of outsourcing dental billing.
Here are some of the common worries that prevent practices from partnering with an RCM provider:
Fear of layoffs
The worry of losing their jobs once an external RCM provider is hired is very common among the staff at your practice. The concept of someone else handling the billing process can undermine their worth at the practice as they are so accustomed to handling it themselves. It makes them feel threatened about their job at the practice. Dental billing, as you already know, is a complex and tiring process, and an RCM provider only helps lessen the workload of your staff. The RCM service provider functions as an extension of the billing team; they work on your insurance claims behind the scenes while your practice staff remain front and center.
Loss of control over the revenue cycle
Another common fear present among most practices is the fear of losing control over their revenue cycle, which stops them from partnering with an Revenue Cycle Management provider. Practices often find it difficult to trust an RCM provider to complete the work in the desired manner and on time. However, the fear is not valid at all, as you are not really losing control when you let a professional handle your bills; instead, you are assigning the more time-consuming task to a third party while using your own time more effectively on more important tasks at your practice. By partnering with an RCM service provider, you get access to a skilled and knowledgeable billing team that helps you submit more accurate claims on time, boosting your collections.
Loss of revenue due to the cost of partnering with an RCM provider
The cost of partnering with an RCM provider is another facet / element that practices fear. Although it can seem like partnering with an RCM service provider will cost you more money, that is not true at all, as it only helps boost your practice revenue significantly. Expert RCM service providers often help practices save money by streamlining the revenue cycle. Furthermore, for most practices, the cost of salaries, benefits, and office expenses exceed(s) the cost of opting for a service provider. Therefore, the most cost-effective way to simplify your billing process and generate successful claims is to partner with a service provider.
Revealing confidential information to third-party service providers
Data security and regulatory compliance are top priorities at a practice, which is why practices may be hesitant to form partnerships. They may be concerned that the new third party will not be able to protect data in the same secure manner. As they are entrusted with securing such a huge volume of Patient Health Information (PHI), leading RCM outsourcing suppliers place high priority on data security and regulatory compliance.
Only large practices can partner with an RCM provider
There is a common stigma among practices that only big and well-established practices can partner with an RCM service provider. Although medical billing providers prefer larger clients, they do not exclude smaller or lesser-known practices from their services. The majority of revenue cycle management providers’ customers are small and medium-sized practices.
Partnering with an RCM provider is time-consuming
Many practices are under the misconception that partnering with an RCM service provider takes up a lot of time. In actuality, partnering with a service provider presents you with the opportunity to spend more time working on the other needs of your practice and less time worrying about the financial aspects. The service provider generally submits claims faster than your employees since their work is solely focused on billing and they don’t have to manage the other needs of your practice . They can also quickly locate denied or rejected claims, ensuring that you don’t miss any deadlines for filing appeals and thus, leading to faster dental billing, contrary to common belief.
Opting for a service provider may reduce patient satisfaction
Another aspect that restrains practices from partnering with a service provider is the fear that it would affect their patient satisfaction because the patients would prefer in-house billing, but this is far from the actual case / truth. Partnering with a service provider helps your staff devote more time to patient care. They can now focus more of their time and attention on improving patient care because they are no longer required to work on the time-consuming RCM processes. This in turn leads to strong levels of patient loyalty and satisfaction.
An RCM partnership is actually an added assistance that can lead to success for the company, its staff, and its patients. Understand that you can be losing out on a sizable portion of the practice’s income from unpaid claims if your fears prevent you from even attempting to partner with an RCM provider.
