IS YOUR OPTOMETRY PRACTICE IN TRANSITION?
By Amanda Kissinger, Billing Services Group Manager
Maybe you’re growing and buying up a practice or two. Or maybe your practice is being purchased. Or maybe because of the pandemic-induced staffing shortages, you’re having trouble hiring staff. Whatever the reason for the transition, it likely will be a chaotic time for your practice. If you outsource your insurance billing, even for a brief period, you can alleviate some of your stress.
If you’re adding locations, you’re tasked with credentialing new locations and doctors.
If you’re being purchased, you might lose trusted employees who know the ins and outs of your business practices. Or your staff might be under water cleaning up the old environment (aging claims included) while in transition. At the very least, your staff will likely have to learn new protocol, and maybe even a new billing software.
These complexities can wreak havoc on the day-to-day operations of your practice—and your ability to provide quality patient care.
We’ve worked with many optometry practices in transition who fell behind on their day-to-day billing. That meant their AR suffered. One way to alleviate the operational tensions that creep in during a transitional period is to outsource your insurance billing—even if only for a brief period.
Here Are Three Benefits Of Outsourcing Billing When Your Optometry Practice Is In Transition:
1. Helps your staff with time management.
Whether you’re moving businesses, buying practices, or transitioning to new software, your staff is crunched for time. Insurance billing can become an afterthought. Outsourcing your billing can free your staff to dedicate their time to their immediate work, such as patient care, credentialing paperwork, or learning the new software.
An outsourced billing partner tackles the ongoing demands of billing, so your staff has the capacity to concentrate on the immediate work to be done.
2. Acts as a safety net.
When your optometry practice is in transition, many things are happening at once. Credentialing. Hiring. Training. Learning a new software. And, of course, maintaining quality patient care.
As you juggle all of the moving pieces, you might drop one of the balls. An outsourced billing partner will process and submit claims, will communicate payers that may need re-enrollment through the clearinghouses, and communicate any additional needs or problems that you might unwittingly overlook.
It’s the responsibility of the outsource partner to not drop the ball: notice the missing pieces and offer suggestions to ensure your insurance billing is optimized. When you outsource your insurance billing, you prevent accumulation of losses that arise from missing a critical step in the process.
3. Fills the gaps.
During a transition, practices often see staff turnover. Trying to immediately fill the position—and train a new employee—can slow down your billing. Rather than worrying about immediately finding staff to manage your billing, outsourcing your insurance billing can provide temporary relief.
An outsourced billing service provides you time to thoughtfully hire and train staff. They are a temporary extension of your staff. The key is to look for a partner who offers a monthly contract, rather than an annual contract. That gives you the freedom to bring it in house when it best fits your company.