Your medical practice’s financial success largely depends on the efficiency and impeccable accuracy of your medical coding and claims submissions. Executing medical coding, however, is easier said than done as it can prove to be complex, time-consuming and significantly more expensive.
Fortunately, medical practices have options. They could either hire in-house coders or opt to outsource their medical coding to a reliable medical coding company. There are ample reasons to simply hire a team of in-house coders. However, when compared to the second option of outsourcing, the benefits of outsourcing end up being more desirable for most.
In this article, we will try to answer the age-old question of whether the decision to outsource medical coding is in-fact the right choice for your practice.
Key Benefits of Outsourcing Medical Coding
1 – Flexibility
Outsourcing your practice’s medical coding provides healthcare providers with much more flexibility than hiring in-house staff would. At the risk of stating the obvious, recruiting and hiring in-house medical coders is considerably more expensive and time-consuming. It also doesn’t help that most of these hired staff members simply may not possess the expertise and experience that comes easily with outsourcing the task to a coding specialist instead. This is primarily due to the fact that an outsourcing company ensures that its staff is regularly trained on industry regulations and changes.
Outsourcing also gives you access to a large pool of coding specialists that can ultimately help you scale your organization’s team. Coding companies are also well equipped to deal with high volumes of work to ensure claims are submitted accurately and on time.
2 – Prompt Certifications
Medical coders need to stay updated with the constantly changing coding systems, regulations and practices. They are also required to keep up with current certifications, and updates coming from the concerned government agencies.
To stay relevant in the industry, medical coders need to consistently gain valuable insights pertaining to the changing rules and regulations. This may not be possible when you hire in-house coders as they may not be regularly trained on these changing regulations.
Since medical coding companies specialize in offering coding services, it becomes a mandatory duty for the coders working under their umbrella to hold the required certifications for efficient medical coding and claims submission.
3 – Cost Effective
One of the major reasons why outsourcing medical coding ultimately proves to be a good idea, is because of the tempting cost benefits attached to it. Hiring an expert coder on a full-time payroll can significantly boost expenses incurred by a medical practice.
When you can opt to outsource your medical coding work to a professional coding company, you gain access to compellingly low rates. Of course, salary isn’t the only thing you will be burning your funds on. There are other costs associated with hiring in-house staff such as health insurance, employer tax benefits and notable expenses on office space, computer systems and furniture.
Needless to say, you save all of the above expenses when you simply opt to outsource medical coding.
4 – Glaring Hiring Challenges
Another major reason behind choosing to outsource medical coding services also happens to do with the glaring hiring challenges that come with the recruitment process. It is very difficult to hire in-house medical coders who are qualified to operate within the new system implemented with the introduction of ICD 10.
It is also quite challenging to find medical coders who are experienced in a particular specialty desired by your practice. This is not the case when outsourcing, as medical coding companies typically provide a vast pool of coding experts who possess the knowledge to tackle challenges associated with your specialty.
The Bottom Line
There are simply too many benefits to reap from the decision to outsource medical coding services, which a healthcare organization unwittingly foregoes when hiring in-house coders. Simply put, oOutsourcing medical coding is both cost-effective and time-efficient. in its rendering of impeccable coding services.
3Gen, in particular, possesses the required resources and coding specialists needed to offer robust medical coding services with all of its most revered benefits attached.
Our experience, in collaboration with our certified medical coders, is all you will ever need to ensure an efficient management and proficient execution of your medical coding operations.
