Being a healthcare practitioner in private practice is amazing, after years of studying, comserve or internships you now have your own practice. That is an amazing accomplishment in itself, you are now a business owner.

We have been in the medical billing and practice management industry for years and the practitioners that we have spoken to all agree on these few things. Firstly that they wish they had been taught more about the business side of things when they were studying. Secondly, most practitioners do not like admin, I mean that is why they chose to be healthcare professionals. And lastly that if they had known how much time having billing software would have saved them they would have got one sooner.

Healthcare professionals provide an invaluable service to their communities. And they deserve to be compensated for their work in evaluating, treating and following up with patients. However many practitioners focus more on treating patients than on the business side of their practices because that is where their strengths lie. 

If you are reading this article you are most likely either looking for medical billing software or perhaps looking for a medical billing service to help manage the billing process in your practice. Before we can look at the benefits of medical billing software or solution, we need to understand what medical billing is. 

What is Medical Billing? 

Simply put, medical billing is the process that providers use to create, generate and submit invoices in order to get paid for their services. In the good old days, this was done using antiquated paper systems and receipt books. In the not-to-distant past, this was done using Microsoft Excel or Word templates. But as we move further into the digital age, these transactions can be done using a range of medical billing software and services. There is no denying that software can help to automate this process and speed up the cash flow in your practice.

Medical Billing Software

At its core, medical billing software is designed to assist with all aspects of your patient management and speed up the billing process. The concept of the software is to help a healthcare professional bill a patient for the treatment they received. But there is more to software than meets the eye, so if you are in the market for billing software you should be asking the provider these questions. 

• Is the software easy to use?
• Does the software help automate administrative tasks? 
• Does the software offer easy-to-understand reports? 
• Does the software include an appointment scheduling function? 
• Does the software allow for direct medical claim submissions? 
• Does the software allow you to communicate with patients? 

A recent report from the Huffington Post states that “Medical Billing serves as the bridge between a healthcare professional and the patient”. Using software instead of trying to manage most of all the aspects of your private practice drastically speeds up the billing process and helps to ensure a smoother, more professional experience for your patients. 

Medical Billing Solutions

While the software is a great solution and does help to reduce the time spent on admin etc. Over the years we have seen that as a practice gets busier many practitioners wind up doing their billing late at night or over a weekend. While this works at first it does take away time with family and means that you get very little personal time. This is where a medical billing solution could be the answer.

There is no argument that having an admin person or team that you have trained is the ideal solution. But that is costly and also involves financial and tax obligations as you will have to pay staff as well as PAYE and UIF. Not to mention that while your practice might be busier it doesn’t mean that you have the cash flow to hire a full-time admin person. 

Using a medical billing solution gives you the confidence that the administrative functions of your practice are managed by a professional team that understands the complexity of medical billing at a fraction of the cost of an assistant or admin person. The core purpose of a medical billing solution is to provide a professional team that can support the practitioner in their private practice. So although anyone can do medical billing, having adequate and relevant knowledge of the medical billing process as well as the tools and systems to handle this complicated process can mean the difference between patients getting the treatment they need and healthcare professionals being able to create the private practices they deserve. 

Medical billing software or Medical billing solution? 

So this might sound like a trick question because most practitioners are in fact looking for billing software to help them with their billing and practice management. Our experience has however taught us that healthcare professionals need more than just billing software. They need a solution that will cater to all the needs of their practice. Providing a good medical billing experience is as important to your practice as providing good healthcare.  It is vital that the patient experience is consistent across all aspects of the practice. 

Conclusion

So whether you are simply looking for medical billing software to help you save time on the admin functions of your practice. Or a fully managed medical billing solution to take care of all the practice management needs of your practice you need to do your homework and work out which would be the best fit for you and your private practice. If you would like more information on our medical billing software or our managed medical billing solution please book an obligation-free appointment with our team.