Rewind: Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) companies swept the healthcare industry by storm at a time when doctors were constantly becoming stressed for reasons beside the most important – seeing and helping their patients. Doctors had to deal with multiple issues involving hiring extremely knowledgeable medical billers, purchasing expensive hardware that took up space in their offices, and the overhead cost of leasing a location for not only their medical staff, but also their billing department. Once RCM’s were established, they took all of this stress off the doctors.
Initially, RCM’s were attractive to doctors for many different reasons- one being they promised to maximize revenue with every patient visit by guaranteeing that their staff was fully trained to know the ins and outs of claims from every aspect of a visit. This brought in more money to the practice and took no time away from the doctors that were carefully analyzing each claim. When RCM’s companies entered the game, they assured doctors that they would bring in more money on each visit (for offices billing about $100-$110 thousand) and that their fee would be less than the savings the doctor realized. Since the doctors never lost any revenue, this gave time back to the doctors to focus on their clients, rather than IT and billing. It’s no surprise why RCM companies took off and have been so successful.
Fast Forward to Today: Healthcare IT companies have developed innovative technology to help doctors move away from aggravating software, expensive servers, and the burden of relying on Revenue Cycle Management companies. Today, instead of housing all medical billing software on unreliable servers that constantly need to be updated or patched, you can access cloud-based solutions from a desktop, tablet, laptop, or even a smartphone. From anywhere.
What does this mean for the relationship between doctors and RCM companies? It means that there is no need to hire big named RCM companies to manage your medical billing needs and it encourages doctors to hire local medical billers to help. There are quite a few benefits in moving your practice from a large RCM company to a local medical biller with help from a federal and state compliant PM vendor like RXNT:
- Transparency – Doctors want to know their expected rate of return on their claims. With some RCMs, providers are not granted access to that information or even view the status of a claim. However, practices choosing to use a medical billing company in junction with a cloud-based solution, like RXNT|practice management, can submit their claim and watch it go through the process of being submitted and approved (with ERA) from one accessible location. Medical Billing companies on the other hand, can manage practices from the same account that doctors are working in, making the experience seamless.
- Remain in Control – Not only can doctors stay up-to-date on the status of their claims, but with cloud-based technology there is freedom to access your account virtually from anywhere. All you need is internet access. Log into your account and see the same information that you would if you were in your office. If you have a question about one of your claims, you can either log in or reach out to your medical biller, instead of having to call into a support line with a massive RCM company. Something else that occurs if you decide to hire an RCM is that you put them in control of your funds. Most RCM companies require all client payments be automatically deposited into their account before transferring it to you. This can be resolved by partnering with a local billing company which keeps you in control of your revenue and funds.
- Make More Money – Previously, medical billers did not have access to the same technology/information as big RCMs. Now that has all changed. Practice Management solutions provide detailed information to help make medical biller’s jobs easier. User-friendly technology allow billers to record detailed information on diagnosis and procedure codes to maximize the revenue of each claim.
- Not Just Another Dollar Sign – Large RCM companies have been acquiring local medical billers for years, which in turn means they are acquiring their legacy medical practices’ business as well. The larger the RCM, the more dollar signs they see. They might not have your best interest in mind and just see you as another number to add to their quota. Cloud-based solutions allow you to partner with local medical billers that take billing for your practice as important as you do. To them, keeping you happy and confident in their expertise is their number one priority. Wouldn’t it be better to have your medical biller down the street instead of halfway across the country? Need an update on your quarterly billing? You could set an in-person meeting monthly. You are a vital relationship to keep their business profitable as well.
- Focus on What Matters – The goal of every medical practice is patient care. Without the worry of complicated IT software, doctors can achieve that goal.
RCM companies are no longer the only avenue to maximizing medical practice revenue. RXNT’s Practice Management solution is designed with the goal in mind for any medical biller to efficiently manage any size practice. With cloud-based solutions like RXNT’s practice management, there is no more need to install updates in house. The cloud-based solution is federal and state compliant and up-time is no longer an issue as it was with traditional in-house equipment.
RXNT provides a high quality product at an affordable price with live support and training at no additional cost to our clients. To learn more about switching from your RCM to a practice management solution, call us at 1-800-943-7968 Option 3, email us at [email protected], or click the “Learn More” button below.
