If you are considering outsourcing your medical billing and coding you are probably feeling a little overwhelmed by all of your options. There are many great companies out there, but it is important that you do your research to make sure you find the company that is going to best fit your needs – and budget.

Appointing a medical billing and coding company is certainly not something you should take lightly. These companies are responsible for deciphering very important amenities and processes within precise codes in order to ensure that your practice gets adequate compensation for services provided.

Here are some important things you need to know when researching (and making a decision) about hiring a medical coding company for your practice;

– How many hours do they spend with each client?
– Do they have a toll free number you can call?
– Are the quick to respond to your e-mails?
– How many years have they been around?
– How many clients do they currently have?
– Do they have references/testimonials from current/past clients?
– Are they working on the cloud or do they have a local office?
– Where are there employees located?
– How do they carry out documentations?
– How do they do their audit filing?
– Do they employ proofreaders?

Some of these questions may seem pretty basic, but you would be surprised the answers you come up with when you ask them. In case you are unsure about why these questions should be asked I will expand on some…so you know why they are important.

Making sure that a company is easily contactable is important – what happens if you have a question or concern and it takes them three/four days to get back to you? Clearly if that happens they do not have the staff to support their workload, and the quality of work provided will likely suffer as a result.

Companies that have been around for many years, and who have recommendations, are obviously doing something right – so asking those questions will help you weed out the newcomers without any experience.

Location of office and employees is important because with this kind of business you need to be certain that the company, and its employees, have reliable Internet access. If they are located outside of the US in an area with unreliable Internet service you could risk them not being able to work for hours at a time, which will affect your practice negatively.

The last three are just routine questions so that you can make sure you are going to get the best service. Also, having proofreaders says that they really care about their clients and are willing to pay someone to check everything over to ensure that maximum refunds are given.

So – all that being said, have you found the right company to outsource your medical billing to? I hope so! If you have any questions, or are still shopping around, feel free to give us a call or fill out the contact form on our site. We would love to hear from you!