Serving more patients. Growing your presence in the community. Receiving more referrals. A booming healthcare practice can be extremely exciting.
However, during times of growth, managing back-office practices can become daunting. Fortunately, it’s possible to regain control of your back office by leveraging healthcare process outsourcing. The question is, are you ready to outsource?
Join us as we take a closer look at the opportunity to outsource critical accounting and business aspects of your practice. We’ll reveal seven red flags indicating that you need to outsource so that you can continue to grow with confidence.
What Is Healthcare Process Outsourcing?
Healthcare process outsourcing refers to contracting out non-medical business activities. Also known as business process outsourcing (BPO), this service enables you to outsource tasks like:
- Billing
- Accounting
- Claims processing
- Payroll management
- Human resources functions
Leading BPO services also offer chief financial officer (CFO) support. Essentially, they enable you to “rent a CFO” to assist with high-level financial planning.
Outsourcing healthcare process is appealing to growing practices because it’s scalable. In other words, you can outsource as many or as few functions as needed.
Seven Red Flags Indicating That It’s Time to Outsource
It’s understandable that you’d want to manage all practice functions in-house. However, outsourcing can take some of the burden off your staff’s shoulders. Then, your practice will be able to devote more time and energy to doing what you do best: serving patients and providing exceptional patient care.
If you’re unsure whether your practice needs to outsource, here are seven signs to look for.
1. Billing Errors Are Running Rampant
Billing errors are frustrating for everyone.
Sending patients incorrect bills can erode their trust in your practice. Mistakes on bills can also create months-long claims headaches.
Frequent errors are bad for your staff, too. Whenever an error is made, a team member must rework an account to fix it. Even a small number of monthly errors can cost you hours in productivity.
Not sure how many errors you deal with each month? That’s even worse. A lack of billing visibility means you’re basically working in the dark.
The good news is a BPO partner can help you solve both challenges. A great outsourcing partner can work with you to find a new tech solution that meets your changing needs and put that tech to work to optimize billing transparency.
2. Administrative Tasks Eat Away at Productivity
Do you ever feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day? If so, it’s definitely time to outsource. Administrative tasks should be a small part of your day. If they consume most or all of it, bringing in some extra help can lighten your workload.
Looking for this red flag is simple. Think back on your last week or two at the office. Did you frequently get sidetracked by tedious administrative work that shouldn’t land on your plate?
Imagine how much more productive you would be if all that work was suddenly someone else’s challenge to work through. When you outsource, it can be.
While you’ll still retain control and oversight of the practice, your outsourcing partner will deal with that mountain of paperwork you’ve been buried under.
3. Insurance Headaches Are Hindering Growth
Maintaining good relationships with insurers is good for business. But if insurance companies constantly reject claims due to preventable errors, these relationships will be filled with friction.
Working with a third party helps solve insurance headaches by combining a talented staff with great technology. The vendor’s in-house team will have the know-how to tackle your insurance processing issues with ease. They can reduce errors and help you get on better terms with payors.
In other words, everyone wins when you outsource.
4. Revenue Cycle Management Is Lackluster
How do you feel about your revenue cycle these days? Is it a finely tuned machine that supports your growth goals – or something far from it? If thinking about your revenue cycle makes you cringe, it’s time to outsource.
A BPO partner that specializes in healthcare process management can shed light on revenue cycle bottlenecks. They’ll work with your team to streamline your cycle and stabilize cash flow. Addressing these cash flow woes will set you up for continued growth.
An optimized revenue cycle will also contribute to business continuity and ensure that you can be there for your patients when they need you.
5. Processing Bills Is Inefficient
Before your patients can pay for services, they must receive a bill. The sooner you get that bill to the right party, the faster it will get paid.
However, if your admin team is overwhelmed by managing new patients during a period of growth, processing new bills can take weeks or longer. Good luck maintaining a high collection rate when patients have to wait months for their bills.
The right BPO partner can help you expedite bill processing. You can provide patients and their insurance companies with accurate, timely bills. In turn, you can promptly receive payments and improve collection rates.
6. Your Staff Is Overwhelmed
Step away from your desk and your mountain of work for a minute. Take a walk around the office and take the temperature of the room. Does your staff appear happy and at ease, or are most of your staff frantic, stressed, and overwhelmed?
Staff morale is another helpful metric for determining whether you need to outsource.
When employees are given a manageable workload, they’ll be content and productive. Those that are overloaded will suffer from a drop in productivity. Pushing your staff too hard for too long can lead to mistakes, errors, and eventually absenteeism.
7. You’re Concerned About Overhiring
You may have thought about adding to your team as work has continued to pile on, but there are two potential challenges associated with hiring. The first is that bringing on even a single new employee can be costly. The other is that you’ll eventually run out of office space if you keep expanding.
Healthcare process outsourcing circumvents both these issues. A BPO partner can scale their support based on your practice size. And since they serve you remotely, you won’t have to worry about whether you have enough desks or chairs.
Simply tell them what you need, and they’ll take it from there. If you need to modify your services, your BPO can adjust on the fly so you always have the resources you need.
Benefits of Healthcare Process Outsourcing
Healthcare processing outsourcing enables you to:
- Improve patient experiences
- Comply with HIPAA
- Reduce waste at your healthcare facilities
- Boost employee morale
- Cut costs
- Prevent billing and administrative errors
- Deliver higher-quality care
- Strengthen your brand image
- Fuel continued growth
Business process outsourcing also gives you access to invaluable outside expertise. You can tap into a wealth of knowledge and insights to help your firm better serve its patients.
Clear Your Growth Hurdles with Finlyte’s BPO Services
Did some of the red flags listed here hit close to home? If so, your practice would likely benefit from outsourcing some, most, or all of your business tasks to an expert team such as Finlyte.
Working with Finlyte for healthcare practice management is simple and easy. First, connect with Finlyte and schedule your consultation. Our business process outsourcing experts will assess your unique needs and challenges. We’ll then connect you with solutions to overcome those roadblocks.
Our comprehensive lineup of healthcare process outsourcing options includes the following:
- Accounting
- Payroll
- Human resources
- CFO services
We can create a tailored strategy that includes the service bundles your practice needs to streamline administrative processes.
Ready to simplify your practice management workflow? If so, schedule a consultation with Finlyte to discuss our outsourced accounting and BPO solutions.
