Patient/therapist confidentiality trust levels can be exemplary, but if your therapy group is not being as careful with the digital data that they collect and record as they are with the spoken word, your patients could be in danger. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services maintains a breach list that indicates 24% of reported breaches were due to laptop theft. The theft of a personal laptop computer, more than any other specific cause, could be putting your patients’ security and your company’s reputation on the line.
Combine the danger of laptop theft with the added exposure of of the 70% of providers who process their funds and records with an electronic payment system and you may be putting yourself, your business and your patients at even more risk. Rather than risk your reputation and patient confidentiality in a electronic billing system that you have piecemealed together over the several year, does;t it make more sense to contract your therapist billing services out to a company who specializes in the secure handling of patients records and billing information?
In addition to providing a more secure environment, contracting out therapist billing services can also be more cost effective. According to the American Medical Association (AMA), processing a clean claim clean can cost $6.63 when sent manually by paper. Electronically, the same claim costs only $2.90. That is a savings of well over 50% and working with a service that leaves the patient therapy to you and instead handles the therapist billing services that they know best makes good business sense.
In addition to being both cheaper and HIPAA-compatible, electronic-claims have a faster turnaround time for remittance. Research shows that 69% of electronic claims are processed in seven days, compared to 29% of paper claims. Limiting the paperwork, errors, and staff requirements of traditional, paper claim submissions saved an estimated $9,000 per physician in 2012, according to data cited by the AMA.
Patient billing services were once manageable in house making use of the same staff that also greets patients, checks them in, and helps them schedule their next appointment. This, however, is no longer the case. Increases in the amount of paperwork that both HIPAA and insurance companies require have made it nearly impossible for a small office staff of a thriving therapy group to keep its head above water. Not to mention the security issues that can develop when more and more files are monitored and stored electronically. Wouldn’t your mental health practice benefit in outsourcing your mental health billing software services so you can get back to the business of caring for your patients.
