Page 12 - HME Business, September/October 2022

Business Solutions
OUTSOURCED BILLING
THE FORCES PUSHING PROVIDERS TO REEXAMINE RCM SERVICES, AND HOW PROVIDERS CAN INTEGRATE OUTSOURCED BILLING INTO THEIR BUSINESSES.
Taking a Second Look
By David Kopf
Outsourced billing services have been avail- able to HME providers for more than 20 years, but various factors are pushing HME providers that might not have outsourced their billing to take a second look. How do they get started?
Outsourced billing got its start in the industry because, for some providers, it’s not a core competency but rather something they need to do. Without payer-directed billing, there is no reim- bursement, and without patient-directed collections, there is no patient pay beyond up-front co-pays.
Moreover, for years, there was a sizable segment of providers that did not concentrate on collecting patient co-pays after the fact because reimbursement was sufficient. Money was willingly left on the table.
Of course, those days are long gone. Now that reimbursement has narrowed margins to a razor-thin degree, providers must manage their revenue cycles to ensure they are collecting every penny due to them. And while some HME providers have built solid billing infrastructure, current marketplace realities are giving them a reason to take a second look at outsourcing some or all of their billing.
Earlier, HME providers outsourced their billing for three main reasons, according to John Stalnaker, vice president of sales for billing service company ACU-Serve (acuservecorp.com).
“They either grew too fast and couldn’t keep up with their billing, they lost a key player on their billing team, or they just literally could not collect their money — such as their A/R was aging out, and they were writing too much off,” Stalnaker explains.
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