Physical Therapy Practice: In-House Billing vs Outsourced Billing

The goal of many practice owners has always been to adopt an effective and accurate billing system that doesn’t disrupt the flow of cash into their business. However, the decision to hire a third party to offer physical therapy billing services or keep it in-house has been a tough one for many. 

While both options come with their pros and cons, you must assess both before making a final decision. 

In this article, we’ll help you weigh both options, which will make it easier for you to choose what works best for your practice.

Size of your practice

If your practice is relatively large, keeping billing services in-house is the better method. Bigger practices can afford to keep in-house billers working all month and pay their salary without running at a loss. It also means that you can afford to pay for training and programs that help increase their efficiency, which means a steadier cash flow for you and your practice.

Smaller practices, on the other hand, will save more working with third-party billers, as there’s a limit to the provisions you need to make to keep them working. You don’t have to cater for their training and programs, office space, office equipment, paper, printing toners, and other supplies they need to function effectively. While paying for their services may seem costlier at first, you will realize how cost-effective it is in the long run. Similarly, using the right medical billing practice management could make things that much easier.

Competency and Versatility

The growth of an in-house biller is dependent on the practice’s ability to make provisions for their improvement. The approach to billing and its intricacies changes every year and without proper training and development opportunities, in-house billers may be incompetent in certain industries and functions even after many years of experience as a biller.

However, outsourced billers are usually more competent. Since they don’t rely on your practice for their growth and development, you can always make requests for your various billing requirements. They have all the necessary tools and skills needed to maintain a steady cash flow at your practice, making them a more reliable option. 

Outsourced billers work in teams, so you wouldn’t have to experience any delay in your billing deliveries caused by the unavailability of a biller or other associated staffing crisis. So, if you’re looking for billers that can handle varying tasks more effectively, outsourcing is your best bet yet.

Control of activities

When working with in-house billers, you get to oversee their activities. You also get a clearer understanding of what works and what doesn’t work, leaving no room for excuses on their path. But the truth is, practice owners barely have any knowledge of physical therapy billing. So, managing the activities of a biller is usually a lot more difficult than they thought. 

But with outsourced billers, there’s no need to manage their operations. You can totally rely on them and measure their efficiency based on the results you get. Since they’re experts in their craft, managing their operations is literally impossible. Unless you’re a professionally trained biller too. 

With billing, there is usually a risk of misappropriation of funds. Trusting employees to manage the cash flow of your practice could be a tough one, but it is a much-preferred option compared to entrusting it in the hands of total strangers. So, when it comes to entrusting the funds of your practice to a biller, in-house billers are the reliable option.

Time management

The billing process is unarguably one of the most time-consuming processes in physical therapy practice. Putting such responsibility on your staff might take away their time to focus on other patient-centric plans and activities.

With outsourced billers, however, you can have your members deal with other important projects. Since, an outsourced biller isn’t a registered staff at your practice, having them deal with the billing process will have zero effects on the productivity of your other team.