Reasons Why You Should Outsource Laboratory Billing

A medical professional wearing a white scrub gown and cap, examining through a microscope.

Laboratories are a vital part of any medical establishment with varying sizes and iterations. According to Sikaris (2017), 60–70% of clinical decisions were affected by laboratory test results. This is because labs provide support to the diagnosis and treatment of physicians, making up 70 to 80% of a patient’s Electronic Health Record (EHR). As a result, labs need to ensure that they are producing accurate findings through streamlined operations, improving the working cash flow and patient outcomes, which is what we do at Synapse Lab Billing Solutions.

What is Laboratory Billing?

The medical laboratory billing cycle involves interactions between a physician ordering a lab test, the lab providing the tests, and the insurance company or other payer compensating for the time, labor, and materials used. This process can span from several days to months to complete, requiring clear communication between the parties involved. Most of the time, laboratories have a separate coding and billing department designed to navigate the billing cycle. Still, most lab providers must make corrections and resubmit denied or failed claims until the payer makes the agreed payment or the lab provider accepts a partial payment.

Laboratory billing information is more than a knowledge of basic lab economics. You need to incorporate the percentage of your cash collections to each related patient interaction and compare these rates, your relationships with each payer, with the cost of individual CPT-coded procedures. Using analytics will help determine the profitability of each procedure, payer relationship, and client contract. To achieve this necessary deep revenue analysis, many labs outsource their billing services. At Synapse Lab Billing Solutions, we ensure that a thorough, accurate, and effective approach will be applied to laboratory billing, resulting in increased revenue and continuous lab services.

Important Reasons to Outsource Lab Billing

Partnering with a laboratory billing company can have numerous benefits. Think about providing solutions for your staffing and analysis issues with just a few clicks. Have quicker resolutions of the billing process and obtain better data – to identify loss leaders, improve your efficiency, and drastically improve your cash flow. Here are the following reasons why you should outsource your lab billing.

  • Reduces your operating costs and improves cash flow: Having your own laboratory billing department means associated software fees, training costs of salaried employees, and related expenditures. Through outsourcing a lab billing company, you can benefit from a more controlled and sustainable approach to revenue cycle management.

  • Eliminates your billing and coding errors: Pat Palme, Medical Billing Advocates of America CEO and founder, told New Jersey 101.5 FM that nearly 80% of medical claims contain some type of billing error. “Most every bill that comes through our office, when we analyze it, there is some type of error that has occurred, and it is usually not in favor of the patient,” she told the radio station. Outsourcing your billing can significantly lower delayed payments through accurate and correct submitted claims.

  • Quickens processing and payment: Automating billing tasks will help shorten the months often required for processing a typical paper claim into just a few days. With the help of an automated software system, claims can be filed by expert coders, which means you can reach the end of your billing cycle quicker and get paid faster.

  • Automatic verification: A modern and tech-driven method of insurance verification is at the center of outsourcing lab billing partners. You can verify a patient’s insurance coverage in real time and reduce the number of hours utilized on procedures. No need to keep up to date on coding changes since you’ll be regularly updated on changes. Minimize human errors and lessen administrative burdens with automatic verification.

 

  • Ensures compliance: Outsourcing a lab billing company helps you predict that standards will change and be prepared for them. It takes qualified experts to stay on top of the latest information, so you take something off your team’s plate, ensuring they submit clean claims and that the practices they partner with stay compliant.

Overall, your laboratory deserves to capitalize on growth prospects and generate income, but with the complicated subtleties of laboratory billing, it can be a daunting task. To meet this challenge, outsourcing a laboratory billing partner like Synapse can help you manage your lab revenue cycle. This can save you more time, personnel, or resources, allowing for quicker billing resolution and an enhanced cash flow. Contact us today to understand how we can change your lab for the better: medicalsales(at)synhs(dot)com and (844) 384-7832.