5 Benefits of Medical Coding That You Need to Know About

Find out why your hospital needs to leverage the five benefits of outsourcing medical coding.

Healthcare is getting more complex by the day. It is the concerned and confused patient who gets stuck between the provider and the payer, having for worry about the diagnosis, treatment or billing. CPT or Current Procedural Terminology codes are a uniform code that is used to describe the procedural, medical, surgical and diagnostic services offered by healthcare providers.

Even a minute error in the coding can lead to improper treatment and payments. This could develop into a disastrous situation for everyone. This is why healthcare providers have to very cautious in ensuring the right management and analysis of provider reimbursement and patient billing.

Though CPT codes are important, healthcare providers cannot afford to let medical coding distract them from their core capabilities of providing patient care. Outsourcing medical coding is a great option as healthcare providers can focus on better patient care, while patients are kept healthy and happy.

Here are five benefits that you can leverage by outsourcing medical coding:

1. Reduce and control operating costs

Today there are several coding and IT tools that are available to increase the speed, cost and accuracy of medical coding. However, tools like Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS), ICD-9, E-Clinical Works, Practice Admin or Kareo are not only expensive, but are also difficult to acquire, maintain and upgrade. Keeping these tools in-house would require additional management. Your healthcare center can avoid the cost and the problems of maintaining technology in-house through outsourcing.

2. Better focus on healthcare

For quick and accurate medical coding to happen, you will need an expert team of AAPC certified medical coders who have a deep understanding across medical specialities and compliance requirements. Maintaining an in-house team of coding professionals can be tough, while not resulting in a high ROI. You will also have to incur the cost of recruiting and retention. Instead, when you outsource medical coding, you can completely focus on healthcare.

3. Value-add services

Outsourcing service providers are well-positioned to offer healthcare centers and hospitals with regular reports about the progress and status of claims. These reports can also pinpoint inefficient areas, where the overall coding productivity and outcome can be increased.

4. Minimized claim denials

Inaccuracies in data and poor coding can lead to claims being denied, resulting in revenue loss. This will further increase the rework of claims and cause a delay in reimbursement. Outsourcing medical coding can keep coding errors to a bare minimum, while ensuring that rework (if any) happens at a faster pace.

5. Scalability

An outsourcing service provider can ensure the quick deployment of medical coding services, while ensuring that the services are scalable and aligned to your business requirements. Your healthcare center or hospital will find it extremely difficult to shrink or expand your in-house coding team based on business trends or other such imperatives. However, with outsourcing, you will not have to worry about the infrastructure or volume needed to manage medical coding at any point of time.