Collections Represents Revenue Opportunity for Medical Billing Companies: Survey

More medical billing companies are looking to expand their product and service offerings into the revenue cycle management space, including patient collections, according to the results of a survey conducted by Kareo, a software platform for billing companies.

Fewer than 25% of those companies that were surveyed said they do not charge extra for patient collections, which represent an “opportunity to adjust their revenue stream to better align with where billing companies are focusing their efforts,” according to the survey.

More than 90% of the companies surveyed indicated they “work on old accounts receivables” among the value-added services they offer, where 30% of those companies say the product is an add-on service.

“The challenges of running a successful medical practice in today’s dynamic healthcare landscape continue to impact the time providers have to dedicate to patient care. These practices are turning to their medical billing companies, not only for efficiency and expertise in collecting from insurance payers and patients, but also for their insights into overall practice operations, technology adoption, and compliance,” said Rob Pickell, Chief Marketing Officer for Kareo, in a statement. “Our new report highlights the optimism medical billing companies have around their prospects for 2019 and into the future.”

Items that Kareo defines as “services,” such as outsourcing RCM and project management are expected to outpace items defined as “software,” which include collections processing, by a significant margin during the next few years. Services will grow by 20%, on average for the next several years, while the software segment will grow “more slowly,” Kareo said.

Twenty-eight percent of physicians and healthcare practices expect to outsource their medical billing in the next two years, Kareo reported.