Ketan,
I am solo practice/ sole proprietor, family medicine.
I billed out slightly over 750,000 in charges. Our collection ratio is 62-63% each month which is better than our local average (most are lucky to see 50-55%)
I have an in-house biller who uses Medware. I feel she is very much a bargain compared to what a billing company charges, and I have doubts if they could beat her collection ratio.
I once had a meeting with the few private docs in our region, to discuss ideas and the future of us as a dying breed of physician. We went around the table and asked who out-sources billing v.s. in-house. I went first and said we do it in-house. The next doctor to voice her opinion (one of my former residency attendings and the most condescending person I ever known in my whole life) called me an idiot and in-house billing was the stupidest thing a person could do. Then she said "My good friend does the billing, I outsource it to her. She comes to my office everyday and processes the charges. I pay her a percentage of what comes in."......um excuse me but that is in-house billing. She was the idiot! Of the seven of us that met, only one actually out-sourced, all the others did in-house billing.
I do personally believe that in-house billing can be done for better return on investment than out-sourcing. Plus any insurance questions go straight to her. And my patients like having the billing authority right on site.
