Software Solutions/EHR

How We Avoided Revenue Loss for Our Practice

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Karley Woodrich, OD

Dec. 2, 2020

Like many other ODs, our motivation to outsource our claim filing began when my partner OD and I first started struggling with insurance claims. We needed billing help to focus our attention on our patients and successfully grow the practice. Insurance could be complicated, work intensive, and probably not the best use of our time as ODs.

The opportunity cost of our practice dealing with insurance in-house from the beginning was not worth it. Also, considering all the responsibilities involved with opening a new practice, we thought it was best to hire a company that would file our claims for us. We are confident that outsourcing was the best strategy to take.

We have been working with VisionWeb’s Revenue Cycle Management team for a while, and we value their effective and clear communication as well as their availability to take our questions and provide the guidance that we need. They have an effective approach to helping offices. With the expert knowledge of VisionWeb’s RCM team every step of the way, we have learned continuously, streamlined our claims process and increased our revenue.

Learned Billing as a New Practice
The more knowledgeable we could be as a new practice, the better off we would be long-term with billing. Choosing VisionWeb’s RCM services had a positive impact on our business strategy in a few ways. Firstly, they provided guidance and support right from the beginning of implementation. We really liked that VisionWeb allowed us to be hands-on so we could learn about the insurance process through trial and error. Their efficient workflow allowed our practice to understand areas of weakness, identify mistakes and fix our processes moving forward.

Additionally, the VisionWeb team always made themselves available, helped us with new terminology, sent us articles to further our learning and taught us some of the filing and recording tasks that would keep our reimbursements and cash flow running smoothly.

Dodged the Headaches of Denials and Rejections
Before hiring VisionWeb, we understood that we were making errors in billing. If we hadn’t changed our billing practices quickly, then we would have been experiencing more denials and rejections. Dealing with denied claims is another reason I would recommend outsourcing insurance billing. I saw how the VisionWeb team worked denied claims, and it seemed like there was another layer of complication that we wouldn’t want to address on our own. Without VisionWeb, we would have lost a lot of time, money and energy dealing with denied claims. This is where their value really kicked in for us.

Avoided Profit Loss
Outsourcing our claim filing definitely had a positive impact on our bottom line, because we would have been lost and missed out on a lot of revenue without them.

Being a two-doctor practice, if we missed $2,000 in billable revenue per month, then that would accumulate to $24,000 per year. Now, imagine increasing our patients by 50 percent in our second year and still not fixing our errors in insurance. That’s an estimated $36,000 of additional missed revenue in the second year of the practice.

Trusting VisionWeb with our billing was imperative to attaining our financial goals. They helped maximize our revenue in a short amount of time, despite us having zero experience and knowledge of insurance. We didn’t know how to read an EOB and we learned early that talking with insurance companies can be time-consuming. Also, VisionWeb allowed us to use invaluable time and energy to focus on seeing patients and optimizing other areas of our practice. We were confident our insurance needs were being met while we created efficiencies elsewhere for our practice.

Generated Long-Term ROI
Lastly, outsourcing doesn’t leave our practice beholden to one salaried employee who does all the insurance. It provides consistency and back-up to ensure a smooth workflow regardless of any employee turnover our practice might face. I strongly recommend VisionWeb’s RCM services for a practice that does not have a strong back office. For us, outsourcing pays for itself, and VisionWeb is financially incentivized to get paid the most on every claim.

Overall, we believe VisionWeb provided a healthy ROI for our practice. The claim process can be time-consuming and results from those claims can take weeks to be revealed, if claims are filed correctly. I can only imagine the revenue that would be missed from a broken process accumulated across months or years.

If you want to see how VisionWeb’s RCM team works, and schedule a call to talk about your practice’s billing needs, follow this link.

Karley Woodrich, OD, is a partner with Wentz and Woodrich Eyecare in Lubbock, Texas. To contact her: wweyecare2020@gmail.com 

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