Medics Billing Inc.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a partner and director of a clinic that looks after stem cell transplants. We focus on medical oncology.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Medics Billing Inc.?

The cost of managing the medical billing was quite a lot, and there were a lot of issues with recoveries. We had three people looking after finance and billing, but it was too much for us to handle.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We initially took Medics Billing on a three-month trial to see whether they could manage what we did. We just handed over one element of the billing, which wasn’t a standard practice. We negotiated that arrangement with them, and once we recognized that they could save costs and were more efficient than us, we went ahead with it.

In the beginning, they offered us the credentialing service and enrollment to bring on more payers and accept clients and patients from those insurances. Since then, they’ve basically been in charge of billing, or revenue cycle management, as we call it. We also have a lot of pending recoveries, which they’ve shown great results, so we’ve kept them continuously.

What is the team composition?

In the beginning, we spoke directly with one of the account managers and one of the billing leaders. Over time, we’ve been in touch with 5–6 people within the company and spoken to their COO.

How did you come to work with Medics Billing Inc.?

We used to get a lot of sales pitches from many medical billing companies, but we never looked at it in detail. Then, one of my partners decided to look into it. We took a pitch from three different medical billing companies and got everyone to do a small audit on our data to see if they were savvy enough to identify the issues on our billing cycles.

Medics Billing came up with the right answers. We also did a cost analysis, and that was one of our main drivers.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2019, and our relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We mainly measure performance through recovery. Our average recovery was around 78% for every billing cycle. It was a pain point for us because it hurts a lot if we don’t get at least 90% of what we’ve done. Also, the recovery period averaged around two and a half months, so it would take that time for payers to clear the remaining amount.

The monthly cycle went up to 85% in the second month of our trial period, and it has slowly increased since then. Last quarter, we looked at 92% recovery in every billing cycle.

How did Medics Billing Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re pretty good at it. If we tell them to change something, they’re able to implement the changes rapidly. We told them to shift from PDF reports to linking their results on our financial dashboard to see how well we’re performing, and they did it very quickly.

The team is good at adapting, and they deliver the KPIs. Medics Billing has their own measurement method, but they’re very transparent about it, which has helped us understand how they look at quality.

What did you find most impressive about them?

When I look at any sales pitch, I don’t want the person to be desperate. Medics Billings didn’t show desperation when they pitched to us.

Moreover, they have a good understanding of coding factors and are well aware of any regulatory changes. It seems like they often do training, and they always know what’s happening in the market. They send us a newsletter, which sometimes surprises us because we haven’t heard of any changes, and they’re on their newsletter.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They only provide the billing service, so I think they’d do much better and get more business if they had their own software. We get a lot of pitches from other companies where they offer the software and the billing is free. It’s an attractive proposition, but we don’t take it because we now have a comfortable relationship with them.

However, it would really add to their value because sometimes there are issues with data migration or the software. We have to deal with those situations because the software provider isn’t keen to speak to billing companies, which delays us a little bit.

Also, communication is sometimes delayed, which can be irritating. When we have something urgent, we get a response in 24 hours. It’s okay, but when it’s urgent, we need them to hurry up.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Try to get whatever you want from them. That’s what we did, and for example, we didn’t pay them a penny for the trial. They just made it part of the package, and it was an excellent way to test their capability.