Starting a Medical Billing Business > Starting Your Own Medical Billing Business

OB & GYN

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PMRNC:
Here's what I do when I have a potential client. Once I have a signed BA, I give them a list of reports I need. (depends on what they want done). So for example if I was going to only clean up A/R and do patient collections I would want a few DIFFERENT types of aging reports. I would want a patient aging (patient only balance and then another report of insurance aging and claims report of all claims submitted, pending, etc. If doing followup only I usually like to have that report BY carrier (detail claims summary).   Once I have all those reports I can then figure out time needed and go from there. I NEVER ever quote any pricing to any client w/out looking at what I'm getting into <g>.  Keep in mind that if you are not doing current claim submissions, you have more of an incentive to do a good job and get that service. Another reason you want to know what your looking at ahead of time is so that you can do your contract accordingly as well.

Good opportunity :)

Christy:
Why not just bill an hourly rate? It's a win/win situation- you get paid for all of the work that you do and the doctor only pays for the services that she needs.

I bill all of my clients hourly. They are all small, independent practices with fluctuating patient populations. I charge $25-$30 per hour and I find that it's often equivalent to 8% of practice revenue or $3-$4 per claim, which is pretty standard in our industry.

I use Practice Mate PM which is free, or I use the client's software. My overhead is quite minimal- postage, ink, paper, fax....

Merry:
You should take into consideration that OB care is usually billed as a global fee when the newborn is delivered so if you bill a % of collections you would not get that far for a while.  Generally OB care is not billed for each visit  unless there are tests that are not included in the global fee.

PMRNC:

--- Quote ---Why not just bill an hourly rate? It's a win/win situation- you get paid for all of the work that you do and the doctor only pays for the services that she needs.

I bill all of my clients hourly. They are all small, independent practices with fluctuating patient populations. I charge $25-$30 per hour and I find that it's often equivalent to 8% of practice revenue or $3-$4 per claim, which is pretty standard in our industry.

I use Practice Mate PM which is free, or I use the client's software. My overhead is quite minimal- postage, ink, paper, fax....
--- End quote ---

This is not necessarily a bad idea/concept, however from a marketing standpoint it can be discouraging.. physicians see that $25-$30 per hour and may immediately dismiss interest in you as a company.. they maintain the quick thought of $10-$15 "in-house". Now of course we know $25-$30 an hour is still making out because of the other savings a practice will see, however you may not get the chance to explain that.. that's why my flat fee is BASED on an hourly rate but the hourly rate is not disclosed. For example, I might quote a price of $1300 a month that might be based on $30 an hour and I build costs into it.

Another reason I don't like to do "hourly" is because when a practice outsources, they should expect to receive services that are a "part of doing business". You can't build other costs into an hourly labor charge to appeal to a physician.

Costs associated with doing business include such things as books, attorney, educational items, seminars, classes/courses, etc.   If I charge an HOURLY labor rate, again the provider is going to assume that's high.. and right off the bat they are  put off. If you build a flat fee with sliding scale to account for practice growth you get your hourly rate you want and provider isn't put off by the numbers.

Christy:
 I have never had anyone question the hourly rate. I deal with very small offices, most of whom have varying amounts of patients/billing from month to month, so flat rate would never work for them. The providers' incomes fluctuate from month to month, and my fee ends up going up or down with along with their income.

In the case of the original poster, I don't see how she could calculate a flat rate with what's being requested.

I do see your point and agree about flat fee for larger practices. I have found a niche group in my area, acupuncturists, chiropractors and behavioral health- most of whom tried to do their own billing before hiring me. Any one practice can average between 4-12 hours per month depending in their patient flow in that month.

My hourly rate has my (very very minimal) costs built in.

Lawyers charge hourly rates, why can't we sometimes?

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