How to Choose the Right Medical Coding Services?

You may have observed that the entire healthcare industry has a major staffing shortage. Today, many hospitals, clinics as well as medical practices find it challenging to streamline the coding process due to the limited availability of trained professionals. But why is that? You have heard the term “Great Resignation,” right? It occurred in 2022 when millions of US employees across different industries resigned from their jobs. Though the exact phase is over, the effect is still not gone totally. That’s why the US is still suffering from a staffing shortage.  

The global medical coding market is expected to grow to $55.14 billion by 2034. However, there are several factors that drive the growth. These include an aging population and the increasing digitization of healthcare records. However, though the medical coding market is increasing, how can healthcare providers find coding experts to reduce all coding inaccuracies as there are very few of them?   

The solution is to outsource the medical coding services that have dedicated experts who properly code each treatment procedure, equipment, and test results. Hence, as the experts take care of the coding process, the healthcare staff can invest ample time in patient care. But do you know that most of the providers struggle to find the right coding service for their healthcare? This is because they don’t know what factors to look at before choosing the right coding service for their clinic. So, let’s jump to the factors.  

Factors to Consider Before Choosing Medical Coding Services

• Experience and Reviews: As the coding regulations are constantly changing, it becomes difficult for healthcare staff to comply with the updated regulations as they have other important tasks to do. That’s when the providers need the help of either the in-house coding team or an outsourced coding service. However, the in-house coding experts come at a high cost. It is because you need to train them and give them employee benefits. However, the experienced third-party coding service comes at a much lower cost than the in-house coding team. The reason is that the coding experts have in-depth knowledge of all the CPT, ICD, and HCPCS codes, so there is no need to train them. Moreover, the experts keep themselves updated about the ever-changing coding regulations. So, before hiring any coding service, check their experience and reviews.  

• Getting help with prior authorization: Prior authorization is a very complex process to manage, and it takes a lot of time. You need experts to properly code each treatment procedure, equipment, disease, and test results to make an accurate claim. But if the healthcare staff spend most of their time coding each process, then they may not have the time to improve patient care. That's where the medical coding services come into the picture. Their experienced coders know all the specific codes needed to streamline the claim submission process. So, before hiring any coding service, check if they help with prior authorization or not.  

• Providing dedicated service: As the healthcare resources perform almost all the operations, that’s why it becomes difficult for them to focus on patient care as the coding process consumes a lot of time. That’s where the medical coding services come into the picture. They provide dedicated experts who take care of all your coding-related operations. Hence, by handling the coding operations, these experts save the healthcare staff ample time to focus on patient care. So, check if the services provide dedicated service or not.  

Final Thoughts  

Managing the complexities of coding is very time-consuming for the providers. Hence, to solve these coding intricacies, medical coding services come with experienced experts. These experts stay updated with all the coding regulations, and they know all the specific codes to streamline prior authorization. Moreover, they have knowledge of working with your clinic’s Electronic Health Record. So, if you want to streamline your coding operations, you may consider outsourcing a coding service.