Solving the Staffing Crisis in HME Billing

The Current State of HME billing

Even as the dust continues to settle in the wake of our fight with the COVID-19 outbreak, HME providers across the U.S. are faced with a new challenge. The pandemic has caused a severe dishevel in the lives of many, leading to millions leaving their jobs, changing their professions or going into early retirement. All this, along with other socio-economic factors, has resulted in an acute shortage of skilled professionals in the job market. In the realm of HME billing, a severe shortage of skilled billers and coders is being noticed. Many erstwhile medical billers and coders are unwilling to return to their old jobs on the old pay, or have simply been away from their profession for too long to feel confident about being able to handle all the latest changes in payer norms and regulations.

The crux of the matter is, skilled and competent revenue cycle management personnel have seldom been more difficult to find than now. With the proposed rise of minimum wages, maintaining a billing staff is set to become more expensive for every healthcare provider. It is no different in the case of HME billing, as providers are seriously worried about sustaining their billing operations without burning a hole in their pockets.

The Light at The End of The Tunnel

Even as the situation looks bleak enough, a ray of hope is seen in engaging billing support on a contractual basis. The main advantage of such a strategy is that it allows HME providers to quickly engage professional support from offshore medical billing companies, at prices that are dramatically lower than the local job market. Besides this, it saves the trouble of having to hunt for the right people to handle billing tasks as providers get instant access to hundreds of fully-trained billers, coders and other revenue cycle management personnel, all of them ready to start working at the drop of the hat.

The story does not end here. The cost advantage and the quick access to trained resources are not the only benefits that providers enjoy when they engage such external help. The dedicated support, streamlined operations and a highly efficient workflow lead to an overall improvement of the provider’s revenue cycle. Denials get noticeably reduced, collections increase and more bills get passed than before – these are just some of the extra benefits that providers find coming their way within weeks of starting to work.