What are bureau services & how can they benefit your practice?

As a private practitioner, managing practice admin, finances & patient care can be overwhelming. Especially if you don’t have the support of staff who can help you with the day-to-day running of your practice. If you’re running your business solo or you need additional capacity to operate your practice, bureau services are a viable option to help you manage your billing & collections processes efficiently.

In this blog, we’ll discuss what bureau services are & the benefits of using them.

What are bureau services?

Bureau services offer administrative support services designed to help medical practices manage their billing & collections processes. These services can assist medical practices with a range of tasks such as claims submissions and to follow-up on outstanding payments.

If you’re inundated with admin, or struggling to collect payments in a timely manner, read on to find out how bureau services can improve the financial health of your practice.

The benefits of using bureau services

Here are some of the primary benefits of using a bureau service to help you manage patient billing & collections:

Billing expertise: Bureau services have the expertise to understand medical aid pricing & billing. This can ensure that claims are submitted at the correct rates, reducing the risk of undercharging for services. Bureau services also ensure that:

claims are submitted quickly,
reduce the risk of rejected claims, &
that you are reimbursed correctly for services rendered.

Verification of patient eligibility: Between seeing patients & running your business, bureau services can verify patient eligibility with medical aid schemes before their appointment. This is a proactive way to ensure that patients have medical aid funds available & that you will receive payment for services rendered.

Follow-up on outstanding payments: Bureau services can help you get paid in a timely manner & reduce the risk of bad debt. While the right medical billing software can help you do this too, you may not be in the position to invest in your practice with technology right away. The right bureau service, however, is already using advanced technology to follow up on outstanding payments quickly & efficiently. They are responsible for sending patient reminders & reconciling remittance advice – huge time savers if you’re already stretched.

Reporting & analysis: Bureau services can provide operational, financial, & business performance reports. This can help you keep track of your practice’s performance. You can also use the reports to identify areas where you can improve your billing processes & reduce bad debt.

Electronic clinical notes: Using sophisticated bureau services can offer you access to electronic clinical notes that are securely stored in the cloud. This means you can access patient information quickly & easily, from any location & internet-enabled device. This not only gives you flexibility, but it also reduces the risks & inefficiencies of using paper-based patient records.

For guidelines to help you know whether to opt for bureau services or handling patient collections internally, click here.

If you are ready to streamline your business & improve your practice’s financial health, contact Healthbridge for more about Healthbridge Bureau services. With more than 20 years’ experience in claims switching & as the leading provider of medical billing & practice management software, Healthbridge is the technology partner of choice for almost 7 000 private practices. Get in touch today on bureau.sales@healthbridge.co.za or sales@healthbridge.co.za to schedule a no-obligation practice assessment & find out how Healthbridge can help you run a successful practice.