Do Providers get Paid what they Deserve?

Posted by mgsionline on April 30th, 2013

The existing and recently-proposed healthcare reforms have been beneficial to the patient population of the US. However, what changes have they brought to Healthcare Providers? The answer is quite disappointing. There have been a lot of payment-cut proposals - some of which have already taken effect, affecting Providers’ income. The current scenario is -  Healthcare Providers and Facilities do not get paid what they actually deserve despite rendering exceptional services to their patients. It is best justified by the below explained aspects,

The SGR – A Castle in the Sky: SGR is a formula that controls Providers’ payments based on the estimated change in GDP and expenditures during the fiscal year. It has become a yearly event, but never taken effect in the past decade. The current statistics state that if SGR takes effect, it would slash Medicare payments by 26.5%, making the lives of providers miserable. The best solution to keep the revenue growth stable despite this payment-cut proposal is to outsource medical billing and collections to a renowned billing company. HHS Sequestration Cut: While the SGR proposal stresses out Healthcare Providers each and every year, the HHS Sequestration cut of 2% has already taken effect from April 1, 2013. This 2% reduction has piled-up on the burgeoning overhead expenses involved in technology up-gradation, employee hiring and training. It can be better overcome by outsourcing physician billing services to a medical billing company.

PQRS reporting:  Starting this year, not reporting PQRS in a proper format would also entail a 1.5% cut in 2015. This is in addition to the above HHS Sequestration and the ever looming SGR rate cuts! Can physicians who have in-house Provider billing conform to these reporting measures?  An outsourced medical billing and collections company would be more adept at providing the reports needed for PQRS.

Healthcare Crisis: If Medicare payment cuts continue, then the healthcare domain will face a huge crisis. As Healthcare Providers don’t get paid what they deserve, the commitment towards their career diminishes gradually. In the near future, most of them will find Medicine a less preferred choice of career. It is the main reason that many medical billing companies came into existence to provide a better and more economical way to perform the outsourced medical billing activities. From carrying out medical billing and collections to cleaning up accumulated medical AR, they perform everything at a low cost to keep Provider’s cash flow steady.  

About MGSI:

A good medical billing and collections company must provide all the above mentioned benefits apart from providing the best services! MGSI, a company with 20 years of service based in Tampa, Florida, is one such company that renders high-quality physician billing services to its clients.