As a psychiatrist or mental nurse practitioner in private practice – especially if you’re just starting out, trying to keep overhead low – it’s tempting to handle your own billing. After all, how hard can it be to submit a few insurance claims, right?
It’s true, submitting claims isn’t rocket science, but managing the billing is more than just submitting claims. The reality is: DIY billing often costs you more than it saves. Not just in dollars, but in time, stress, and missed growth opportunities.
Here’s what most providers don’t realize until they’re in too deep:
1. You’re Leaving Money on the Table
Money. Most providers didn’t get into psychiatry to make a ton of money. But your private practice does need to generate revenue, enough to pay your overhead, your taxes, and of course you.
When you do your own insurance billing you have to learn how, when, and where to submit claims. But your work isn’t necessarily done after claims are submitted. Some claims will be denied, rejected, or underpaid, all affecting your cash flow and revenue. Many DIYers…
- Leave money on the table by under-coding, missing add-on codes, or filing claims past the timely filing window.
- Delay revenue by using incorrect modifiers.
- Don’t notice when payers underpay.
- Give up on denied claims that could have been recovered.
If you fail to review your EOBs closely or stay on top of payer trends, you could miss out on thousands per year. A good biller takes most of these tasks off your plate. They understand that your revenue is in their hands and can help you succeed by billing cleanly, consistently, and timely.
2. You Don’t Get the Time Back
Time. Insurance billing can steal more time than you may have budgeted for. For your psychiatry practice to avoid leaving too much money on the table (see #1 above) you’ll need to…
- Check benefits to know what you should get paid.
- Create and submit claims.
- Review EOBs to identify processing errors/denials/rejections.
- Correct and resend claims as needed.
- Call insurance companies to challenge processing errors (and repeat until resolved).
Billing takes time. Fixing your mistakes takes time. Troubleshooting payer mistakes takes time. Denials take time. And calling insurance companies? That’s practically a part-time (unpleasant) job.
If you’re spending a meager 5 hours a week on those billing tasks, you’re not only cutting into patient hours – you’re cutting into admin, personal or family time, too. At a $200 minimum per session (for MDs and NPs) that’s $1000 you could have been paid for the time you spent. If a good biller had taken those tasks off your plate for 5-10% of the revenue, you would have paid them $50-100 to earn that $1000. Or instead of working, you could have spent those 5 hours on something much more satisfying than billing.
3. You’re Back to the Burnout
Health. If you’re like most psychiatrists and mental health nurse practitioners, a big reason you’re starting a private practice is because you’ve been pushed to burnout in other settings. Though it may be a different flavor, doing your own billing can bring you right back to the edge of burnout due to being…
- Stressed about the learning curve to manage the billing efficiently.
- Overwhelmed by creating effective processes & workflow.
- Anxious about cash flow and revenue.
- Disheartened by incompetence from payer representatives.
- Frustrated by so little to show for the time spent.
A good billing service has the processes and workflows in place to shield you from the vast majority of payer shenanigans. They submit claims regularly to help you maintain smooth cash flow and help identify ways to increase revenue.
4. You Can’t Grow
Sustainability. Handling your own billing because you have more time than money, may seem like a good way to get your practice started, but keep in mind, you could be setting yourself up for a vicious cycle. If you plan to grow your practice, it will be hard to do so with the extra administrative work of insurance billing. As your client load increases, so will the time you need to budget for billing. This can hamper your ability to…
- Hire associate clinicians
- Launch new services or programs
- Explore new modalities
- Take care of yourself
As a psychiatrist or mental health nurse practitioner in private practice, aim to build something sustainable. If you want to grow – whatever that means to you – you need to offload the stuff that bogs you down. Billing is easily at the top of that list. When billing is off your plate, you free up time and energy to focus on the growth – and health – of you and your practice.
Final Thoughts
A good billing company doesn’t just submit claims; they can help increase your revenue, catch mistakes, follow up on aging claims, and give you peace of mind. It’s an investment with a return that can pay for itself many times over.
Letting go doesn’t mean losing control. It means reclaiming your time, maximizing your revenue, and building a sustainable practice.
Ready to outsource your billing? At MindEase Billing, we specialize in working with psychiatrists and mental health nurse practitioners in solo private practice. Whether you’re just starting out or need to stabilize your mature practice, we’d love to hear from you. To see if we might be a good fit, click the “Request A Discovery Call” button below. To learn more about MindEase head over to our Services page.