Avoid Every Hurdle to Streamlined Oncology Billing in 2024
Oncology billing requires good understanding of diagnoses & procedural codes. However, maintaining a team of skilled billers for oncology procedures has become expensive. This is because of staff shortages and rising payroll costs
Some procedures related to the urinary system and the male reproductive system, have specific billing requirements and procedural codes exclusively for oncology. Among other challenges in billing for oncology procedures, the most pressing is the burden of regulatory requirements. These requirements inflate operational costs and increase delays.
And so, in this blog, we will discuss the top billing challenges for oncologists in 2024. Additionally, we will also go over how all these challenges can be overcome with an expert oncology billing partner.
Top Oncology Billing Challenges to Avoid
Healthcare providers and patients were badly hit by the pandemic Recovery is in progress, but getting back to earlier levels will take time. Right now, providers are dealing with a host of billing problems.
Here is a list of top billing challenges in oncology:
1) Requirement for skilled & certified billing professionals
Due to the complexity of oncology billing operations, it is best to have tasks completed by certified billers. However, this is becoming ever more expensive because of staffing issues in the healthcare sector. One way to deal with this is by partnering with oncology billing services that provide experienced billers and coders.
2) Compliance & regulatory burden by payers
Most oncology services are extremely expensive, especially surgical procedures. And so, payers have strict compliance policies to prevent misuse. However, these requirements increase admin tasks and delays for providers.
3) Long wait times for authorization
Currently, the approval timeline for payers ranges from 3 days to a couple of weeks. Although laws have been passed to reduce this timeframe, changes are not expected before 2026. These authorization delays also affect the rest of the billing process for providers.
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Implement Experts’ Oncology Billing Best Practices & Maximize Revenue
Improved Provider Collections with Oncology Billing Services
Industry reports suggest that providers across all specialties lose over 20% of their revenue each year. This is understandable because clinical and non-clinical functions in healthcare delivery require very different skill sets. Large healthcare providers are able to invest in operational processes to improve their billing workflows but this is difficult for smaller practices.
Smaller providers are restricted by their budget. And so with oncology billing services, they can pass on all their admin functions including billing, coding, and payment collections, and focus on patient care. By doing this, providers can optimize expenses and maximize revenue collection.
To learn more about how our oncology billing services have helped providers reduce operational expenses by up to 80%, please contact Sunknowledge Services Inc., a trusted healthcare RCM organization, serving US providers & payers since 2007.
