Billing in medical practices: advantages and disadvantages at a glance
Which billing method should I choose as a physician? We explain which billing methods you can choose from in your medical practice and present the respective advantages and disadvantages for you and your patients.
The most important answers to billing in medical practices at a glance:
Es kann zwischen internem Honorarmanagement und der Vorfinanzierung durch eine Abrechnungsstelle unterschieden werden. Bei letzterer Art gibt zusätzlich Unterschiede zwischen echtem und unechtem Factoring sowie zwischen stillem und offenem Factoring.
Beim echten Factoring übernimmt der Dienstleister für Sie das Risiko des Zahlungsausfalls. Beim unechten Factoring liegt das Risiko des Zahlungsausfalls bei Ihnen.
Bei der internen Abrechnung ist es von Vorteil, dass Ihre Patienten ausschließlich von Ihnen bzw. von Ihrem Praxispersonal betreut werden. Ein großer Nachteil dieser Methode ist jedoch, dass Ihre MFAs und ZFAs viel Zeit mit der Abrechnung verbringen. Bei der externen Abrechnung ist die Zeitersparnis für Ihr Personal sowie die Risikoabtretung ein großer Vorteil. Allerdings kann es hierbei zu Verunsicherungen beim Patienten kommen, wenn er die Rechnung von einer unbekannten Firma erhält.
Bureaucratic red tape is one of the biggest challenges for physicians today in running their practices - especially the complex financial management often causes headaches. In this article, we would like to offer you helpful insights and possible solutions to simplify the billing process in your medical practice and make it more efficient.
What are the billing options for a medical practice?
The options for financial billing of patients are diverse and sometimes incomprehensible. Therefore, we briefly summarize the most common billing models for you here:
Option 1: Internal fee management
In many medical practices, billing is handled by medical professionals. With this method, it is up to the practice to handle all billing tasks independently - from invoicing to dunning to collections. However, practices often lack specially employed staff dedicated exclusively to this task. For this reason, medical assistants (MFAs), dental assistants (ZFAs) or practice managers also take on responsibility for billing tasks in addition to their regular duties, such as patient care, laboratory tests and assisting with treatments.
Option 2: Pre-financing by settlement agent
If you cannot take care of your billing yourself or your practice staff is already working at full capacity, it is possible to outsource your billing. This can be done, for example, by billing service providers to whom you can sell your receivables. In this case, you submit your patients' invoices to the billing service provider, who pays you the invoice amount immediately, minus a fee. Your patient does not settle the bill until the regular payment period has expired, usually after 30 days.
Genuine and non-genuine factoring
In this external form of settlement, a basic distinction is made between genuine and non-genuine factoring.
With true factoring, the service provider assumes the risk of non-payment on your behalf. Example: If your patient does not pay the invoice after the payment deadline, this is not your problem. After all, the invoicing party "owns" the invoice and now has to take care of collecting the outstanding amount himself.
In the case of non-genuine factoring, the invoice amount is also paid to you immediately. However, if your patient does not pay after the payment deadline, the billing service provider can reclaim the invoice amount already paid to you. The risk of non-payment with non-genuine factoring therefore lies with you.
Silent factoring and open factoring
In addition, there is a difference between undisclosed and open factoring when it comes to prefinancing through a settlement agent.
With silent factoring, your patient does not learn that you have sold the invoice to a service provider. As a rule, silent factoring is more expensive than open factoring because the service provider cannot perform a credit check on the patient.
With open factoring, your patient learns that you have assigned the invoice to a service provider. He receives an invoice from a factoring company and not from your practice. Open factoring is the most widely used form of external billing in German medical practices.
What type of billing should I use in my medical practice?
Which billing method is best for you cannot be answered in a blanket way. It rather depends on which aspects you attach the most importance to: How much time do you want to save? And how much risk do you want to pass on? To make your choice a little easier, Nelly has summarized the advantages and disadvantages of internal and external billing for you:
Advantages and disadvantages of internal billing
With internal billing, it is advantageous that your patients continue to be cared for directly by you or your practice staff seamlessly after treatment. Your doctor-patient relationship can thus be strengthened in the long term. In addition, the contact person for any questions about an invoice continues to be someone they know personally.
However, a major disadvantage of this method is that your MFAs and ZFAs spend a lot of time billing. In addition, they may have to take continuing education and training courses for billing. This can further increase the already high workload and stress level of your practice staff.
Advantages and disadvantages of external billing
The time saved for your staff is a major advantage of external billing. Your MFA or ZFA does not have to do the billing themselves and does not need any special training. In addition, you can pass on the risk of non-payment with genuine factoring and are immediately liquid - even without waiting for the patient's payment to be received.
However, there are also disadvantages with this billing method: For example, open factoring can cause initial uncertainty for the patient. After all, they are receiving an invoice from a company they don't know. In addition, the service providers sometimes quickly charge high reminder fees, up to and including collection. If the patient does not receive the invoice on time, for example due to a move, this can quickly become very expensive.
Additionally, there are privacy-related hurdles. Keep in mind that you must ask your patients for consent to transfer their data to the factoring service provider.
The solution: billing and factoring with Nelly
We would like to introduce you to yet another option that balances the aforementioned advantages and disadvantages of the billing methods: With Nelly, you can outsource billing, and thus time, stress and risk, without having to forego the advantages of internal billing. Because Nelly offers digital invoicing and factoring from a single source.
If you use Nelly in your practice, your patients already know the name from the digital medical history and document management. This means that patients are not confused when they receive an invoice from Nelly. You don't have to irritate them with invoices from third-party factoring companies.
This is how billing works with Nelly
With Nelly, you can easily send your patients digital invoices, which they can pay by direct debit, instant bank transfer or credit card. The invoices do not have to be sent by post, which saves medical staff a lot of time and manual effort. The payment process is so simple and self-explanatory that no advanced training or education of your practice staff is required. It also reduces your medical practice's paper, postage and printing costs.
Nelly offers both real and non-real factoring. In addition, Nelly is the first provider in the DACH region that can develop factoring completely digitally (after a one-time wet signature in practice). Interested? We advise you without obligation and free of charge on your individual case!
The personal designations used in this article always refer equally to all persons. For the sake of better readability, we do not use the same name twice or in the opposite gender.
Bureaucratic red tape is one of the biggest challenges for physicians today in running their practices - especially the complex financial management often causes headaches. In this article, we would like to offer you helpful insights and possible solutions to simplify the billing process in your medical practice and make it more efficient.
What are the billing options for a medical practice?
The options for financial billing of patients are diverse and sometimes incomprehensible. Therefore, we briefly summarize the most common billing models for you here:
Option 1: Internal fee management
In many medical practices, billing is handled by medical professionals. With this method, it is up to the practice to handle all billing tasks independently - from invoicing to dunning to collections. However, practices often lack specially employed staff dedicated exclusively to this task. For this reason, medical assistants (MFAs), dental assistants (ZFAs) or practice managers also take on responsibility for billing tasks in addition to their regular duties, such as patient care, laboratory tests and assisting with treatments.
Option 2: Pre-financing by settlement agent
If you cannot take care of your billing yourself or your practice staff is already working at full capacity, it is possible to outsource your billing. This can be done, for example, by billing service providers to whom you can sell your receivables. In this case, you submit your patients' invoices to the billing service provider, who pays you the invoice amount immediately, minus a fee. Your patient does not settle the bill until the regular payment period has expired, usually after 30 days.
Genuine and non-genuine factoring
In this external form of settlement, a basic distinction is made between genuine and non-genuine factoring.
With true factoring, the service provider assumes the risk of non-payment on your behalf. Example: If your patient does not pay the invoice after the payment deadline, this is not your problem. After all, the invoicing party "owns" the invoice and now has to take care of collecting the outstanding amount himself.
In the case of non-genuine factoring, the invoice amount is also paid to you immediately. However, if your patient does not pay after the payment deadline, the billing service provider can reclaim the invoice amount already paid to you. The risk of non-payment with non-genuine factoring therefore lies with you.
Silent factoring and open factoring
In addition, there is a difference between undisclosed and open factoring when it comes to prefinancing through a settlement agent.
With silent factoring, your patient does not learn that you have sold the invoice to a service provider. As a rule, silent factoring is more expensive than open factoring because the service provider cannot perform a credit check on the patient.
With open factoring, your patient learns that you have assigned the invoice to a service provider. He receives an invoice from a factoring company and not from your practice. Open factoring is the most widely used form of external billing in German medical practices.
What type of billing should I use in my medical practice?
Which billing method is best for you cannot be answered in a blanket way. It rather depends on which aspects you attach the most importance to: How much time do you want to save? And how much risk do you want to pass on? To make your choice a little easier, Nelly has summarized the advantages and disadvantages of internal and external billing for you:
Advantages and disadvantages of internal billing
With internal billing, it is advantageous that your patients continue to be cared for directly by you or your practice staff seamlessly after treatment. Your doctor-patient relationship can thus be strengthened in the long term. In addition, the contact person for any questions about an invoice continues to be someone they know personally.
However, a major disadvantage of this method is that your MFAs and ZFAs spend a lot of time billing. In addition, they may have to take continuing education and training courses for billing. This can further increase the already high workload and stress level of your practice staff.
Advantages and disadvantages of external billing
The time saved for your staff is a major advantage of external billing. Your MFA or ZFA does not have to do the billing themselves and does not need any special training. In addition, you can pass on the risk of non-payment with genuine factoring and are immediately liquid - even without waiting for the patient's payment to be received.
However, there are also disadvantages with this billing method: For example, open factoring can cause initial uncertainty for the patient. After all, they are receiving an invoice from a company they don't know. In addition, the service providers sometimes quickly charge high reminder fees, up to and including collection. If the patient does not receive the invoice on time, for example due to a move, this can quickly become very expensive.
Additionally, there are privacy-related hurdles. Keep in mind that you must ask your patients for consent to transfer their data to the factoring service provider.
The solution: billing and factoring with Nelly
We would like to introduce you to yet another option that balances the aforementioned advantages and disadvantages of the billing methods: With Nelly, you can outsource billing, and thus time, stress and risk, without having to forego the advantages of internal billing. Because Nelly offers digital invoicing and factoring from a single source.
If you use Nelly in your practice, your patients already know the name from the digital medical history and document management. This means that patients are not confused when they receive an invoice from Nelly. You don't have to irritate them with invoices from third-party factoring companies.
This is how billing works with Nelly
With Nelly, you can easily send your patients digital invoices, which they can pay by direct debit, instant bank transfer or credit card. The invoices do not have to be sent by post, which saves medical staff a lot of time and manual effort. The payment process is so simple and self-explanatory that no advanced training or education of your practice staff is required. It also reduces your medical practice's paper, postage and printing costs.
Nelly offers both real and non-real factoring. In addition, Nelly is the first provider in the DACH region that can develop factoring completely digitally (after a one-time wet signature in practice). Interested? We advise you without obligation and free of charge on your individual case!
The personal designations used in this article always refer equally to all persons. For the sake of better readability, we do not use the same name twice or in the opposite gender.
Melanie Schröder
Author
Request our info sheet now free of charge.
No app or tablets. No printing, filing or scanning. Setup and updates free of charge. Get a consultation now.
