Medical Billing Software

The aim of medical billing is to eliminate all the hassles that health care facilities like hospitals, clinics, and dispensaries generally face while settling payments with patients and insurance companies. Though the medical billing system has laid the groundwork for restructuring the health care payment system, the traditional approach was not always accurate and prone to errors like duplicate charges or billing the wrong patient. To overcome the drawbacks of the manual method and find the balance between their administrative work and medical practice, health care professionals required a reliable solution. It is where technology such as medical billing software came to their rescue. 

Medical billing software ensures that the practitioner conducts their regular duties effortlessly, while all the administrative work runs behind the background with their least involvement. Compared to traditional manual billing systems, modern billing solutions require a minimum amount of time for insurance reimbursements. However, selecting the best medical billing software could be as critical as the medical billing process and needs a thorough analysis.  The users can choose either on-premise or online medical billing software.

Medical billing is a process that health-care professionals use to create and submit the claim with insurance companies in order to receive payment for their rendered services. Various people involved in medical billing are providers (doctors), insurance companies, medical billers, and coders.   

In case the medical claim gets rejected, the claim is returned to the physician or clinic to rectify the error and resubmit the claim. The medical billing benefits are endless if all the activities are well managed and performed in order. However, there are few challenges in the manual medical billing process that can slow down the billing process or prevent health-care professionals from delivering better patient care.

• Billing errors: Manual medical billing is prone to human errors like entering incorrect patient details, duplicate records, misplacing documents, charging twice for the same treatment, etc.
• Higher claim denial: The insurance claim process requires a lot of details to correctly pay for the patient’s treatment. In the manual process, it often happens that the biller submits the claim with incorrect information or codes which results in denial of claims.   
• Slower billing process:  Manual medical billing does not have a centralized system to access or update patients or claim information; fetching accurate information residing in the various departments can consume a lot of time and delay in the billing process.   
• Provider/Doctors unavailability:  For an error-free medical billing process, it is necessary that there is a communication channel that gives flexibility to communicate, even when the doctor is not at his desk. But with the traditional approach, this is not possible. It can be a big obstacle for the claim processing.
• Unable to track performances: Since medical billing involves monetary transactions, it is necessary the transparency is maintained while processing bills.  All the processes should be tracked and ensure there is no error in transactions. But despite all precautions, with the manual process, it is difficult to achieve 100% accuracy and gain complete control of the billing process.
• Patient registration and appointment scheduling:  Scheduling patient information and registering patients manually is a time-consuming process.  Also, the error of duplicate entry or recording wrong information always remains high during the manual medical billing process.

Medical billing software is a tool used by health-care professionals to automate the medical billing process. The medical billing software has wide applications; the use of the tool could be as simple as generating bills or as complex as processing the medical claim.

Besides basic functions, the majority of medical billing solutions are designed to streamline the medical claim process. It helps doctors to submit claims to insurance companies effectively and receive payment in a timely manner. By processing claims electronically, the provider can optimize their working efficiency, revenue, and patient experience. 

With so many patients having different insurance companies, it becomes difficult for physicians to manage all the claims. On top of that, various diagnosis codes for the different patients can create confusion. The top medical billing software enables physicians to track and retrieve any claim information within a second. Without medical billing software, health care professionals find the medical billing process so complicated and frustrating that some even prefer outsourcing their services to a third-party vendor.

The clinic billing software helps clinics and health care practitioners to implement efficient workflow in their facility. It takes away all the burden of manual tasks and gives free time to focus on patient diagnosis and treatment.

• Hospitals and clinics
• Health-care professionals
• Medical billing service provider
• Front desk staff and office managers
• Insurance companies

• Securely storing confidential information: Patients' health condition is a personal matter, and the patient may not like disclosing with others, even by error. Medical billing software ensures that a patient's record is stored securely and accessed only by an authorized person.
• Easy claim processing and tracking: Medical billing software linked with insurance companies can make easy claim processing and tracking.
• Fast billing and payment: The e-payment trend has influenced most sectors, and the health-care industry is no different. The e-payment takes away all the hassle of carrying hard cash during an emergency and gives the flexibility to pay the medical bills anytime from anywhere.
• Real-time reporting: The real-time reporting in clinic billing software helps users to get a complete overview of the crucial metrics and identify the ways to improve the patient experience.
• Easy management of patient records: With medical billing software, it becomes easy to enroll patients and manage their documents.  Not just manage their records, but it can even help to retrieve the patient’s previous prescription and lab reports easily.   
• Coding diagnosis: Some billing software are configured as per the government rules and policies. In some places, medical billing software is used to transcribe health conditions into codes.  These codes are used by a medical biller to perform charge validation and generate a bill. The bill is then sent to the payer.
• Minimum billing error: With all the transaction records available in the system, the users can minimize the billing error.
• Automation: The billing software enables to automate a process like patient's pre-authorization and training of new employees.  Besides that, chatbots can be used to answer the patient's common queries without any human assistance.  
• Unified workflow: Medical billing software brings everything under one roof, from managing patient records to processing claims for patients. The top medical billing software allows users to maintain uniform records across the entire department and gives easy access to the patient record.
• Better communication:  The patient and doctors can communicate efficiently through the software.  The doctors can send and receive the message if there is a change in the appointment schedule or medication. It also has an interacting dashboard that displays workflows, priorities, and alerts.
• Timely reimbursement: Medical billing software can speed up the insurance process and submit the claims in high volume, eventually, which helps the billers to get a timely reimbursement.  Also, with the use of software, the ratio of claim denial could be minimized.
• Patient satisfaction: The most popular medical billing software can fast-track the patient pre-registration process and gives a clear estimation of the payment part. It facilitates the smooth transition of medical service from start-to-end and gives the patient a sense of satisfaction.
• Track financial health: The clinic billing software with advanced reporting features can allow health facilities to check financial health.
• Cloud computing: There are medical billing system software that operates on the cloud and eliminates the need to maintain expensive hardware.  With the online medical billing software, the users can omit all the technical issues generally faced with the on-premise software.   

• Medical claim processing
• Billing and collection ( bill generation, batch payments, payment reminders, etc.)
• Transparent processing of payment
• View payer list ( Insurance companies) 
• Automated coding and claim resubmission
• Patient pre-registration
• View claim status
• Store patient information ( patient allergy lists, medication lists, patient portal, etc.)
• Reporting and analytics
• User-friendly interface
• e-payment/ credit card payments
• Document management
• Lab integration
• Appointment scheduling
• Medical chart reporting
• Invoice templates
• Financial management 
• Workflow management
• Direct messaging

• Transparency: The best medical billing software should be capable of delivering accurate and timely reports. There is a long list of medical billing software, and before choosing the software, the users should verify the transparency level of the tool.
• Seamless integration: The top medical billing software should easily integrate with the existing infrastructure and work in tandem with other software.
• Security and compliance: The software should be compliant with local rules and regulations. It should have proper security features to protect the software from hackers and malware.
• Support for mobile devices: The medical billing software companies with mobile app support have a great value in terms of software usability and comfort.  It gives patients the flexibility to view and access health care facilities from anywhere. They can book an appointment with the doctors or can send lab reports on the fly.
• Secure messaging system: Some medical billing system software allows the patient to send a message to their physician from the platform itself. Make sure the messaging system follows a secure messaging protocol to send or receive the message.
• Efficient document management: Medical billing means a lot of documents – patient’s record, invoices, insurance renewal or denial, multiple claim process, lab reports, prescriptions, etc. With so many documents to handle, it is essential that while scanning the medical billing software list, the users also check the document management feature in the software.
• Online claim submission: The medical billing system software should allow health care organizations or billers to submit the claims electronically.  It facilitates faster payment and responds quickly to any disputed claim amount.
• Analytics and reports: Reports and analytics is an important feature in top medical billing software to track the performance of the billing cycle. The user can inspect reports on various parameters like denial of claims, revenue generated, patient treatment, etc. The users should filter the list of medical billing software on its efficiency to present and analyze data on various parameters.
• Automation: Automation is the key to improve performance and reduce operational costs. If the medical billing software has an automation feature, it would be an added advantage.
• Staff training: The hospitals and clinics can take complete advantage of the medical billing software if the staff have a thorough knowledge of the software functions. It is always recommended to verify with the software vendor whether they provide any sort of software training program and what type of training they provide.

These tips can help users to choose the best medical billing software. Still, in case if users want to fast-track their software selection process, they can always consider some of the most popular medical billing software solutions.

• Stay vigilant on new updates: To avoid errors during a billing process, the billers need to be vigilant on revised guidelines and new updates on the diagnosis code.
• Verify patient information: Patient information like age, name, last name, is very critical in claim processing; even a small error in name or mismatch information can lead to claim denial.  It is always advisable to verify the patient information during patient registration.
• Use best medical billing software: With medical billing software, the health care organization and doctors can not only save time behind performing tedious tasks but also accelerate the reimbursements process.  By choosing the best medical billing software, the health professionals can keep their practice unit efficient and profitable.  The software allows health care professionals to have a clear view of the transaction details. It clearly defines the patient liability (payment part) from the insured sum paid by the insurance companies.
• Efficient communication: Efficient communication is the key to deliver seamless health services.  The health care organization, insurance companies, and patients should communicate through a common channel to avoid miscommunication and confusion over the payment. There should be clarity on the patient payment part from the insured sum paid by the insurance companies.
• Promptly handle denied claims:  A rejected claim can be corrected and resubmitted without taking much time, but a denied claim may require a re-appeal before re-submission. It is a good practice to attend the denied claim and resolve the issue as early as possible. The health care organization can use billing software to track the denials.
• Important metrics to watch: The health organization can keep track of important metrics like collections per visit, net collection rate, gross collection rate, contractual variance, etc. Besides that, the health care institute can keep track of the outstanding amount to determine the effectiveness of the collection procedure.  They can also perform a periodic audit of accounts and check things like time duration between the date of service and date of charge entry. 
• Educate patients about benefits:  It is a good practice to educate patients about the benefits and notify patients about their financial responsibilities. On a regular basis, clinics and hospitals should conduct informative programs to aware patients about new schemes, discounts, or new regulations to take maximum advantage of health services.

The medical billing solutions with strong security features are secure to use.

Most of the medical billing software vendors provide the best security feature for their products. They ensure the billing software is compliant to all the data security rules and regulations to protect patient data. The data back-up and recovery plan further strengthen data security. Even the formal communication that takes place between the patient and doctors or doctors and insurance companies are also completely encrypted. Some medical billing software companies also prefer conducting a third-party audit to identify security loopholes. The business owners who don’t have strong IT support and are worried about software security often route towards online medical billing software. 

• Virtual Health Care:  Virtual health care allows doctors to diagnose patients virtually from anywhere with the help of technology like video conferencing or via telephone. Virtual health care can be very helpful for patients having a chronic disease and cannot travel a long distance to see the doctor. With the virtual health care system, doctors can expand access to health care programs and increase patient engagement.  The patient can easily share lab reports, images, and prescriptions with the physician. In the coming days, the medical billing software companies can focus more on features like video conferencing and technologies that optimize the virtual care system.
• AI and Machine Learning: Artificial Intelligence has wide applications in the medical billing software.  There are medical billing software that have already started exploring machine learning and AI efficiency to improve the patient experience.  The AI bot to answer patient’s common queries are some primary applications that healthcare organizations are incorporating in their infrastructure, but the advanced AI algorithm can even perform complex tasks like extracting data from documents, which can be useful for claim processing. Besides that, the AI ability to analyze text and spoken word could help health care professionals in assigning accurate medical codes.
• Blockchain Wave: The blockchain wave has an enormous effect in almost all industries, including the health care system. The blockchain can be used in myriad ways in medical billing like speeding up insurance claims or securely storing a patient's confidential data or EHR (electronic health record).  Since the blockchain is completely decentralized and conducts transactions based on the previous transaction, there are fewer chances of error. For instance, it can reduce the error like issuing a bill to the patient twice for the same treatment.
• Cloud integration on a large scale: Cloud technology has already influenced the online world by replacing on-premise servers and reducing maintenance costs.  Cloud technology is inevitable, and medical billing software can use this technology either standalone or in combination with the on-premise infrastructure.  Cloud computing adoption will become imperative as health organizations and governments aim towards affordable health care services.  The users capitalizing their strategy on cutting expenses on infrastructure and storage should always keep an eye on the medical billing software list with cloud capabilities.
• Voice assistant: Voice assistant is a revolutionary technology that can speed up the search and query process.  The medical billing companies are also optimistic about the voice assistant application to deliver better health care services. One of the leading medical billing software providers has already introduced a voice assistant feature in their tool to recall patients, populate outstanding balance, book appointments, display patient’s progress notes, give access to educational videos, etc.  So far, it is used to perform basic tasks, but the health care providers have immense confidence in voice assistant technology and are expecting to handle some of the complex tasks in medical billing.

The medical billing software is multi-purpose software and is designed to handle the complex tasks involved in medical billing.  The medical software packages can charge users either per-provider basis, per practice, or per-user. The medical facility dealing with the large volume of patients often chooses a per-provider plan, whereas clinics with a low volume of patients may choose a per-practice plan.  The average medical billing software cost could be anywhere between $20/month to $500/month or even more. Some medical billing software vendors may charge on a monthly basis, while others may take one-time payment for a lifetime.              

The health care organization, based on their requirements, picks the most popular medical billing software. The medical billing tool like ClinicGate with a starting price of $199/one-time payment offers features like assigning patients per doctor, sending emails to the patient, view daily expenses, edit and delete lab test names, etc.  The medical billing software cost could be attractive even for health care units that are operating on a smaller scale; the software vendor provides a 21-day free trial.  The advanced version of the medical billing software prices can go upto $1245/one-time payment. There are few more medical software packages that can streamline medical billing without spending much includes Lightning MD, CabMD, and Bonafide.

While the health-care professionals that want a dedicated tool to manage their patient’s EMR (Electronic Medical Record) can select a tool like eClinicalWorks that charges $499/month per physician, besides standard features, the medical billing software offers a range of features like e-prescribing, referral management, private cloud hosting, unlimited free webinars, etc. The other medical software packages that offer more or less similar features include NueMD, CollaborateMD, MeditabIMS, and NEXconnex. These are among the most popular medical billing software that are ideal for medium and large healthcare organizations. 

The users who want to customize and create a better version of medical billing software often delve to a free and open-source medical billing software list. Here is the list of the best free and open-source medical billing software to try the software’s exceptional features at minimum or zero price.

GoodFirms is a leading review and rating platform for IT solutions, and it has been listing software solutions for myriads of industries.  The transparent review process helps customers to find the right product for their business and partner the software for better performance. The visitors can filter broad categories of software list to match their domain, budget, and features; on top of that, the rich knowledge resource assists users to explore software from various perspectives and choose the best software from the list.

The health care system being the most sensitive and complex sector requires due diligence in handling the patient’s records; any small error could risk patient lives. An efficient clinic or hospital has to ensure that their diagnosis procedures are well documented, and there is no room for error in terms of delivering better patient care or financial transactions. Smart medical billing software can address all the concerns of health-care professionals and enables them to run their clinics or hospitals efficiently. Do read the list of best medical billing software on GoodFirms to fast-track the health care process and improve the delivery of medical services.