1. Consistent, seamless back-office functioning
Will operations continue seamlessly if your administrator or business office manager leaves?
“We met recently with the physician-owners of a small endoscopy center whose administrator just took a great job offer,” says Mr. Jacobs. “The center doesn’t have a corporate partner, and now not only does it need to replace an excellent administrator, it needs to replace a key position that handled the back-office functions. We can provide not just expertise but continuity in these important tasks.”
2. Keeping credentialing current
“In credentialing, the rules change constantly,” says Mr. Jacobs. “You may have someone whose extra duty is credentialing efforts, but can they really keep up with it all?”
Staying current in this area is especially important as accreditation organizations have moved fully to unannounced surveys: “You really don’t want to hit a snag in an accreditation review because you haven’t gotten around to implementing some seemingly small change,” he says. “Our credentialing experts are in constant communication with our clients; they not only notify the ASCs of changes, but can lead them through options for modifying policies and procedures.”
3. Adding expertise without adding employees
“There’s a misconception that you only outsource tasks that are not core functions, when in fact the only core functions of an ASC that you should never outsource are those that make up your core competency. In other words, you would never outsource your patient care, because that is the reason physicians build and own their ASCs: to provide excellent patient care. But it makes a lot of sense to outsource tasks that are core functions but not core competencies,” says Mr. Jacobs. “It’s core to a successful business to have good financial reports, correctly processed payroll and benefits management, for example but these things aren’t key to clinical care. And, the improvement to the quality of service provided by these functions can make a big difference in the operation of your ASC, which ultimately translates into better patient care. Further, accounting and HR combined would probably make up less than an FTE in most ASCs; it’s wasteful to hire appropriately credentialed individuals full-time for those positions and difficult to find them part-time.
“Outsourcing provides the expertise for necessary functions at an affordable price.”
MedHQ provides accounting, revenue cycle, human resources and credentialing services to small businesses such as ASCs and other physician-affiliated businesses. Learn more about MedHQ.
