Sixty-five percent of medical billing companies surveyed said they have a positive outlook on the industry, compared to 9 percent with a negative outlook, according to a Feb. 15 report from digital health platform Tebra.
Tebra surveyed 277 medical billing company owners, leaders and team members in September and October for its 2023 "State of the U.S. medical billing industry" report, according to a news release from the company.
Five findings:
1. Sixty-four percent of medical billing companies surveyed said healthcare regulations are their biggest concern in 2023, followed by growing inflation (60 percent), increased healthcare costs (55 percent) and labor shortages/hiring challenges (53 percent).
2. Thirty-eight percent said patient payments not being collected at the time of service is the biggest challenge to patient collections, followed by not having proper insurance information (27 percent).
3. Less than one-third (31 percent) of billing companies said they accept digital wallets as a form of payment. Eighty-seven percent accept credit cards and 66 percent accept cash.
4. Email (73 percent) and letters (70 percent) are the most commonly used ways to notify a patient of a bill.
5. Forty-six percent of medical billing companies said the business landscape has become more competitive over the past three years.