Medical billing services for small practices: How to find a billing partner
Outsourcing medical billing offers a solution to your administrative overload.
At a Glance
- Outsourcing medical billing can reduce administrative burdens, improve cash flow, and streamline claims management for healthcare practices.
- Managed billing providers handle key tasks like claims submissions, denial follow-ups, and compliance monitoring, ensuring accurate and timely reimbursements.
- Choosing the right medical billing company starts with evaluating your practice’s needs and researching providers that align with your goals and specialties.
Medical billing is complex — reimbursements, denials, compliance regulations, and administrative demands quickly add up to overwhelm. Managing these processes in-house is time-consuming, and adds to administrative costs that represent 7.4% of total national health expenditures. Not to mention that medical billing and coding aren't areas physicians were taught to master.
Outsourcing medical billing offers a solution to your administrative overload. Doing so gives you access to experts well-versed in its nuances — and allows your practice to focus more on your core mission: providing exceptional care.
But how do you find the right medical billing company? Vendor selection can feel daunting, and the right partner requires careful consideration.
This guide will take you through managed billing details, including its key benefits and the steps to choose a company that aligns with your practice’s needs. Let’s simplify the process so you can get back to delivering patient care.
What is managed billing?
Managed billing refers to outsourcing your medical billing processes — and everything that entails — to an outside company. This allows medical billing professionals to take on tasks like:
- Submitting claims and managing follow-ups on denials
- Ensuring compliance with healthcare regulations (e.g., the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), ICD-10)
- Generating advanced reporting and analytics to improve billing efficiency
- Tracking and managing payments from insurers and patients
Medical billing is a critical part of private practice success, but its demands grow as your practice does. More patients mean more regulations to navigate, claims to submit, and opportunities for billing errors. Without the right support, billing challenges can strain your team and impact your bottom line.
Who uses managed billing?
Outsourcing medical billing is a growing solution in the healthcare industry. In fact, 36% of medical groups plan to outsource or automate part of their revenue cycle management in 2025 — especially related to collections, billing, and medical coding.
Managed billing isn’t one-size-fits-all — it’s a versatile solution that can adapt to meet the different needs of your practice. It’s also especially impactful for independent practices with limited resources. Here’s a closer look at the types of healthcare providers and organizations that thrive with managed billing.
Independent healthcare practices
Smaller practices must balance providing patient care with managing administrative tasks. Handling complex medical billing with a limited staff stretches the team thin, increasing the likelihood of errors. Managed billing takes the weight off your team, streamlining reimbursements and reducing errors so you can focus on quality patient care.
Small to medium-sized clinics
Unlike independent practices, clinics tend to have a slightly larger staff and higher patient volume, but they may not have the budget or resources for a dedicated billing department. Managed billing provides an affordable way to access professional expertise and tools without the overhead of hiring in-house specialists.
Specialty practices
Specialty fields such as mental health, physical therapy, or dermatology often have unique billing requirements. Things like specific codes, nuanced claims management, or niche regulation compliance further complicate your medical billing processes. For example, mental health services rarely have standardized treatment plans like primary care providers might, making billing more complicated. Plus, many treatments in the specialty require pre-authorization.
It benefits your practice to hire a managed billing partner with expertise in your specialty, ensuring accuracy, compliance, and fewer rejected claims.
Medical billing companies
Even established medical billing companies can use other billing companies' services to support their operations. Whether they need overflow support during busy seasons or expertise for special cases, outsourcing specific tasks helps them maintain high service standards.
Why consider a managed billing solution?
The right managed billing partner doesn’t just handle the numbers, but becomes an extension of your team. They enable your practice to thrive without the constant pull of critical administrative demands. But what does that really mean for your practice?
“The right managed billing partner doesn’t just handle the numbers, but becomes an extension of your team.”
Convenience is key, but the benefits don’t stop there. Here’s how managed billing helps your practice:
- Saves time and resources by eliminating administrative burdens
- Improves cash flow with faster, more accurate reimbursements
- Ensures compliance with evolving healthcare billing regulations
- Reduces billing errors that can lead to delayed payments or denied claims
- Provides expert guidance to navigate complex insurance requirements and codes
- Offers advanced analytics to help track performance and optimize revenue
- Scales with your practice as patient volume and billing complexity grow
Outsourcing these tasks equips your practice with the tools and expertise needed to succeed. To fully understand the value of managed billing, it’s important to compare it with the true costs of keeping billing in-house.
The costs of in-house medical billing
Managing medical billing internally seems like the default option, but it comes with significant expenses — both visible and hidden — that can strain your practice.
Direct costs
- Salaries and benefits: Hiring and retaining skilled billing staff
- Training and education: Frequently changing billing regulations, requiring continuous staff training
- Software fees: Subscription fees and maintenance costs, and potentially hidden fees for add-on services. Software fees may also be a direct cost when using outsourced billing.
Indirect costs
- Staff turnover: Billing roles often have high turnover, leading to recruitment and training costs and gaps in expertise
- Delayed payments: In-house teams can struggle with claims errors or slowdowns during busy periods, delaying reimbursements
- Opportunity costs: Time spent managing billing takes away from patient care, business development, or other growth-focused activities
Outsourcing these responsibilities helps your practice mitigate these costs while gaining access to expert support and advanced tools. Managed billing can save practices money and create opportunities to operate more efficiently.
Choosing between in-house vs. outsourced medical billing
For many independent practices, outsourcing billing to a service like Tebra ensures reliable results without the hassle of managing in-house staff or tools.
Here’s a comparison chart highlighting the differences between managing your billing in-house or with Tebra Managed Billing.
| Factor | In-house billing | Tebra Managed Billing |
| Cost | - Staff salaries and benefits - Staff training - Software fees that are often hidden | - No overhead expenses associated with in-house staffing |
| Expertise | Staff member experience varies and requires ongoing education to keep up with industry changes | Tebra’s network of independent managed billing providers brings extensive expertise, ensuring accurate claims processing and regulatory compliance |
| Scalability | Expanding in-house team billing to match growth is resource-intensive and limits growth | Managed billing providers adapt to growth and match the evolving needs of your practice |
| Technology | Implementing and maintaining software requires manual management, which can be time-consuming | Tebra’s software supports billing providers, automating time-consuming tasks and reducing administrative burdens |
| Compliance | Ensuring compliance falls on your administrative team, necessitating continuous education and vigilance | Medical billing companies remain current with healthcare regulations, minimizing compliance risks and errors |
| Cash flow | Limited staff capacity and errors can lead to slower reimbursements, negatively impacting cash flow | Experienced billing providers using Tebra’s platform ensure claims are processed efficiently, improving cash flow |
| Staffing | Managing staff turnover, onboarding, and absences can disrupt billing operations and affect revenue cycles | Billing providers offer uninterrupted billing services, eliminating staffing concerns and ensuring continuity |
| Analytics | In-house teams may have limited access to advanced analytics and can’t gain insights into areas of improvement | Independent billing providers rely on Tebra’s robust reporting tools, offering insights to optimize revenue and improve practice management |
When deciding between managing medical billing in-house or outsourcing to a solution like Tebra Managed Billing, take a look at your practice’s specific needs. Cost, expertise, scalability, and technology are all key factors that may impact your choice.
Tebra Managed Billing: A smarter solution for your practice
With its unparalleled network of billing partners and advanced technology, Tebra Managed Billing connects your practice to experts who handle even the most minute but all-important details of claims management. Let a managed billing partner worry about ensuring efficient, accurate, and stress-free billing — while you worry about your patients’ care.
“Let a managed billing partner worry about ensuring efficient, accurate, and stress-free billing — while you worry about your patients’ care.”
Here’s what makes Tebra Managed Billing stand out:
- End-to-end claims management: From claim submissions to follow-ups on denials, Tebra’s billing providers handle every detail using Tebra's award-winning EHR, native iOS and Android applications, and charge capture technology. Tebra’s built-in rules engine ensures coding is correct at the point of entry to save valuable time and help you get paid faster.
- Improved revenue cycle: Streamlined workflows help you stay in sync with your biller to reduce rejections and denials, leading to faster reimbursements and a healthier cash flow for your practice.
- Transparent financial insights: Clear and detailed financial reporting gives you better visibility into your practice’s performance. Robust analytics tools provide insights that help you track revenue trends, identify opportunities for growth, address inefficiencies, and prioritize next steps based on greatest revenue impact.
- Customizable workflows: Every practice is unique, and Tebra Managed Billing adapts to fit your specific needs. Whether it’s tailoring processes to your specialty or aligning with your operational goals, the workflows are designed with flexibility in mind. Tebra's modern technology automates time-consuming tasks and simplifies workflows for patient intake, scheduling, check-in, billing tasks, and more.
- Teams in sync: Tebra’s integrated cloud-based platform fosters alignment across your front office, clinical team, and billing team.
| Tebra's EHR+ is an ONC-certified all-in-one platform built for independent practices. Learn more. |
How to get started with managed billing
Making the switch to managed billing doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Start with these 3 steps, and you’ll be on your way to a streamlined, stress-free billing process:
- Evaluate your practice’s needs: Take a close look at your current billing process. Are you struggling with claim denials, processing backlogs, or revenue shortfalls? Identifying these pain points will help you understand what your practice needs from a managed billing partner.
- Research providers: Not all managed billing solutions are created equal. Look for providers with a proven track record, expert teams, and technology that can integrate seamlessly into your workflow. A reliable partner should offer transparency, scalability, and results that align with your practice’s goals.
- Explore Tebra Managed Billing: Tebra’s end-to-end solution connects you with an unparalleled network of billing partners and advanced tools designed to simplify your workflow. From faster reimbursements to fewer headaches, Tebra helps your practice thrive by taking billing off your plate and letting you focus on what matters most: patient care.
Medical billing shouldn’t feel like a constant uphill battle. Moving to managed billing doesn’t just reduce paperwork — it creates space to focus on patient care and practice growth.
Ready to simplify your billing? If you’re ready to take the next step toward a stress-free billing experience, learn more about Tebra’s Managed Billing services. It’s time to reclaim your time, boost your revenue, and let the experts handle your billing.
You Might Also Be Interested In
Crack the code for beating medical billing challenges with this free workbook — with tips on improving patient collections, streamlining claims submissions, and reducing rejections and denials.
Subscribe to The Intake:
A weekly check-up for your independent practice
Get expert tips, guides, and valuable insights for your healthcare practice
