Small practice buyer guide
How to compare outsourced medical billing services.
A percentage alone does not tell you how much work leaves your team’s desk. Compare the scope, handoffs, and exceptions before choosing a billing partner.
01 / Scope
Write down the full billing workflow.
Ask where the service starts and ends. Does it handle coding from clinical documentation, prepare and submit claims, and work denied claims? A quote can look similar while leaving different tasks with your front desk or biller.
At Dr. Wolfie
Our medical billing service covers coding, claim preparation and submission, and denial management at 2% of collections. Eligibility checks and prior authorization have separate prices.
02 / Handoff
Trace one encounter from chart to claim.
Ask how the provider’s documentation reaches the billing team, who resolves missing information, and what your staff must still enter or review. Walk through this in your current EHR before agreeing to a new process.
Include the edge cases: a claim with incomplete information, a payer rejection, and a denial after submission. The answers show what your team will actually do each week.
03 / Pricing
Compare the fee with its denominator.
If a vendor quotes a percentage, ask whether it applies to collections, charges, or another amount. Then ask which services are included and which have a separate charge. Request an example using your own recent billing month so you can compare like with like.
For Dr. Wolfie, the billing rate is 2% of collections. Our insurance eligibility checks cost $0.50 per check, and prior authorization costs $5 per case.
04 / Decision
Five questions for every billing conversation.
- Which exact steps, from coding through denials, are included?
- What does our team still need to do in our current EHR?
- Who handles a rejected or denied claim, and what happens next?
- What amount is the fee based on, and which services cost extra?
- How will we review the work and resolve exceptions together?