I am amused by the frequent misconception that revenue cycle management (RCM), aka “Medical Billing” is an easy job. I appreciate the self-confidence and I do think most people could do this job to some degree. But, like anything, if you want to be the best at what you do, you’ve got to put in the hard work and thoroughly know RCM or you are doing a great disservice to your doctors. I remember when I first started with SMB back in 2006, I had the same misconception, I thought with my operations background I could do this job easily. But I am here to tell you, it is not easy, and this industry can change on a dime and you must know how to adapt quickly! There are so many variables to consider it truly can make your head spin. Private practices who see many patients in a day, all with unique problems, different insurance plans, tons of things to consider on each visit have to ultimately rely on a billing department, whether internal or external, who know how to manage all of the intricacies involved in RCM. The practice will fail if your RCM team is not skilled in what they do. Not anyone can do this job, so look there first if you find you are working your tail off and barely keeping your business afloat, it could very well be that you need to evaluate this department to see if it is optimal. SMB is an excellent company, but this is not to solicit business as much as it is to get the understanding out there of how valuable our type of service is to the survival of a practice.
