Medical billing can quietly drain resources from your healthcare practice without you even noticing.
From hidden errors to subtle inefficiencies, managing billing in-house might be costing more than you realize.
Meet Ryan Benjamin, founder of Cadence Collaborative and a seasoned expert in healthcare financial operations.
In this interview, Ryan shares insider insights on how outsourcing medical billing can not only save you money but significantly enhance your operational efficiency and profitability.
Hidden Costs in Medical Billing
1. What’s the most common hidden cost you see healthcare providers overlook when managing billing in-house?
A common hidden cost is the time and resources spent by staff who aren’t billing experts.
Providers often have clinical or administrative staff juggling billing responsibilities, which can lead to coding errors, claim delays, and missed revenue.
There’s also the cost of training, software, and staying up to date with compliance—all of which add up over time. These issues quietly hurt cash flow and overall efficiency.
That’s why we focus on helping providers spot those gaps early and streamline their revenue cycle.
2. Which medical billing errors or inefficiencies most frequently lead to lost revenue, and how does outsourcing mitigate these risks?
Some of the most common issues that lead to lost revenue include coding errors, lack of documentation support, poor benefit investigation, and credentialing issues.
If a patient’s benefits aren’t verified thoroughly upfront, services might be rendered that aren’t covered, or the patient may be responsible for more than expected, leading to collection problems later.
Similarly, if a provider isn’t properly credentialed with a payer, claims can be denied outright, and reimbursement is delayed or lost entirely.
Outsourcing helps mitigate these risks by putting those critical front- and back-end processes in expert hands.
At Cadence Collaborative, our team handles everything from credentialing to eligibility checks, ensuring that providers are set up correctly from the start.
We also monitor coding, documentation, and claim workflows in real-time to prevent errors and catch issues before they impact cash flow.
Real-Life Medical Billing Success Stories
3. Can you describe a scenario where outsourcing medical billing dramatically reduced operational expenses for a client?
Sure—one small practice we worked with was handling billing in-house and struggling with denied claims and inconsistent payments.
When we took over, we discovered a credentialing issue: one of their providers wasn’t properly enrolled with a major payer, and they had already lost around $8,000 in denied claims because of it.
Our team quickly fixed the credentialing and worked with the payer to resubmit those claims. We were able to recover the full $8,000.
By taking billing and benefit verification off their plate, they also no longer needed extra admin staff to manage those tasks, which reduced their overhead.
In another case, a larger client didn’t even realize they had over $2 million sitting in accounts receivable.
We conducted a thorough review of their AR and operations, streamlined their practice, and ultimately helped them recover over $1 million.
So whether it’s a small clinic or a large healthcare organization, we help clients recover lost revenue, reduce inefficiencies, and get back to focusing on patient care.
4. Could you share an example of how improved medical billing compliance through outsourcing prevented costly audits or fines for a client?
Yes—one example involved a behavioral health practice that wasn’t documenting services in a way that supported their billing.
They were using time-based codes, but their notes didn’t consistently reflect the time spent or the medical necessity, which would have triggered an audit and led to paybacks or fines.
When they partnered with us, we reviewed their documentation and billing patterns and immediately flagged the compliance risk.
Our team provided guidance on proper documentation tied to specific codes, and our coders worked closely with them to make sure every claim submitted matched payer requirements.
By catching those issues early and tightening up their compliance, we helped them avoid potential audits and protected them from financial penalties down the road.
Efficiency Gains with Outsourced Medical Billing
5. From your perspective, how does outsourcing medical billing services improve the accuracy and speed of reimbursements?
Outsourcing brings in a team that’s fully focused on billing and knows how to avoid common errors that slow down reimbursement.
For example, our team double-checks documentation, uses up-to-date coding guidelines, and verifies insurance and benefits before claims go out. That helps reduce denials and ensures claims are clean the first time.
We also track payer timelines closely and follow up on aging claims consistently, which speeds up cash flow.
Most in-house teams are juggling multiple roles, so things can slip through the cracks. When billing is outsourced, there’s a dedicated process in place that keeps things moving faster and more accurately.
6. How does outsourcing medical billing enhance financial predictability and budget planning for healthcare providers?
I see firsthand how outsourcing medical billing improves financial predictability by creating a more consistent and transparent revenue stream.
With a dedicated billing partner, claims are submitted accurately and quickly, which reduces denials and shortens the reimbursement cycle.
That reliability not only improves cash flow but also makes it easier to forecast future revenue with greater confidence.
Outsourcing also simplifies budgeting by turning many variable costs—like staffing, training, and technology—into fixed, manageable expenses.
Beyond just managing claims, billing partners provide regular reporting and performance metrics, which help us identify trends, set realistic financial goals, and proactively adjust to changes in payer behavior or patient volume.
This level of visibility and control is key for strategic planning, and it frees up internal teams to focus more on patient care and less on chasing down payments.
Misconceptions About Medical Billing Outsourcing
7. What’s one common misconception providers have about the cost-effectiveness of outsourcing their medical billing, and what’s your response to it?
Billing mistakes can cost a practice thousands of dollars, whether it’s from missed charges, coding errors, or delayed claim follow-ups.
These errors not only disrupt cash flow but can also take a significant amount of time and resources to fix.
I know how important it is to have a reliable and accurate billing process in place to protect the financial health of a practice.
That’s where outsourcing makes a real difference. With a dedicated billing team, you reduce errors, speed up reimbursements, and create a consistent revenue stream, making it much easier to predict future income and plan your budget with confidence.
When you partner with us, you’re not just outsourcing—you’re gaining a team that works every day to keep claims moving, follow up on outstanding balances, and eliminate gaps in coverage.
That consistency supports stronger cash flow, fewer financial surprises, and better long-term planning, all while allowing providers to stay focused on what matters most: patient care.
Conclusion
Taking control of your healthcare practice’s finances starts with recognizing hidden costs and appreciating the tangible benefits of expert billing support.
With Ryan’s valuable insights and real-world examples, you’re ready to turn your billing process into a growth-driven powerhouse. Ready to uncover more billing secrets and boost your profitability? Reach out to Cadence Collaborative today!
