"Are Offshore Billing Companies Really More Cost-Effective?"

Better take a look at how expensive they can really be!

A “For The Record” article titled Is Offshore Coding Dead in the Water? tells of a two-year study involving six hospital systems. Not only did they identify higher denial rate and lower reimbursement resulting from a lower case mix index, but the security and legal issues were horrendous!

Liles/Parker Law Firm, which specializes in Healthcare Law, warned of security and legal issues arising from the use of offshore groups in an article titled Overseas Outsourced Billing and Coding – Compliance Risks. Some points made in the article include:

• You have no guarantees that a coding and billing business overseas is HIPAA compliant or even understands the law at all.

• Providers are responsible not only for their practice, but also for the acts of their business associates and their respective subcontractors overseas.  (Providers are responsible for improper disclosures and breaches with business associates and their respective subcontractors overseas, which could be as much as $10,000 per violation.)

• Obtaining a judgment against an offshore entity is next to impossible, takes a substantial amount of time, and costs a lot of money.

• Liles/Parker writes, "We had previously reported that the backlog for having a case heard in India was nearly 20 years. But recent estimates by the National Bar Association of India put that figure closer to 350 to 400 years."

• Offshore workers have extorted providers over PHI records. In one case, an employee of a Pakistan billing company contacted the hospital on whose records she was working. She demanded a significant sum of money from the hospital or she would release the medical records on the Internet and anonymously contact United States authorities. Given the legal case backlog information above, the hospital had no option but to pay.

• 2013 "Fierce Healthcare" article titled 32,000 Patient Records Exposed On Contractor's Unsecured Website leaked Health information on 32,000 patients across 48 states was exposed 

Some USA-based groups are pushing Congress to strengthen the HIPAA laws by making offshore medical billing illegal.  Let's talk about your billing needs and evaluate whether or not you need additional staff or just answer questions you may have with a free, no obligation consultation.