Do you run a medical coding company? If YES, here are 20 insider tips that will help you find, bid and get medical billing and coding contracts successfully.
To be successful in the medical billing and coding business, you must ensure that you win contracts and get business deals from both corporate (hospitals and medical clinics) and individual clients (doctors and other health practitioners).
The truth is that if you don’t have regular medical billing and coding contracts and related business deals, you are sure going to struggle to grow the business and if you are not proactive, the business may pack up sooner than you expect.
The fact that the medical billing and coding industry plays a very important role in the health and insurance sector, shows that there is a large market for the services offered by these companies. They provide essential services to the united states economy by processing and administering medical insurance policies and claims.
They help doctors and other healthcare providers collect payments from insurance companies and Medicare. If you run a medical billing and coding company, you must know that your billing and coding skills or even administrative skills will not be enough to keep you in the business, you must market your services or else you won’t get any reasonable contracts.
You must ensure that your marketing and sales team are core professionals who know how to meet their target and secure contracts.
Here are some of the steps you need to take if you want to continue to get medical billing and coding contracts and loads of related business deals from both corporate (hospitals and medical clinics) and individual clients (doctors and other health practitioners).
Tips to Get Medical Billing and Coding Contracts Successfully
- Visit Hospitals and Medical Facilities to Source for Medical Billing and Coding Contracts
If you are interested in getting a medical billing and coding contract, your best option is to take your proposals and marketing materials straight to hospitals and medical clinics where you will find doctors and hospital administrators who will need your services.
It is simple and straightforward, if you want to fish, you go to the river, so if you want to get medical billing and coding contracts, you go to places where you can find doctors and medical administrators. Although it is not only in hospitals and medical clinics that you are expected to find doctors and health administrators, but the truth is that this is one sure location where you can’t get it wrong in your search.
- Register Your Business with the Medical Contractor Registration Database (MCR)
If you are interested in doing business with the health sector in your country or city, the norm is that you should register your business with the appropriate authority.
Depending on the country where you have your medical billing and coding company, what is expected of you is to source for reliable websites in your country where you can register your business in other to start getting contracts. So, a practical tip that will help you get medical billing and coding contracts is to register your business with the medical contractor registration database (MCR) in your country.
- Look for Medical and Health Professional Relationships and Networks to Join
In every industry or line of business, there are professional bodies or networks that are influential when it comes to winning contracts and it is same for medical billing and coding business. All you have to do is to look for such professional relationships and networks to join.
No doubt, you may be needed to meet up with some requirements before you can be admitted into such influential network.
- Build Good Business Network
If there are no related networks in your city to join, then you can decide to build one. Networking is perhaps one of the most effective and creative marketing ideas needed to begin to build your clientele base and you have to put plans in place to leverage on all your networks if you truly want to do well in the medical billing and coding industry.
In view of that, you should look out for gatherings where you can network with players in the health industry, doctors and medical administrators et al.
- Hire the Services of Professional Lobbyists/Professional Organizer Businesses
When it comes to where to go to get medical billing and coding contracts, you can visit any professional lobbyists or professional organizer businesses.
In the United States of America and in most countries of the world, they are highly influential when it comes to securing contracts from any sector of the country especially from the government. The professional organizations industry comprises of lobbyists and organizations that are basically engaged in promoting the professional interest of their members and their profession as a whole.
These organizations also conduct research, develop statistics and certification standards, lobby or publish materials for their members, etc.
- Make Use of the Accepted Tender Templates and Follow Through Tender Instructions
Another tip that will help you secure medical billing and coding contracts is to make sure you use the accepted tender templates when making your bid, and you must also be diligent in following the tender instructions as stipulated by the hospital or medical clinic issuing the contract.
The truth is that no matter how qualified and prepared you are as regards executing medical billing and coding contracts, if you fail to comply with the laid down rules, you will be disqualified.
- Ensure to Conduct Detailed Research and feasibility studies Before Bidding
If you have been given the go-ahead to submit a tender for a medical contract, you will do your organization a lot of good by making sure that you conduct your market research and feasibility studies before drafting and submitting your tender.
With that, it will be easier for you to be on same page with the current realities on ground. If not, you might likely give quotations that are off the benchmark or lower than the benchmark. Or you might go ahead to propose billing methods that is not accepted in the region where you are sourcing for contract.
- Ensure to Be Concise, Clear and Compelling When Bidding for a Medical Billing and Coding Contract
When a hospital or clinic calls medical billing and coding companies to tender bids for a contract, it is normal to receive loads of tenders, hence the need for them to only look out for the best. So what is expected of you to do is to ensure that you are concise, clear and compelling when drafting you tender.
Just ensure that your response documents are clear and brief and you added visuals such as diagrams, graphs, or illustrations that will help the board easily understand your tender and what is expected from you when you win the contract.
- Make Sure to Be Part of the Early Birds When Submitting Your Proposal
Another sure tip that will help you get medical billing and coding contracts is to make sure that you do all you can to be amongst the first set of organizations to submit your proposal. The truth is that even if the hospital calling for tender gives a deadline, they usually have in mind the number of bid they will receive before the cut off day.
Say for example, if the cut-off date for submission of tender is 10th of March, if by 7th of March they have gotten the required proposals they can handle, they will likely not accommodate more even if you submit before 10th of March.
- Get Your All Your Employees Involved in Marketing Your Services and Sourcing for Contracts
As a medical billing and coding company, part of what you need to do to continue getting medical billing and coding contracts is to make sure that all your employees (not only marketing and sales executives) are directly or indirectly involved in the sales and marketing of your services.
Just ensure that you create provision for your employees to earn commission when they bring in business for the organization, if you truly want to motivate them to help you win medical billing and coding contracts.
You can as well create business models that will enable freelancers to work with your organization especially as it relates to bringing in medical billing and coding contracts; whenever they refer clients to your organization, they will earn a percentage of the deal.
- Build a Medical Billing and Coding Business That Will Serve Both Big and Small Clients
Another idea that will help you get medical billing and coding contracts from both corporate clients (hospitals and medical clinics) and individual clients (doctors and other health professionals) is to ensure that you designed your business in such a way that you can comfortably work with just a doctor or a small medical facility and you can work with group of doctors across different cities and standard hospitals.
The truth is that some medical billing and coding companies miss out on contracts simply because they are either too big to attend to smaller clients or too small to execute larger contracts.
- Attend Relevant Health Events
When you attend relevant health events, you will be able to familiarize yourself with the powers that be when it comes to awarding medical billing and coding contracts. You might need a gate pass to enter some high class events, hence the need to leverage on your network to secure the needed gate pass.
Just ensure that you are well prepared and you go with your business card and with the mind to network with key personalities that will award you contracts.
- Ensure to Propose a Competitive Price
When bidding for a medical billing and coding contract from the government, ensure that you tender a competitive price that will be irresistible.
That does not mean that you should not project to make profits. In order to tender a competitive price, these factors must be considered when writing up a budget; – company research, market intelligence, competitor insights, as well as your own internal financial constraints. You can as well look for Software for builders. It makes it easier to get accurate and competitive price when bidding.
- Be Deliberate in Projecting Your Competitive Advantages
If you are looking for ways to get medical billing and coding contracts, then one of things that you need to do is to ensure that you are deliberate in projecting your competitive advantages with every given opportunity. The fact that you will be competing against other equally qualified medical billing and coding companies means that you must put up your best.
- Become Friends with an Insider
In every hospital and clinic that issue out medical billing and coding contracts, there are insiders who have the right information that you might need to be ahead of your competitors.
So, part of what you need to do get medical billing and coding contracts is to ensure that you warm your way through an insider in the hospital or medical clinic where you are sourcing for medical billing and coding contract. Preferably, target an influential staff or medical doctor that can influence things in your favor.
- Make Sure You Attach All the Required Documents When Applying for Contracts
If you are looking towards getting medical billing and coding contracts, then part of the tips that you should consider employing is to make sure that you attach all the required documents as requested by the hospital or medical clinic that is calling for proposal.
Some of the reasons why some proposals are not considered is because they did not submit documents as requested. Some of the documents that you should look towards submitting are tax clearance/tax returns, business license, business permits and company’s profile amongst others.
- Make Use of the Right References and Testimonials
As a standard medical billing and coding company, most likely, you would have worked with several hospitals and doctors who should be part of your references and testimonials. Of course not all your references and testimonials can be suitable for certain tenders.
So part of the tips that you need if you want to bid and get medical billing and coding contracts is to ensure that you make use of the most suitable references and testimonials for each of the tenders you are submitting.
For example, if you are bidding to work with a hospital, it will be appropriate to make use of references of hospitals you have worked for in the past as against providing references to just a singular doctor that you have worked with in time past.
- Form Strategic Marketing Alliance with Your Competitors in the Industry
As a medical billing and coding company owner, if you want to continue to get medical billing and coding contracts from hospitals and doctors, then you should look towards forming strategic marketing alliance with your competitors in the industry.
Good enough, there are opportunities for medical billing and coding companies to form strategic marketing alliance with other competitors in the industry due to the fact that some companies may lack the capacity to handle certain high – profile contracts.
- Always Give Top-Notch Presentations
No matter the industry or line of business that you are operating in, the need to present your proposal to your clients will always arise. So, if you want to continue to get medical billing and coding contracts, then you must ensure that you always give top – notch presentations when given the opportunity.
The truth is that, the surest way to winning clients and securing contracts is to convince them via your proposal. Just ensure that your powerpoint slides are great and your presentation skill is top-class.
- Work on Your Retention Strategies (Improve Your Customer Experience)
A company that is good with marketing and winning contracts but is not good with generating repeated sales from their existing customers will always struggle to maximize profits in the business. You cannot keep welcoming customers from your front door and watch them leave via your back door and expect to generate enough revenue for your business.
As a medical billing and coding company, if you want to continue to get medical billing and coding contracts and related business deals from hospitals, medical clinics and doctors all across the United States, then you should ensure that you put in place workable customer retention strategies and also continuously improve your customer experience.
Part of the retention strategies you need to adopt as a new entrant into the industry is to ensure that you leverage on price to win over customers; your prices should be affordable and negotiable. The fact that your business door is open to both individuals and corporations means that you should have different price range for different category of clients.
In order to improve on your customer experience so that you can create a good impression and generate repeated business deals from them, you should make provisions to give out discounts to your customers from time to time whenever they patronize your services.
Make available flexible payment options for your clients, make use of effective customer relationship management (CRM) software to effectively manage your clientele base and ensure that you carry your clients along when making decisions that directly affect them.
In conclusion, as a medical billing and coding company owner, if you can adopt the above tips, then you can be rest assured that you will continue to get medical billing and coding contracts from both corporate and individual clients within and outside the location where your business is domicile.
Please note that there may be certain challenges unique to medical billing and coding companies in your business location; it is your duty to be creative and improvise when it comes to tackling such challenges.