Navigating the complexities of modern healthcare demands more than just clinical expertise. Providers and practices face mounting administrative burdens, particularly when it comes to revenue cycle management.
Ensuring timely and accurate reimbursement can feel like a constant uphill battle. But what if there was a strategic partner designed to shoulder these non-clinical yet critical tasks?
Enter the organizations built to streamline your administrative workflows and optimize your financial well-being – the Management Services Organization (MSO).
This guide will explore how an MSO in healthcare can be a game-changer in your pursuit of a thriving practice and a healthy revenue cycle.
So, without further ado, let’s get started!
What is an MSO in Healthcare?
A healthcare management services organization is an administrative tool that enables enhanced checks and controls over patient information and other data unique to a specific healthcare facility.
However, its structure varies across organizations. Simply put, the structure of an MSO will be different for a group practice and a hospital. Thus, you must conduct a comprehensive organizational assessment to leverage this management tool.
For the unversed, let’s take a look at some aspects that an MSO in healthcare can help your organization with:
- Contract and credentialing management
- Discounts and provision of EHRs and other medical equipment
- Financial management
- Human resources management
- Medical coding, billing, and collections
- Office space management
- Operational issues
- Regulatory compliance management
- Risk management
- Staff education and training
- Savings with group purchasing
Now that you know what a healthcare management services organization does, it is time to discuss how to create one. Below is the list of factors that may come into play when it comes to utilizing an MSO in healthcare:
- Understand the existing infrastructure of your organization (if any)
- Identify the market needs
- Acquire details about all current vendors (if any)
- Determine your facility’s management needs
- List all of your facility’s offerings
Additionally, remember to assess your organization’s unique services or challenges. This information will help you design an effective MSO to address your organization’s unique operational needs and issues.
Different Types of MSOs in Healthcare
Typically, there are two categories of MSOs in healthcare.
The first type of MSO offers services (some or all), such as contract and credentialing management. This type enables facilities to stay independent of the healthcare management services organization.
The second type of MSO purchases assets and leases them back to the healthcare providers. In this MSO structure, healthcare providers continue providing care services, but there’s a catch! The MSO takes ownership of tangible assets or administrative duties, such as office spaces.
How Healthcare Practices Can Benefit from an MSO?
Some of the benefits of an MSO in healthcare are listed below:
Enhanced Operational Efficiency
When a practice partners with a healthcare management services organization, it gets access to its extended management expertise. MSO’s expertise ranges from human resources to technology, marketing, and finance.
Using these MSO services, healthcare organizations can eliminate redundancies, streamline processes, and optimize workflows.
Example:
Picture this: A cardiology practice with four physicians struggles with fragmented scheduling. As a result, patients are unsatisfied due to longer wait times, and physicians are experiencing burnout. Additionally, a manual referral management system causes delays and lost opportunities.
How Can an MSO Help?
The MSO implements an integrated and centralized Electronic Health Record (EHR) system. The system offers online scheduling and standardized referral management capabilities. Within a month, the practice experienced higher physician productivity and improved patient flow. Some EHR functions that made it possible were streamlined patient appointments, automatic alerts to reduce no-shows, and timely referral processing.
Effective Resource Allocation and Cost Savings
Another benefit of partnering with an MSO in healthcare is cost savings. When you outsource your practice’s non-core functions to professionals, you do not have to invest in hiring, training, and maintaining in-house resources. As a result, you can allocate resources efficiently while focusing on revenue-generating activities.
Example:
Suppose this: A small rural family medicine clinic finds it challenging to have an in-house IT team to manage its growing technology requirements. These needs include cybersecurity, network issues, and EHR maintenance.
How Can an MSO Help?
After thorough research, the clinic decides to partner with a healthcare management services organization for shared IT services across multiple practices. This enables the clinic to access the IT expertise of the MSO at a fraction of the cost of setting up a full-fledged IT unit. The clinic reinvests the saved money in expanding patient services and acquiring new medical equipment.
Better Flexibility and Scalability
Healthcare practices often scale to match the growing needs of patients. However, when they try to expand, they face many challenges. MSOs in healthcare are capable of adapting to evolving business needs. Whether you are planning to enter new markets, expand operations, or adjust to market trends, MSOs can assist you in scaling.
Example:
Consider this: An orthopedic group practice with operations in two locations plans to expand to a third location, i.e., an underserved suburban area. However, they are concerned about the complexities of setting up a new office, such as staffing, lease negotiations, credentialing, and marketing.
How Can an MSO Help?
The MSO offers the group practice end-to-end support for the expansion. It includes site selection, lease negotiation, staff recruitment, credentialing management, and targeted marketing. As a result, the orthopedic group expands smoothly and efficiently without overwhelming its existing infrastructure.
Risk Mitigation and Compliance
The MSO’s services extend to risk management and regulatory compliance. The healthcare regulatory landscape is ever-evolving. Thus, practices must adhere to these regulations, as non-compliance can lead to heavy financial penalties and lawsuits.
Example:
Imagine this: A dermatology practice struggles to keep up with the constantly changing regulations, such as HIPAA. As a result, the risk of potential audits and penalties is looming.
How Can an MSO Help?
The practice partners with an MSO to benefit from the expertise of a dedicated compliance team that stays abreast of all relevant healthcare regulations. The team implements robust HIPAA-compliant policies and procedures. Additionally, it provides regular staff training and expert coding and billing services that adhere to the latest industry guidelines. This minimizes the risk of non-compliance and legal issues.
Summary
Phew! That was an in-depth exploration of what an MSO in healthcare entails. Now, it is time to wrap up this informational guide. But before we do so, why not recap the key takeaways?
First, we explained that an MSO is a powerful administration tool. Its services range from operations management to medical billing, office space management to risk mitigation, and more.
Next, we discussed the two types of MSOs and listed how healthcare practices can benefit from this partnership. Revenue cycle management is one aspect that you can streamline to improve your practice’s financial health by partnering with a healthcare management services organization.
Does the idea of outsourcing revenue cycle management services to experts excite you? If your answer is affirmative, you can partner with MediBillMD to unlock countless opportunities.
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