Interview with Barry Haitoff, CEO of Medical Management Corporation of America

The following is an interview with Barry Haitoff, CEO of Medical Management Corporation of America.

Tell us about Medical Management Corporation of America (MMCOA).
MMCOA helps physicians and physician groups increase collections, assure compliance, manage overhead and navigate the maze of EMR/EHR, Meaninful Use, PQRS and other Government incentive programs and regulations. With a focus on revenue cycle management, MMCOA helps our clients stay ahead of the curve with things like the transition to ICD-10.

What are the keys to running a good medical billing company?
Like any successful business, I believe the 2 most important assets are people and systems. We hire, retain and cultivate quality individuals and empower them with state of the art systems and technology. We never settle for status quo and continue to look for better ways of doing things. My style of leadership is one of servitude. It is my goal to provide all staff members a great work environment, financial incentives and proper tools to perform their functions.

What’s your take on the economics of outsourcing medical billing? Where’s the ROI for an office that’s considering going with an outside medical billing company like yours?
I tell physicians, “do what you do best and outsource the rest”. Your tax work is handled by a professional accountant, your legal work is handled by a professional attorney, who is handling your billing? Outsourcing your billing can sometimes be more expensive than keeping it in-house, however, the return should far outweigh the added cost.

Most practices do not have adequate resources in their billing department to do the right job. A great deal of money winds up being left on the table. There is a reason that the tallest buildings in most metropolitan cities are owned by insurance companies. A quality billing company will increase your collections at a rate that will far exceed the fee.

In addition, because the typical fee structure is based on a percentage of collections, not only does the billing company have “skin in the game” to do a good job, the billing overhead of the practice is better managed. If one or more physicians are out of the office on vacation resulting in lower charges, that eventually results in lower collections. With billing in-house the practice still pays salaries, benefits, software licenses etc. All the fixed costs remain in place regardless of collections that month. With outsourced billing company, the practice’s cost for billing is directly in proportion to the amount collected that month.

What are some of the biggest changes to medical billing that have happened over the past couple years?
EMR/EHR, PQRS, ePrescribing, HIPAA, Meaningful Use, Accountable Care Organizations, Value/Quality based reimbursement, Bundling, Health Insurance Exchanges, added governmental regulations, OIG compliance and soon…..ICD-10, ICD-10, ICD-10. ICD-10 will prove to be the biggest challenge to date. We’re ready!

How is medical billing going to be impacted by things like ACOs (Accountable Care Organizations) and value based reimbursement?
Someone will still need to make sure that services rendered are reimbursed properly. More challenging, someone will need to distribute …read more