6 Best Medical Billing Software for Small Practices

Running a small medical practice involves juggling various administrative tasks, and managing billing efficiently is one of the most crucial ones. The right medical billing software can help streamline operations, reduce errors, and ensure timely payments.

For small practices, the choice of software should balance cost-effectiveness with robust functionality. Here, we explore six top medical billing software solutions ideal for small practices.

1. Medesk

Medesk is a comprehensive cloud-based practice management software with a medical billing module. The software offers not only billing but also includes features for appointment scheduling, electronic health records (EHR), patient management, an extensive reporting module, and much more.

The Medesk billing module helps you track and manage payment processes, generate invoices, handle claims, and do payroll calculations.

Advantages

User-friendly interface. The Medesk interface is intuitive, making it easy for staff to navigate and manage billing processes without extensive training. You can carry out most accounting activities in one place.

Automated billing and claims. The software automates the billing process, reducing manual errors and ensuring that claims are submitted promptly. It also tracks the status of claims and flags any issues that need attention.

Automation of insurance claims can reduce processing time from a month to a maximum of two weeks.

Comprehensive reporting. Reports in Medesk are created in a few clicks: select parameters and get graphical or text analyses on insurance, payments, trends, outstanding payments, accounts receivable, ageing reports, and much more.

Integration сapabilities. Medesk is not only billing software. It is a complete PMS, which includes electronic medical records, stock, laboratory module, as well as the ability to integrate with many services. One of the important ones is Xero accounting. All of your invoices are automatically exported to Xero and dates possibilities to get a detailed billing and accounting reporting.

Patient portal. The patient portal allows patients to view their billing information and make payments online, improving the patient experience and reducing the administrative burden on staff.

Tags. You can use coloured tags to separate different types of payments and invoices. For example, tag insurance-related items, debts, or customer accounts with sufficient current balances. This way, you can create complex reports and offer additional services to different types of customers.

Pricing

Plans start at $20 per month with the Mini plan. The most popular tariff, Pro, which includes all the necessary features for automated billing, costs $28 per month.

The platform provides an opportunity to evaluate the convenience of its billing solutions for healthcare practices and offers a free trial period of 15 days.

2. Kareo

Kareo is a popular choice among healthcare providers because it combines medical billing, EHR, and practice management. The billing module is designed to handle the entire revenue cycle management, from patient check-in to final payment. It includes features for claims processing, patient billing, and accounts receivable tracking.

Advantages

Comprehensive functionality. Kareo provides a full suite of tools needed for managing billing, claims, and patient accounts: automated patient billing, reports, charges, and payments.

A/R management. This feature allows you to reduce your accounts receivable days through end-to-end claim tracking.

Insurance verification. The software includes real-time insurance verification, reducing the chances of claim rejections due to insurance issues.

User support. Kareo offers extensive customer support, including onboarding and training.

Billing analytics. The software allows you to create financial health dashboards that you can modify and edit according to your organisation's needs.

Pricing

Kareo's pricing starts at $150 per user per month. In order to find out the exact cost of a subscription, you should contact the company representatives.

While this is on the higher side for small practices, the comprehensive functionality and support may justify the cost for some of them.

3. DrChrono

DrChrono by EverHealth is a practice management platform that offers medical billing, EHR, and clearinghouses in one package. Its billing module provides tools for claim submission, tracking, and management, as well as patient billing and payment collection.

The software supports a wide range of medical specialties for small and large practices, including multispecialties.

Advantages

Integration with EHR. The integration helps link payments to a specific patient and his or her medical record. This linkage reduces the number of errors in invoices and denials during claims processing, which is important for increasing the clinic's clean claim rate.

Real-time insurance eligibility. The feature allows you to check insurance validity in real time before a patient is seen, or even run a check on all insurance in bulk.

Good faith estimates. The platform, in accordance with the No Surprises Act, allows patients who pay for services themselves, without insurance, to know the cost of the services they will receive before they visit the clinic.

HIPAA compliance. The software is fully HIPAA-compliant. It means that patient information is secured.

Pricing

DrChrono offers tiered pricing plans starting at $199 per provider per month for the basic plan. This cost can increase based on additional features and the size of the practice.

There is no exact breakdown of prices on the website; for details, please contact the company's managers.

4. AdvancedMD

AdvancedMD is a cloud-based software designed to support both small and large practices and all roles of these practices. It offers comprehensive tools for managing billing, claims, and patient accounts.

The software includes advanced features such as electronic remittance advice (ERA), automated charge capture, and detailed financial reporting. AdvancedMD supports a variety of billing models, including insurance billing, self-pay, and hybrid models.

Advantages

Scalability. The software is scalable, making it a good option for small practices looking to grow. It can handle increasing patient volumes and more complex billing needs over time.

Claims management. The platform's advantage is ClaimsInspector. This feature analyses claims for errors in HIPAA compliance and CCI. The result is a lower denial rate and a higher clean claim rate.

Extensive reporting. AdvancedMD offers detailed reporting capabilities. Reporting dashboards can be modified using drag-and-drop functionality. A report generator allows you to build any report with custom parameters.

Clearinghouse. The function checks each claim for compliance with insurance company rules and ensures accurate medical coding. ERA processing simplifies managing unexpected payment amounts.

Pricing

AdvancedMD's pricing is custom-quoted based on the specific needs of the practice. However, small businesses can expect to pay around $429 per provider per month for the billing module alone. This cost includes setup fees and training.

5. TheraNest

TheraNest is designed primarily for mental health professionals, but its key features make it a great option for small practices in various specialties. The software includes billing tools for managing claims, generating invoices, and processing payments.

It includes telehealth functions and unlimited note templates for individual or group sessions.

Advantages

Specialisation in mental health. TheraNest meets the specific billing needs of mental health professionals. It takes into account the fact that mental health professionals are quite burdened with paperwork and frees them from it as much as possible.

Batch invoicing and statements. The feature reduces billing time and allows payments to be processed and applied quickly.

Client portal. The portal, accessible from a mobile phone, allows customers to pay by credit card and view their balance information.

Codes and forms. TheraNest gives you the ability to create, upload, and print CMS-1500 forms, as well as use up-to-date CPT codes.

Claims eligibility verification. Like AdvancedMD, TheraNest offers the option of claim validation so that you don't have to deal with insurance companies and denials. If a claim rejection occurs, the platform takes responsibility for determining the causes and correcting the errors.

Pricing

TheraNest pricing plans start at $39 per month for solo practitioners, with the price increasing based on the number of clients and additional features. The platform offers a 21-day free trial.

6. NextGen

NextGen is a comprehensive EHR system with many modules and medical billing services. NextGen also integrates with practice management systems, providing a unified platform for small practices.

It has its own AI assistant that automates SOAP note filling thanks to speech recognition functions.

Advantages

Claims management. The service automates claim submission and reduces resubmissions. It helps maximise revenue with a predictive rules engine that ensures all your claims are accepted after the first submission.

Patient portal. NextGen allows patients to view bills and make payments online with multiple payment options: credit cards, Google Pay, Apple Pay, and payment plans via InstaMed.

Scalability. You can scale with the practice's growth, supporting increasing patient volumes and complexity. The software offers two RCM solutions: mid-sized to enterprise practices and small practices.

Pricing

NextGen costs range from $299 to $549 per provider per month, depending on the specific plan, number of users, and features required.

Summing Up

Each of these six medical billing software options is a good option for small practices. Investing in the right billing software not only simplifies administrative tasks but also ensures that your practice maintains a healthy financial flow, allowing you to focus more on patient care.

1. Medesk integrates billing with EHR and patient management, offering automated billing and claims tracking, extensive financial reporting, and a patient portal for online payments.
2. Kareo offers robust claims management, real-time insurance verification, and extensive customer support.
3. DrChrono supports claims submission and tracking, customizable billing workflows, and HIPAA compliance.
4. AdvancedMD's flexible billing models and detailed financial reporting make it suitable for practices looking to scale.
5. TheraNest, though primarily designed for mental health professionals, is versatile enough for various specialties.
6. NextGen offers advanced claims management, a patient portal with multiple payment options, and scalability to support growing practices.

For more details on each software option, feel free to explore the links provided to understand which one fits your practice best. Subscribe to our blog, where we post lots of useful compilations, from EMR and EHR integration to payroll and digital signature apps.