Client Charges

by Ms Jackson
(Dallas, Tx)

How do I figure out what to charge a client for my billing services? Do I charge per claim or a flat rate per month? which is better and how much should I charge if I choose to charge per claim? Is the going rate $4 per claim or can you give me suggestions. Also, what is the best technique to acquiring clients?

Response:

I’ve always used percentage for my clients - not necessarily because that’s my preference but the clients seem to be most comfortable with it. They feel it gives the billing service more incentive.

That percentage differs depending on the services the client wants, the type of practice, etc. For example a specialty practice that has few claims of large amount might be a lower percentage than a family practice that has a lot of claims and patients - but the charges per claim are less and therefore more work. There’s other things to consider also such as if they have a lot of Medicare/Medicaid patients as the write-off’s may be higher thus reducing the amount you would be paid on.

What I try to do is figure what my costs will be to serve the client and then add to it what I’m comfortable with as far as profit. I’ve heard accounting folks recommend charging about three times your costs. This would include your material, clearinghouse, software, labor, overhead, etc. If you are just providing claim filing then I would determine my costs, add your desired profit, and divide by the estimated number of claims to get a cost per claim.

There’s a lot of different opinions on how to structure charges - percentage, per claim, or flat fee. I like the idea of flat fee, but haven’t used it yet. There’s more discussion on pricing your services here including a good book reference on pricing your services.

Hope this helps.

Thanks,

Gina