Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Medical Billing Company

Choosing a medical billing company is one of the highest-stakes vendor decisions a practice makes, because the wrong partner quietly costs you revenue for months before you notice. The right questions surface the difference before you sign. This is a practical checklist of what to ask — and what good answers sound like. For a broader framework, pair it with our guide on how to choose a medical billing company.

Questions About Performance

A serious partner commits to outcomes in writing, not vague promises. Ask:

• What clean-claim rate, denial rate, and days-in-A/R do you commit to — and will you put it in the contract?
• How quickly do you work a denial once it posts?
• How and how often will I see reporting on these numbers?
• Can you share results for practices in my specialty?

Questions About Pricing & Contract

Rate alone is misleading; what matters is what’s included and whether you’re locked in. Understand the full cost before comparing — see our breakdown of what it costs to outsource medical billing.

• Is this percentage-of-collections, per-claim, or hybrid?
• Are setup fees, statement costs, or clearinghouse fees extra?
• Is there a long-term contract or minimum, and what’s the exit process?
• Who owns my data and patient records if I leave?

Questions About Scope & Service

“Billing” means very different things to different vendors. Confirm exactly what they handle end to end.

• Do you handle coding review, denials, appeals, patient collections, and credentialing — or only claim submission?
• Who is my day-to-day contact, and what’s your response time?
• How do you handle eligibility and prior authorization?
• What happens during staff turnover on your side?

Red Flags to Watch For

Be cautious of any partner who won’t commit to metrics in writing, is vague about what’s included, requires a long lock-in with no performance guarantee, or can’t explain how you’d offboard. These are the signs that the relationship is built to benefit the vendor, not your practice.

How Aethera Answers These

Aethera commits to performance targets in writing, prices on a percentage of collections with no setup fees or long-term contract, and handles the full cycle — coding, claims, denials, collections, and credentialing. The simplest way to judge us is to test the math: a free revenue assessment shows you what we’d recover before you commit to anything.