Medical billing for small practices typically costs 4% to 10% of collected revenue. Where you land in that range depends on your specialty, claim volume, and how complex your billing requirements are.

Primary care practices with straightforward visit codes often pay closer to 4-6%. Specialties with higher-value procedures, complex coding, or extensive prior authorization requirements tend to pay 6-10%. The billing company takes on more work and more risk with denied claims in these situations, so the percentage reflects that added effort.

Volume matters too. A solo practitioner with $300,000 in annual collections pays a higher percentage than a group practice collecting $2 million. The billing company has fixed costs in managing your account regardless of size, so smaller practices pay proportionally more per dollar collected.

Some companies charge per-claim fees instead of percentages. You might see $4 to $10 per claim submitted. This can work for practices with high-value claims and lower volume. It backfires for practices submitting lots of smaller claims because you pay the same fee whether the reimbursement is $50 or $500.

Full-service medical billing should include patient eligibility and benefits verification, prior authorization handling, claims submission, payment posting, denial management and appeals, AR follow-up on unpaid claims, and regular reporting on practice performance. If a billing company quotes significantly below market rate, check what’s excluded. Eligibility verification and prior authorization often get carved out as add-on services. That low initial quote can climb quickly once you add back what you actually need.

Compare outsourced billing to in-house costs. A full-time medical biller in Michigan earns $35,000 to $50,000 in salary, plus benefits, plus practice management software licenses, plus training, plus someone to cover vacations and sick days. For a small practice, outsourcing often costs less and eliminates the management headache of hiring and supervising billing staff.

The real cost of billing goes beyond what you pay the billing company. Poor billing means denied claims that don’t get worked, slow follow-up that pushes collections out 90+ days, and eligibility issues that lead to patient balance write-offs. These revenue leaks often exceed what you’d save by choosing the cheapest billing option available.

Working with Macomb County bookkeepers who understand healthcare revenue cycles means your billing integrates with your overall practice finances. You see the complete picture of revenue, expenses, and profitability instead of managing billing as a separate function disconnected from your accounting.