Based on a PracticeCare® podcast conversation, Katie Nunn on Automation and Outsourcing Tips for Private Practice, with Katie Nunn, founder of Bright Ideas Medical Consulting and co-owner of Vital Care Family Practice.
What’s the actual difference between automation and outsourcing?
Automation removes a step from a process, usually by taking a human out of it. Two examples: a patient sending a message through a portal instead of calling and having someone write down the message. AI-assisted claim scrubbing in billing is another version of the same idea. The process runs without a person doing every step.
Outsourcing is different: it’s handing a function to an outside expert instead of doing it in-house. IT and HIPAA compliance are Nunn’s go-to examples, because both require deep expertise a small practice doesn’t need full-time. Neither automation nor outsourcing is “set it and forget it,” Both still need active oversight, just less of it than running the whole process internally.
What do practices actually get from embracing both?
Three things: expertise, efficiency, and capacity. Outsourcing buys expertise you either don’t have or can’t keep current on your own. Efficiency comes from someone who does a task daily being faster and more accurate than someone who does it a few times a year. And capacity solves the physical problem — no more desks, no more chairs, sometimes literally no more room in the building for another employee.
Cost isn’t always the selling point. Outsourcing something can cost more than doing it in-house and still be worth it if the quality gap justifies the price. It depends entirely on what’s being outsourced.
Why do some practices resist, and what happens if they wait too long?
Compare this to deferred home maintenance: skip small updates for years, and eventually you’re facing a $30,000 overhaul instead of a series of manageable changes. Practices that put off automation and outsourcing face the same math — implementing something new every year or two is a lot less painful than catching up all at once.
There’s also a patient-facing risk. Younger patients in particular expect practices to communicate the way they already communicate — texting, online scheduling, digital paperwork, to name a few. A practice that looks outdated reads as a red flag about the quality of care, not just the technology.
What’s the single best thing to outsource, and why?
Credentialing. Nunn calls it one of the best options because it’s usually inexpensive relative to the risk of getting it wrong: a new provider who isn’t properly credentialed can go unpaid for months.
It also scales in surprising directions. One large cardiovascular practice Nunn’s company took on had two staff members handling credentialing internally. That was more capacity than the job actually required. Outsourcing it ended up costing less than the two salaries combined.
What’s the deal with offshore virtual staffing?
Nunn’s practice recently started outsourcing repetitive administrative work, like triaging incoming faxes and handling insurance authorizations, to a Pakistan-based team through a company called Hubcom. These are back-office tasks that have to get done but don’t require domestic staff.
The economics are part of the appeal: roughly $13 an hour compared to $20 or more domestically, with no benefits or turnover risk to manage. But Nunn is candid that she tested it inside her own practice first before recommending it to.
What automation tools are actually worth it right now?
Patient portals remain underused, even by practices that have had one for a decade. Nunn’s own portal went down during a snowstorm, and the resulting phone volume made clear the portal was doing the work of at least one full-time employee on its own.
Remote patient monitoring is another one worth a second look. And for administrative writing tasks, Nunn now uses AI directly: she had ChatGPT draft a formal contract-termination letter in minutes, something that would have otherwise taken hours out of an already full day.
How should a practice manager get physician buy-in for a change like this?
Expect resistance by default. Nunn says physicians are trained to find problems, so pitching automation or outsourcing without data is a fast way to get shot down. The fix is coming prepared: show call center wait times, show how many faxes come in daily, show the actual cost comparison. These are numbers physicians haven’t seen because they don’t work the fax machine themselves.
Framing matters too. Positioning a change as a headcount reduction creates resistance; positioning it as reconfiguring work around attrition or growth lands very differently.
Where should a practice owner start if they don’t know where to begin?
Talk to peers first. Nunn regularly compares notes with other practice administrators in her area, since they’re rarely direct competitors and are usually glad to share what’s working. Look at more than one vendor before choosing, since options vary widely in quality.
Beyond that: check what your existing software already automates and isn’t being used, and consider a formal practice assessment. Think of one as an annual physical, done proactively rather than only when something’s clearly broken, to establish a baseline and catch pain points before they compound.
A final note
None of this is really about chasing the newest tool. It’s about being honest about which tasks are draining your team without adding much value, and being willing to hand them. Practices that make a habit of asking that question stay lean without burning out the people doing the work that actually matters.
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