However, with a clearinghouse you benefit from their edits. You know ahead of time, before the insurance company even gets the claim, that there is some sort of problem. It's certainly more desirable to know at that point of a problem and to correct it than to wait several weeks for the insurance company to send you out an EOB denying payment due to some error. I also believe in this day and age that providers expect that their claims will be processed electronically when using a billing service. There has been so much hype and publicity to the benefits and advantages of electronic claims that doctors are surely going to expect for you to send their claims that way.
Electronic claims are certainly a time-saver as well.
There is time saved in folding them, putting them in envelopes, and adding postage. There is less time spent on the phone following up since they are paid more promptly, have less errors, and there is less chance they will not make it to the insurance company. Using a clearinghouse enhances the services you provide and in no way limits your ability to produce reports that you would be able to do if you weren't using a clearinghouse. You can still file the claims directly to the carriers via paper claims but you could be holding up payments. It seems as if they are reimbursed more quickly with a clearinghouse as you have an automatic built in editing system.