Billing & Collections

Today's practice managers must plan proactively for the new year - finding new ways to cut costs and improve efficiencies.

When patients demur over paying for care, don't be a soft touch - there are things you can do to collect

It may sound like a great idea, but there are lots of financial questions to consider first. Do your homework on cashing in before you cash out.

Honesty may be the best policy. But is complete truthfulness the compassionate course in every case? Here's what you need to know about the legal, ethical, and professional issues around withholding information from patients.

Do you have an emergency plan in place? You should. Our disaster-planning checklist gets you started.

Here are some simple things you can do to help boost your revenue.

Although the primary purpose of our profession is to help heal and maintain the health of our patients, we are still business owners with salaries, taxes, and operating expenses to pay. This often means that we have to find ways to generate additional revenue, which raises the question, “Will offering ancillary services improve the profits in my practice?” They very well could.

Happy but worried, American physicians are sorting through the many changes their profession is seeing.

Charitable efforts in your office

Like most administrators, your education and experience have given you all the tools you need to help your practice succeed - Not that you’ll get the chance to prove it. When you find that your tasks are overwhelming your projects, that’s when it’s time to hire an assistant.

How good are your key accounts receivable processes? Do you even know what to measure? Find out how you are doing by entering key data from your practice and comparing your key measurements to industry benchmarks.

Here are the fourteen key measurements you need to make -- about once a quarter -- to measure your practice's financial health. We've made it easy for you. Just enter some information; we'll do the math.

CMS has released its proposed changes. Not sure how it will impact you? Have a gander at this. It'll give you what you need to prepare. We took it straight from the horse's mouth, straight from the proposed regulations.

Base your fee schedule on the Relative Value Unit (RVU) scale. We'll show you how -- and help you with the math.

Abstracted with permission from Chapter 4 of The Toyota Way by Jeffrey Liker. This chapter summarizes the principles of lean manufacturing, now being used in medical practices. Order the book at www.amazon.com.

This simple work sheet will let you compare your payers' reimbursement for specific procedure with your costs for each procedure. If you're spending more to provide a service than you're making for it, then it's time to address the problem.

Use this easy calculator to find out which of your payers are worth your efforts. By comparing the percentage of revenue to the percentage of patient encounters for each of your payers, you can tell at a glance which plans are the poor performers.

This is the first in a series of letters to use for patient collections.

Let new patients know about your policies from the get go. Follow these guidelines.

Get the full results of our latest reimbursement and charge schedule survey or read our analysis of the results.

Use this tool to see how Medicare's new fee schedule will impact your practice. This tool helps you translate Medicare's RVUs into dollars.

It’s hard to know how much is enough when it comes to recruiting and paying staff. Wouldn’t it be great if you knew what everyone else was paying their staff and could compare? Now you can. Our staff salary survey returns for a second year of national and regional salary stats, plus expert advice from seasoned veterans.

If your practice is cash strapped and you are thinking about cutting staff, consider other options first. Check out our relatively painless suggestions for lowering your practice overhead.

Electronic communication is omnipresent. Not only is it instantaneous, but in many ways it is becoming the standard of care. No longer does a practice need to create mountains of paperwork.

Want a sure way to make your staff feel valued while finding out what needs improvement? Just ask ’em. Here’s how to seek staff input.

Everyone wants a trustworthy financial planner, but how to find one? Here’s your guide to asking the right questions.

How to choose the right fund that will secure your retirement.

Here's a primer to assist your medical practice maintain its patient records and avoid any legal troubles.

When a drug that you prescribe often is recalled, you’re going to get swamped with calls and questions. Better to have a recall response plan in place before trouble strikes.