B E F O R E T R Y I N G T O increa se the
bottom line, you first need to know the
financial health of your medical practice.
Perhaps consider contacting Concordis
Practice Management LLC to schedule
a complimentary one-hour consultation
to discuss how our team of experts can
assess your practice by performing an
operational assessment or revenue cycle
review. These assessments will provide
a road map to improve operational efficiencies, evaluate costs
and have a positive impact on your profitability.
Ensuring your appointment schedule meets the provider's
availability is important to maintaining a steady revenue stream.
While it may seem counter-intuitive, your profits will be higher by
retaining your current patients opposed to adding new patients.
With that stated, new patients are still very important to the
longevity of the medical practice. The costs could be six times
more for the new patient examination versus the steady stream
of established patients who keep coming back to your practice
because of the patient experience they feel each visit. What
systems do you have in place to ensure patients receive preventive
examinations, follow up after the physician has ordered laboratory
or imaging studies or make calls regarding a missed appointment?
Hand-in-hand with the appointment schedule is the efficient
use of physician assistants and advanced practice registered
nurses to provide same-day appointments for those patients
with acute problems. The patients who can be worked into the
schedule will be additional revenue for the practice.
Speaking of missed appointments, have you considered using
virtual appointments to fill these gaps in the physician's schedule?
The medical assistants should be able to assist you with patients
who have called the office with questions regarding an acute or
chronic medical issue. The virtual appointments are billable visits
if performed correctly. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services describes code G2012 as "a brief communication
technology-based service when the patient checks in with the
practitioner via telephone or other telecommunications device
to decide whether an office visit or other service is needed."
Requirements include:
+ Limited to established patients
+ Can't be related to an office visit in the previous seven days
+
Can't result in being seen for a next available office appointment
or within 24 hours, and
+ Must have five to 10 minutes of medical discussion
There is a dow nside to using the G2012, which is the
$2.50 copayment for the Medicare beneficiary.
We all understand that expenses are increasing, while reim-
bursement remains flat or gradually decreasing. The medical
practice manager can review every vendor contract in the
practice, and the reality is that any attempt to negotiate lower
prices is time consuming with minimal results. While it's not
impossible, it is difficult to negotiate higher reimbursement
from the commercial payers. Perhaps the focus to increase
revenue would be to add ancillary services or "cash" services
to your practice?
Finally, the medical practice must work to decrease "no-show"
and canceled appointments, which could cost the practice
thousands of dollars each year. Establish policies for your staff
to follow when a patient misses an appointment. In addition to
lost revenue, a missed important appointment to review test
results could result in a bad outcome for the patient.
C o n c o r d i s P r a c t i c e M a n a g e m e n t L L C i s r e a d y t o
assist your medical practice become more efficient. Call us
at 210-704-1014 today to schedule a consult or visit our website
at concordispm.com.
n
Tom Tidwell
How to Increase Profits
in a Medical Practice
BY TOM TIDWELL
THERE HAVE BEEN NUMEROUS ARTiCLES
WRiT TEN ABOUT THiS TOPiC, AND YOU MAY
A SK "WHY SHOULD i RE AD THiS ONE?" THE
SHORT ANSWER iS, YOU MAY PiCK UP A NE W TiP
OR T WO.
References:
+
evisit.com/resources/9-tips-to-increase-medical-practice-revenue/
+ practicebuilders.com/ blog/5-ways-to-improve-your- medical-
practices-profitability/
+ cleargage.com/increase-medical-practice-revenue/
+
physicianspractice.com/finance/secret-more-profitable-practice-out
+ physicianspractice.com/coding/reality-virtual-check-coding
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