Running an efficient medical practice

The business office of a medical practice is one of the craziest places to be efficient. Every office I work with seems to be overwhelmed with trying to collect on insurance claims and private pay accounts. Each office seems to be understaffed and over worked. Most Doctors would rather treat patients and be left alone with the business side of the practice but it is the business side of the practice that helps to pay the bills. So what do we do when it seems we have tried everything and still cannot become efficient business offices?

Automation seems to be a wave of the future but who wants to put all of their trust in some of the software packages being sold today. There are horror stories that seem to circulate about every software package. Some are not HIPAA compliant or others seem to crash with certain amounts of data. When do we have the time to implement or even look at something new? Sure, it would be nice to be automated but it is time consuming and costly, especially when not implemented properly.

When I work with a medical practice or hospital my main focus is to insure the office is as efficient as possible. From the point of seeing the patient all the way through to helping to insure insurance claims are not stretched past 60 days without a dispute. Other offices would love to implement new software but they need a project manager to assist in the implementation to insure there is no downtime during the transition. At the same time office staff needs to be trained and patients continue to walk through the doors. A project implementation plan can help solve a lot of issues during transition and some simple procedures can be implemented that allow staff to concentrate on the most important part of the office, patient care.

Another common problem I see in practice management is a lack of policies and procedures that protect the cash flow of the office. Sure it is common nationally that medical practices experience a high rate of delinquent accounts for several reasons. One reason that can be eliminated is a lack of proper internal procedures. The proper internal procedures in a medical practice can reduce the number of patient accounts that go delinquent. They can also speed up the recovery of insurance claims.

An office that is not efficient does not mean it is run by an inefficient office manager. Most medical office managers are simply overwhelmed with the work load and they need additional assistance in seeing the practice from the outside. I am amazed at the difference in stress level office managers have before and after they get assistance from an outside consultant that helps them to implement proper policies and procedures.

For more information on running an efficient office contact Kevin McDugle at 918.409.5572 (Cell) or kmcdugle@expect3.com.