Profitability of any organization depends upon getting higher revenues and lower costs than its competitors. No matter how big or small, new or developed, manufacturing or service, you can benefit from cutting everyday costs. However today I will concentrate on medical practices and show by adopting a few simple techniques how we can save a significant amount of money, which can be used to improve your practice.
Set up an effective billing structure
Whatever practice type you have, the vast majority of physicians will bill in some form. There are several aspects to doing this effectively
- Read your province’s schedule of benefits (fee book).
- Make a cheat sheet of frequently used codes in your specialty. Some of your colleagues may have already done this.
- Speak with others in your specialty. It is always good to see how others are doing and if required you can implement new techniques in your proactive.
- The fee schedule is vague, interpretation varies by docs and ministry assessors, and there is often more than one way to bill for the same thing. Only bill for what you do but learn to choose the best way to do so.
Makes sure that you chart adequately
As a physician billing for your services, you may also need to make sure that your charting captures the information needed to prove that you provided the services that you get paid for.
Common Mistakes:
- Not recording the referring physician for a consultation and giving them a written opinion.
- Start and stop times for time unit based fees.
- Procedure notes for common simple billable procedures.
- Not mentioning that you were called in for after-hours care (there may be a drive-in premium)
- Using the same diagnosis for different consults on a patient that address different issues. The same diagnosis may cause your code to be downgraded to a follow-up for the original problem.
A Good Accountant Is Like A best friend
A high-quality accountant will discuss the best options for you. This could be of some help with questions about payroll and your business plan. It also means helping you to tax-plan for your specific situation. Rather than just telling you to incorporate, they should discuss whether it is best for you. They can also save you from the predictable constant in life besides death – taxes.
Insurance
Make sure you have business insurance. I understand there is CMPA for malpractice however in order to do business it is good to have the insurance.
- Disability Insurance.
- Office/Clinic Insurance
Some other useful Techniques
- Leverage Technology
- Compare cost
- Sharing or renting out extra office space
- Cutting back on supplies
- Letting patients schedule their own appointments online
- Being aware of internal control.