In a society where government healthcare programs and mandates are making it all more difficult for private doctor offices to make money, there is light at the end of the tunnel, and it all starts with implementing the right tactics. Not only can higher profit levels lift the burden of feeling pushed toward employment, but it can also facilitate better patient care, which in return boosts profit levels even further.
Here’s a close look at seven effective ways for making money in your private practice in today’s competitive healthcare industry.
1. See One Extra Patient Per Day
Are you accustom to seeing only 10 patients per day? If so, why not boost this number to 11 or 12? One extra patient a day, five days a week can lead to a significant increase in your profit levels — thousands per month most likely. If you can’t squeeze in extra patients throughout the week, you may have to consider opening up your practice on Saturdays for half a day.
2. Hire Trustworthy Employees
Employee theft is one of the top causes of business closures, and this applies within the healthcare field. An excellent way to test workers for theft is by slipping extra money into the drawer every once in awhile and seeing if it comes up on the reconciliation sheet. If it doesn’t, then you know to fire the employee who handled the drawer.
3. Take Part in Clinical Trials
The core of your medical practice may not revolve around clinical trials, but a portion of it should. The average cost of delivering clinical trials is about $1,000 to $5,000 per patient — about 60 percent of this expense is actually profit. Plus, clinical research will help expand the services and treatments you can offer patients, will spurs practice growth.
4. Get Rid of the Overtime Employees
If you’re going to be in the office past 40 hours a week, make sure it’s just you and that you can handle all of the involved tasks – greeting the patient, answering the phone, finding charts, running insurance information, etc. By getting rid of overtime, you can save your practice a considerable amount of money.
5. Sell Cosmetic Products in the Office
One of the best ways to add extra income to your medical practice is by selling products out of the office. Whether it be magazines, food, drug samples, lotions, etc., your office should be a marketplace for your brand, and this includes providing your patients with the utmost convenience. They will enjoy being able to go to the doctor’s office and look around at different items while waiting to be seen.
6. Hire Medical Coding Specialists
One of the primary reasons that private medical practices lose so much money each year is because of improper coding. When you hire someone to handle your coding, it should be a professional coding specialists who has many years of experience in the coding industry. This person should also stay updated on today’s latest coding guidelines, including ICD-10.
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7. Mandate upfront co-payments
If you have 260 patients who don’t pay their $40 co-payment fees up front, you’re losing out on more than $10,000 each year. Sure, you might recover some of the co-payments, but if not collected within 90 days, there’s a good chance that you won’t recover them at all. By mandating that patients pay their co-payments up front, you’ll enjoy an increase in not only your overall profit levels but your cash flow, too.
The Takeaway
Medical practices seem to be dwindling away, but by implementing just a few strategies, your practice can be well on its way to boosting its profit levels and providing better patient care. If you want to let an expert take over your marketing or revenue cycle management (RCM) needs, We specializes in offering these services, saving your medical practice time, space, and money. Contact me via email at h.gibson@m-scribe.com or by calling 770-666-0470 to learn more about how we can grow your revenue and succeed together.
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