Improving Accounting in Your Physician Practice: What to Look For

While accounting may not be at the forefront of most healthcare entities’ minds, it plays a vital role in understanding and improving the financial health of your practice. We often see practice managers and even physicians handling tasks related to the accounting process when their time is better spent running the practice and patient care. Let’s explore a few ways to ensure that your accounting process is efficient, automated and accurate. 

Having the right accounting software in place can significantly improve your reporting capabilities and overall financial visibility. The right tools allow you to better manage costs, analyze performance across your practice, and ultimately improve profitability.

Does your accounting software meet your reporting needs? Do you need income statements by physician or location? Choosing a solution that fits your specific needs, such as detailed reporting by provider or location, can help you make more informed decisions.

While a more dynamic software solution may come with higher upfront costs, the value it brings in actionable insights and long-term savings is often worth the investment.

Are many of your accounting functions still manual processes? Cloud-based tools can automate key processes like bill pay, dashboards, and financial reporting, reducing time spent on data handling and lowering the risk of human error. Automation enables your team to focus more on strategy and less on administrative tasks.

Effective revenue cycle management is key to understanding your practice’s financial position and planning for the future.

Are you looking to understand what future cash flow looks like? Does your electronic health record (EHR) allow you to pull detailed historical cash runouts or ‘waterfall reports’? These waterfall reports allow you to project future cash flows, allowing you to make more informed business decisions, whether that be personnel bonuses or investments back into the practice.

Would you like to decrease the number of claim denials? Setting policies and procedures within the billing department to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the information within the EHR can help reduce claim denials. This includes segregating duties between the nurses and/or doctors and the billing department to reduce the risk of inaccurate or incomplete information.

Effective accounting isn’t just about compliance. It’s a tool that helps drive better decision-making, improve profitability and free up time for what matters most: patient care. By embracing the right technology and streamlining your processes, your practice can gain clearer financial insight and operate more efficiently.

Author: Tessa Liberi, CPA | [email protected]