When considering what generates revenue for your practice, what comes to mind first? Many might say it’s the practitioners, as they are the ones directly providing services to patients. However, while practitioners play a crucial role, the reality is that revenue generation is a comprehensive process involving the entire practice.
My motivation for writing this article is to encourage you to look deeper into the whole revenue generator process.
Practitioners: The Frontline Revenue Drivers
Practitioners are indeed central to the revenue generation process. They see and treat patients, and their performance directly impacts the financial health of the practice. Therefore, managing their workload and productivity is essential.
However, their success is usually measured by these metrics:
- The minimum number of patients each practitioner must see weekly
- The expected dollar amount of sales they should deliver monthly
By setting clear expectations for the entire practice, you can better manage and optimize the revenue contribution from each practitioner. But this is just one piece of the puzzle.
The Bigger Picture: Efficient Practice Management
Generating revenue involves more than just the interactions between practitioners and patients. It requires an efficient and well-coordinated effort across various departments. Let’s explore the broader perspective:
- Cost of Seeing a Patient
- How streamlined and efficient is your patient check-in process? Delays here can set back the entire chain of service.
- How quickly can practitioners generate procedure codes to initiate verification and authorization? Speed and accuracy are crucial at this stage.
- Purchasing Efficiency
- Is your purchasing process lean and efficient whereby everything is procured correctly and timely the first time around? Mistakes here can be costly and time-consuming.
- Lab Efficiency
- Is your lab well-stocked, and does it communicate effectively to ensure that items are put into fabrication immediately? Delays can lead to patient and referral dissatisfaction and potential revenue loss.
- Scheduling for Delivery
- How quickly and efficiently are patients scheduled for delivery of their orthoses or prostheses? Timely scheduling is vital for maintaining patient satisfaction and steady revenue flow. But this must be coordinated with authorizations, and effective communication is critical.
- Delivery and Billing
- How long does it take to send the delivery information to the billing department? The faster this process, the quicker the billing cycle can commence.
- How effective is your billing department? Ensuring that claims are compliant and collected accurately (making sure claims are scrubbed correctly, the reimbursement is correctly posted, and write-offs are minimized) is crucial for maintaining a healthy cash flow.
Managing and Measuring for Success
To truly understand and optimize your revenue generation, it’s essential to manage and measure each step of the process meticulously. If you’re not monitoring every aspect, you could be missing out on significant revenue opportunities. Establishing standards and key performance indicators (KPIs) for each department is a vital step in this process.
- Define clear standards for each department to ensure everyone knows what is expected. These standards should cover every aspect, from patient check-in to billing.
- Regularly measure KPIs to monitor performance and identify areas for improvement. Monthly reviews can help keep everyone accountable and ensure that each department contributes effectively to the practice’s overall revenue and success.
By viewing your entire practice as a cohesive revenue generator and managing it accordingly, you can ensure that every step, from patient interaction to billing, is optimized for efficiency and profitability. This comprehensive approach will help you maximize revenue and ensure the long-term success of your practice.
Erin Cammarata is president and owner of CBS Medical Billing and Consulting. She can be contacted at [email protected].
