Overview of Family Practice
Few of us believe that family practice physicians are adequately paid for the valued care they deliver to patients and the health care system. As an established medical billing and coding organization, we regularly observe how desperately clinicians need primary care payment reform.
Agreed that there is a better future for the healthcare industry on the horizon, but as of now, we have to make the best of what the dysfunctional healthcare system offers. For many doctors whose reimbursement depends partly on our productivity, increasing gross revenue is vital to your success.
Family practitioners can protect their revenue stream by being equipped to provide as many procedural services as possible and also by making sure that they are billing and coding for the minor procedures that they already perform but might not know that you can be paid for.
Strategies to Increase Your Family Practice Revenue
Review the Scheduling Practices
The single most significant move family practitioners can make to increase revenue with minimal effort is regularly working with an extra patient during lunch or at the end of the day. The road to a positive bottom line may be as straightforward as this.
Moreover, you may need to polish up how your appointments are scheduled. For instance, if appointments are booked in a standard 15-minute format, one might spend more time waiting for patients than one should. If the appointments are all reserved at the top of the hour, the patients might wait longer than they should. In our experience, the modified-wave schedule is the most efficient approach for family practice.
A modified-wave system plans two 15-minute appointments in the hour: one 15 minutes later and the next 30 minutes after the hour. Usually, there is no appointment 45 minutes after the hour, giving you time for a 30-minute appointment, an extra work-in patient, and time to take phone calls or look into the documentation.
A modified-wave system also ensures you are not behind schedule before you begin. If you start seeing patients at 10 a.m. and one doesn’t arrive on time, the chances are the other patient with a 10 a.m. appointment will.
Work Smartly!!
Get into a huddle. Yes, you heard that right!! Each morning, start your day with a ten-minute meeting with all the office staff members to save you valuable time later. The purpose of this huddle is to review the day’s schedule and forestall information needs or special cases that may arise during the day and need your attention.
Delegate work to staffers who don’t require a physician’s license. Don’t spend much time on patient-care-related tasks that don’t need a medical degree. Ask yourself whether you would pay another clinician to do the same thing. Delegate as many administrative tasks as you can to other people. For example, let the experts in family practice medical billing and coding handle the tedious reimbursement work while you understand your practice’s operations well.
Have Multiple Revenue Streams and Procedures
It’s critical to realize the extent to which your practice drives your income cycle and to consider decisions that would narrow it carefully. Whether it’s performing a particular medical procedure for nursing home patients, completing obstetrics, or taking care of patients in the hospital, think of these services as a revenue stream for your practice’s income cycle.
Letting go of even one of these services means cutting down the revenue stream, which can be difficult to reclaim, predominantly when procedural skills or privileges have failed.
In the end…
It would be negligent of us not to acknowledge that revenue is only a part of the net income equation. Remember that a dollar of expense saved is as good as a dollar of gross revenue earned.
So, if you want to boost family practice revenue with minimal effort, contact us today at 888-357-3226 or visit our medical billing and coding services website for further information on a specialty.
FAQs
1. Why is revenue optimization important for family practice physicians?
Revenue optimization ensures family practitioners receive fair compensation for their valuable care, helping maintain their financial health.
2. How can a modified-wave scheduling system benefit my practice?
A modified-wave schedule reduces patient wait times and maximizes appointment efficiency, helping you see more patients and increase revenue.
3. What are the benefits of delegating tasks in family practice?
Delegating non-medical tasks to staff frees up time for physicians to focus on patient care, improving productivity and patient satisfaction.
4. How do multiple revenue streams impact family practice income?
Offering a range of procedures and services diversifies revenue, provides a more stable income, and helps meet patient needs.
5. How can medical billing services help boost family practice revenue?
Outsourcing billing to experts ensures accurate coding, timely claim submission, and reduced denials, maximizing revenue for family practices.
