Is Your Practice in Need of a Wellness Visit?

by  Valora Gurganious, MBA CHBC
Oct 7th, 2016 - Reviewed/Updated Aug 17th

Are you finding yourself frustrated that you are working harder than ever but your practice income continues to drop? Are patients expressing greater frustration with longer wait times at your office? Is your staff morale declining and your own stress level is rising each day in the face of increasingly complex regulatory compliance and documentation guidelines? While providers have mastered his/her clinical skills, you or your practice manager may have no idea where to begin to address the overall "wellness" of the practice.

Perhaps a practice "wellness coach" could help you diagnose and better treat the business of your medical practice. A professional Practice Assessment by a qualified practice management consultant, like those at DoctorsManagement, LLC could help you identify operational inefficiencies, missed revenue opportunities, and areas in which your practice may be vulnerable to risk of audit or penalties. This "checkup" of your practice's overall health could catch problems early and keep your focus on a strategic vision toward long-term success and fulfillment in your career.

A professional Practice Assessment begins with a history and physical of your practice. Your consultant will conduct a battery of tests to evaluate your practice operations and performance relative to nationally-recognized industry benchmarks within your specialty. You will see how your revenues, expenses, staffing levels, and profitability compare to your peers across the country. If your practice exhibits outliers in specific areas of performance and operations, your consultant will then "drill down" to understand why they occurred, and subsequently workunderstand why they occurred, and subsequently work with you to craft a plan of care to address those deficiencies and make them work within your practice.

Your consultant can work with you to identify issues and formulate solutions to address:

• Sliding practice profit and loss

• Rising accounts payable and operating expenses Declining staff morale

• Dated managed care contracts that may be in need of renegotiation

• Service lines that are not meeting the changing needs of your patient population

• Rising collections expenses, accounts receivable and bad debt write-offs

• Non-compliant EMR that is not capturing and reporting measures on your costs of care and patient outcomes

• Sluggish patient flow that exhibits frequent bottlenecks

• Outdated or inadequate office space and equipment Inappropriately-trained staff on proper protocols with respect to patient care, insurance, billing, chart documentation and regulatory compliance

• A practice that is not on the long-term path to your secure and comfortable retirement.

The business of your practice needs as much care and attention as your patients need from you. Your practice management consultant can advise you on how you can best position your practice for long-term health and business success with the least disruption and lowest cost possible, based upon the consultant's experience and track record of results with other practices.

As a provider or practice manager, you must realize that you not only improve the health and well-being of the patients you serve, but that you are operating a multi-million dollar business. You provide stable, well-paying jobs to your staff and their families, and you provide income-security and long-term support to your own family. Your practice IS your business, and it is critical to maintain its overall wellness with a consultation from a trained specialist in the business of medicine!