You and some colleagues have decided the time is right for your group
to start your own medical office. All of you have had the hospital
experience, and you’ve had enough. Your group wants to provide
healthcare services without all the frustrations that go with working
directly for a healthcare company. As the idea gains momentum, your new
physician’s office is soon to be a reality. It’s time to develop a base of patients, but even more important, this is a time for developing the back office infrastructure.
Since you’re starting out as a small group practice, your first
priority is creating an accurate and effective method of medical billing
and coding to generate cash flow. You need to have your receivables as
soon as possible. As you have spent your careers as physicians, setting
up a new office will require all of you to learn more about medical
billing and insurance payments. You’ll need a system that can do
auditing and submit claims quickly and accurately within 48 hours. The
claims process is important. You’ll want to have a billing system that
can verify the status of each claim. It will be important to have the
ability to identify any unpaid claims on a daily basis. And you’ll need
to review your results regularly and help your staff improve.
Setting up, staffing and building a medical office requires a sizable
investment. One of the items that can help in getting a quick return on
investment (ROI) is to consider outsourcing your physician medical
billing services. One of the major advantages to utilizing the services
of a medical billing company is the cost effectiveness it provides.
There will be no need to worry about hiring and training specialists to
enter correct medical codes, especially with all the upcoming changes
with ICD-10. There will be no need to hire someone to deal with the
minute details of a complex medical billing system. Using a medical
billing company means your group won’t have to pay expensive upfront
fees, but a pay-as-you-go fee-based model. If you want a fast, easy tool
to see if outsourcing medical billing is right for you, check out the
Medical Billing and Revenue Calculator.
Making the right
decisions up front on your infrastructure can help make your new
physician’s office both efficient and successful. Then you spend more
time helping patients, which after all, is the reason you wanted to
become a doctor in the first place.
If you opening up a new
medical practice, or “re-opening” a new practice after being a
hospitalist, Clinic Service is available to be a sounding board for you.
Feel free to call us anytime with questions, or you can ask a question
here and we’ll respond. We also have lots of free resources, tools and
articles on our website that are designed for doctors just like you.
Good luck with your new venture!
