Eggleston & Eggleston is proud to serve medical practice and hospitals in Virginia by providing an integrated approach to practice management with a personal touch. Here are our tips for Quarter 2 to keep your medical practice on track in 2022.
1. Physician Chart Audits
Physician chart audits are an essential part of running a successful medical practice. While a chart audit may seem daunting, it is easy to perform and will help your practice grow in many ways. This post discusses why physician chart audits are necessary and what you should expect from an audit.
What Is A Physician Chart Audit?
A physician chart audit is a written or verbal report that documents the findings of a physician’s performance evaluation. The review may provide an opportunity for improvement in patient care, attitude, and professionalism, such as a change in practice patterns or better treatment techniques, among others. Chart audits save time, money and help prevent any future mishaps. In addition, it can avert legal action against a medical practice or doctor.
Why Perform A Physician Chart Audit?
Excessive test results, multiple misdiagnoses, and wrong medications are not uncommon for physicians. The existence of these errors may cause a delay in the treatment of a patient’s condition or may lead to the development of additional complications. All the while, this negligence may result in a higher cost to the patient. Performing a physician chart audit regularly to prevent these errors is vital.
How Does Your Medical Practice Benefit From Regular Chart Audits?
Here are some of the benefits:
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- It shows areas that need improvement and immediate attention.
- Enhance and improve your practice’s reputation in the healthcare industry.
- Decrease debt ratio due to improved collection practice.
- Improve patient satisfaction, which will increase referrals and patients’ coming back in the future.
- Improves staff efficiency by reassigning workload to a more productive and easy-to-use system.
- Improving EMR or EHR data integrity to avoid potential legal consequences.
When it comes time to reduce the cost of medical care for your organization, you can use physician chart audits as part of your cost-reduction strategy.
Treatment Compliance
Physician chart audits make it easy to identify gaps in compliance with standard treatment protocols. When you can quickly and easily tell where physicians are not following established guidelines, you can focus on those areas and help them achieve better results.
Quality Improvements
Suppose there are areas where your doctors need to improve their care. In that case, physician chart audits help you identify these specific issues to implement changes that will improve patient results. With a better understanding of where things are going wrong, you can introduce changes that will directly impact reducing costs while improving the quality of care.
Research Studies
Physician chart audits offer an invaluable resource when it comes time to perform research studies. When you need to develop new treatments or medications, the information gathered from physician chart audits offers a solid foundation for any upcoming work.
For many medical facilities, the benefits of a physician chart audit are undeniable. A smart audit can make all the difference between thriving or becoming overwhelmed. With data-driven insights in hand, leaders can make critical improvements to their medical practice, resulting in better patient outcomes and financial rewards.
2. Consider Alternative Revenue Sources for Your Medical Practice
Running a medical practice is a challenge in itself. When you factor in situations such as variations to insurance reimbursement models and changes to the Affordable Care Act, it gets difficult to keep your business afloat. While you may not have been taught how to run a practice at medical school, years of experience have enlightened you that healthy revenue is crucial.
Revenue comes from the services you provide and although medicine is your core business, you can add other services to your roster. Not only will this help cushion you against dips in what your core business is bringing in, but it can also reduce financial pressure.
So, which are these alternative revenue sources?
Alternative Revenue Sources
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- Pharmacy or dispensing services
This one is highly subject to the drug regulations in your state, county, or city. However, if the jurisdiction you are operating in does allow you to run a pharmacy, it can be an excellent revenue source as it simplifies your clients’ work.
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- Cosmetic services
Minimally invasive cosmetic procedures have been on the rise. They include Botox injections, laser hair removal, dermal fillers, and chemical peels. Adding them to your medical practice will improve your revenue.
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- Weight loss with nutrition counseling
Americans spend billions annually on weight loss. This comes in the form of gym memberships, specialty food products, and diet counseling. You can choose to devise a medically supervised weight loss program or nutritionist services.
Why Should You Add Alternative Revenue Sources?
One significant reason to add alternative revenue services is the stability and safety they offer your business. Multiple sources of revenue decrease the risk of your business going down in case there is a downturn or other unforeseen eventuality.
Alternative revenue streams also mean you get to scale your business faster. More income means you can invest a considerable proportion in your business, as well as in other ventures. After all, wealth begets wealth.
3. Review of Payor Contracts
Every healthcare provider, including private medical practices, must deal with payor contracts. Managing and tracking payor contracts can be a daunting challenge that all health care providers face, regardless of their size.
Still, payor contracts do come with some benefits for your private practice. Read on to understand why payor contracts are crucial for the success of your medical practice.
What is a Payor Contract?
A payor contract is any contract with a physician or other healthcare provider and a Health Plan for reimbursement for their treatment of Health Plan’s members.
Most healthcare providers work with several different payors simultaneously, each with its own rules. The discrepancy in payor contracts is deliberate and a key component of payor strategy. Many payors will alter contract terms regularly to enhance reimbursement conditions.
Why Use a Payor Contract?
Over the last few years, reimbursement rates for all medical treatments have altered. As claims are more closely checked, many healthcare providers miss reimbursement because of ‘insufficient’ medical records or incorrectly denied claims.
Because of this, many healthcare providers are now working with insurance companies to negotiate payor contracts. Even while in-network services have a lower reimbursement rate, they are becoming a more reliable option.
How Does a Payor Contract Help My Medical Practice?
Although the reimbursement rate may be lower, going in-network comes with other benefits to increase your revenue.
#1. Access to a Wider Pool of Patients
Payor contracts could give you access to more patients. Even though you are paid less per service, having more patients could result in more revenue.
#2. Flexible, Negotiable Contracts
Payor contracts give you the power to negotiate your fees and what services are covered. You may negotiate a contract that will strategically boost your bottom line if you have the right information.
#3. Predictable Reimbursements
Payor contracts will streamline your claims process, reducing the possibility of claims being denied due to coding changes. The services covered by your payor contract, as well as the codes you should bill, will be outlined in your payor contract.
How We Can Help
Need our services? Wonder what we can do to help you serve your patients and your team?
Contact Eggleston & Eggleston Today!