Seeing your patients improve their mobility and quality of life is rewarding, but it doesn’t necessarily pay the bills. It doesn’t take long to realize that you need to manage the business side of your practice with as much attention as you give to the care provided.
How good are you at managing your business? Do you have the staff support you need? Do you have the right software to provide the information you need to control daily, weekly, and monthly business activities and finances? This three-part series will discuss the daily challenges of managing a chiropractic business, starting with optimizing task management.
The following tasks can make or break your practice. They are essential to your practice’s financial success, ensuring that resources are available to treat your patients. Who completes each task isn’t as critical as your confidence the job is done successfully and consistently.
1. Assembling weekly and monthly reports with a cohesive system to complete tasks, manage staff, control income flow, and support employee satisfaction, all while efficiently managing your time.
2. Accomplishing prompt new-patient intake management from the first phone call to the first patient visit.
3. Entering new-patient administrative data thoroughly and accurately.
4. Observing accurate daily patient check-in and check-out procedures.
5. Completing daily treatment visit notes within 24 hours to ensure income flow.
6. Monitoring charts for accuracy to avoid payment denials and support patient care.
7. Billing for patient visits within 24 hours of completed visit notes to ensure income flow.
8. Reconciling ERA information, including posting, deposit correlation, and revenue.
9. Troubleshooting accounts receivable information.
10. Graphically following 30/60/90 outstanding revenues.
11. Using an EHR that allows you to analyze and troubleshoot this information efficiently.
Rating the practice processes in each area will provide an objective benchmark and quickly highlight areas that need improvement. Rate your performance on each item listed using the following three-point task analysis worksheet. The results will help you identify areas of strength and areas needing improvement. Total your points when you finish and then divide the total by 10 to understand how well you manage important daily business tasks.
If you’re not hitting the mark in these areas, it may be time to consider a change in processes, additional staffing, or new practice software. When optimizing your practice, keeping a pulse on the day-to-day workflow and decreasing inefficiencies are critical for longterm success.
SCORE ANALYSIS
2.5 to 3.0 = Congratulations, you are on the right track!
2.0 to 2.4 = Needs significant improvement
Less than 2.0 = Seek help now!
Total points:
Total points divided by 10:
Kama Morrow, CPC, RCC, CCS-P, is the client services director for Practice EHR. She has spent nearly three decades in the industry, leading electronic health record (EHR) implementations and providing consulting and training for various healthcare organizations. Morrow is a frequent contributor to highly regarded industry publications and national conferences, providing insights on practice management, coding, billing, and other industry-related topics.
Gretchen Bebb, MS, CCC-SLP, MM, is the allied health services manager for Practice EHR. In her role, she focuses on expanding Practice EHR's allied health service offerings. With over 30 years in the allied health space, Gretchen uses her experience and service with numerous industry associations to align with clients' challenges and trends.
For more information about Practice EHR, email [email protected], visit www.practiceehr.com, or call 469-305-7171.
