ENTtoday
  • Home
  • Practice Focus
    • Allergy
    • Facial Plastic/Reconstructive
    • Head and Neck
    • Laryngology
    • Otology/Neurotology
    • Pediatric
    • Rhinology
    • Sleep Medicine
  • Departments
    • Issue Archive
    • TRIO Best Practices
      • Allergy
      • Facial Plastic/Reconstructive
      • Head and Neck
      • Laryngology
      • Otology/Neurotology
      • Pediatric
      • Rhinology
      • Sleep Medicine
    • Career Development
    • Case of the Month
    • Everyday Ethics
    • Health Policy
    • Legal Matters
    • Letter From the Editor
    • Medical Education
    • Online Exclusives
    • Practice Management
    • Resident Focus
    • Special Reports
    • Tech Talk
    • Viewpoint
    • What’s Your O.R. Playlist?
  • Literature Reviews
    • Allergy
    • Facial Plastic/Reconstructive
    • Head and Neck
    • Laryngology
    • Otology/Neurotology
    • Pediatric
    • Rhinology
    • Sleep Medicine
  • Multimedia
    • Video
    • Audio
  • Events
    • Featured Events
    • TRIO Meetings
  • Contact Us
    • About Us
    • Editorial Board
    • Triological Society
    • Advertising Staff
    • Subscribe
    • eNewsletters
  • Advertise
    • Place an Ad
    • Classifieds
    • Rate Card
  • Search

Starting Out in Practice? Some Tips for Success

by Pippa Wysong • June 1, 2008

  • Tweet
  • Email
Print-Friendly Version

In addition, doctors need to keep track of their case volume, know their physician referrals, and monitor financial health. This is all part of running a business smoothly.

You might also like:

  • Tips on Starting a Successful Otolaryngology Practice
  • Tips for Preventing Missed Appointments at Your Practice
  • Review These Tips Before Leaving Your Medical Practice Job
  • A Seller’s Market: How to prepare your practice for sale to a hospital
Explore this issue:
June 2008

To monitor financial health, there are a few benchmarks doctors should use to measure their financial success. One is the gross collection rate. This is the percentage of charge dollars that have been collected-basically, it is collections divided by total charges.

For instance, if Medicare pays 20 cents for every dollar charged, then there is a 20% collection rate from Medicare, she said. This used to be the key way to measure our success, but now it is only part of the picture.

The more important thing to know is the net collection rate. As you’re talking to people and when you’re interviewing, don’t ask them what their gross collection rate is-I want you to ask them what their net collection rate is, Ms. Pollock said.

Essentially, the net collection rate is the percentage of collectable dollars that have been collected. Contracts are mostly on par with Medicare. We know we’re going to give discounts to those payers, so our denominator is going to be reduced by the amount of dollars that we know we’re not going to collect. These are also called uncollectable adjustments, she said.

Along with money collected, doctors need to have an idea of how much money is owed to the practice (accounts receivable), as well as how much of the revenue is spent for operating overhead (excluding physician salaries)-which is called the overhead expense ratio.

Keep Your Eye on the Ball

Finally, doctors need to keep an eye on the ball. Review the financial reports the administrator brings in. It shouldn’t be a big stack of papers, but rather a snapshot summary that includes all the key financial indicators. It should include data such as charges, and the financial benchmarks such as net collections rate, accounts receivable for more than 90 days, and more.

Be aware of the internal controls established in the practice and how they are monitored, including cash handling and check writing policies. More details with tips for otolaryngologists can be found at Ms. Pollock’s firm’s Web site, www.karenzupko.com .

©2008 The Triological Society

Pages: 1 2 3 Single Page

Filed Under: Departments, Legal Matters, Practice Management, Resident Focus Tagged With: billing and coding, contract, finance, legal, practice management, residents, staffingIssue: June 2008

You might also like:

  • Tips on Starting a Successful Otolaryngology Practice
  • Tips for Preventing Missed Appointments at Your Practice
  • Review These Tips Before Leaving Your Medical Practice Job
  • A Seller’s Market: How to prepare your practice for sale to a hospital

The Triological SocietyENTtoday is a publication of The Triological Society.

The Laryngoscope
Ensure you have all the latest research at your fingertips; Subscribe to The Laryngoscope today!

Laryngoscope Investigative Otolaryngology
Open access journal in otolaryngology – head and neck surgery is currently accepting submissions.

Classifieds

View the classified ads »

TRIO Best Practices

View the TRIO Best Practices »

Top Articles for Residents

  • How Writing Helps a Medical Resident Better Care for Patients
  • How Physicians Can Build a Network to Boost Their Career
  • How To Survive the First Year of Medical Residency
  • ACGME Revises Cap on Resident Work Hours
  • Ethical Implications of Burnout in Otolaryngology Residents
  • Popular this Week
  • Most Popular
  • Most Recent
    • Vertigo in the Elderly: What Does It Mean?
    • New Developments in the Management of Eustachian Tube Dysfunction
    • Is There a Crisis in the Otolaryngology Match?
    • Counseling Patients on Safe Nasal Irrigation
    • Weaning Patients Off of PPIs
    • New Developments in the Management of Eustachian Tube Dysfunction
    • Vertigo in the Elderly: What Does It Mean?
    • Eustachian Tuboplasty: A Potential New Option for Chronic Tube Dysfunction and Patulous Disease
    • Some Laryngopharyngeal Reflux Resists PPI Treatment
    • Short-and Long-Term Data Suggest Efficacy of Turbinate Ablation
    • Counseling Patients on Safe Nasal Irrigation
    • Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Otolaryngology
    • Letter from the Editor: Peer Reviewing Sensational Headlines
    • Is Topical Epinephrine Safe for Hemostasis in Endoscopic Sinus Surgery?
    • Is it Safe to Kiss in Era of HPV Head and Neck Cancer ‘Epidemic’?

Polls

Is artificial intelligence an advantage for medicine?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...
  • Polls Archive
  • Home
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Privacy Policy

Visit: The Triological Society • The Laryngoscope • Triological Meeting Posters

Wiley
© 2019 The Triological Society. All Rights Reserved.
ISSN 1559-4939

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
This site uses cookies: Find out more.