With 2017 approaching, many doctors have a goal to increase medical practice revenue.
For most doctors, staying profitable is be a constant challenge. Many just ignore their bottom line and hope that things work out. Others are very determined to find ways to increase medical practice revenue.
For doctors looking for a profitable start to 2017, here are 5 ways to increase medical practice revenue.
1) Streamline patient collections
Patient collections are often the last way that physicians want to try to increase medical practice revenue. But of course, they have a direct impact on your profitability. Remember it doesn’t matter how much make, it matters how much you keep!
If a physician finds they have uncollected bills or are spending too much time and money pursuing overdue payments, this is a good sign they need a practice collections overhaul. Some simple steps to create a better focus and system can be all that is needed to grow the bottom line, and keep more money in the practice accounts.
2) Outsource your medical billing
The idea of outsourcing billing can seem like an expensive ordeal, but if done correctly it can actually end up being a profitable decision. Many doctors find they save themselves and their staff both costs and the headaches of processing insurance claims in-house.
If you’re opening a new practice or have complex billing issues, you may consider a medical billing clearinghouse to take care of the medical code checking and bill scrubbing. Choosing the right clearinghouse can take time, so here are 10 important questions to help guide the right decision.
3) Monetize checkup calls
Many healthcare providers are spending more time on checkup calls or emails with patients. While this is a nice service for the patient, for the doctor, this is an un-documented and un-billable process.
A great option to consider is replacing some of these patient follow up phone calls with online telemedicine video visits that you’ll get paid for. Most patients will happily pay between $35 – $75 for the chance to meet with their doctor from home. This can be a great revenue earner if you are keeping the majority of this money in your practice, rather than funneling it through insurance payers.
4) Improve your online presence
It’s a fact that today over 70% of patients search online doctor reviews before selecting a new doctor. That means if you don’t have a working practice website or any online reviews, you’re missing out on those new patients.
Working on your medical practice website may feel intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. Start small by setting up a profiles on Yelp, Healthgrades, Vitals, etc. Then ask your happy patients to take a few minutes to review you.
Once you have this done, the next step is to improve your SEO ranking. This is done through accurate targeting for both keywords and location search.
Taking an interest in your online presence and marketing can be a relatively low-cost, effective way to increase medical practice revenue over the long term.
5) Include concierge medicine
Currently 20% of physicians are either already practicing or considering a transition to concierge medicine. This means that their patients forgo insurance billing, and pay a retainer fee for the chance to visit their practice.
Concierge medicine can often work better for certain patient populations and specialties. Many doctors have found that adding a small concierge offering to their patients can be a great way to increase medical practice revenue.
