Finding lost revenue may require you to look internally

Practice Pointers. By Karen S. Schechter, AMNews contributor. Oct. 21, 2002.

PRACTICE POINTERS

Answers to questions about the business side of your practice

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Question I am an internist in a solo practice. I see an average of 18 patients a day and my accounts receivable is about 1 1/2 times current charges. In spite of this, my revenue is lower than the norm for my area. What could be the reason for my situation?

Answer The first thing to remember is that when you look at industry norms, they are just that.

You need to take into consideration other factors, such as the community in which you practice, competition and the way you run your practice. These norms are meant to help guide you -- they are not absolute numbers that you must achieve.

Having said that, there are several areas in your data accumulation, billing and collection processes that should be examined to help identify the cause of low revenues.

One of the first places to look is at your practice's internal control procedures. Are all of the patients you see being charged? Do you know if your patients are being charged for all of the services you provided? Is someone in your office accountable for the money that is collected at the front desk?

You should be able to provide an affirmative answer to all of these questions. If not, procedures need to be implemented to ensure that all services and monies collected are accounted for.

These procedures could consist of the following:

• All superbills should be reconciled to the appointment schedule at the end of each day.
• Monthly random audits should be performed to ensure that all of the services documented in the patients' charts are being accounted for on the claim forms. You only need to review a dozen charts each month to spot any deficiencies.