Every business has challenges, whether they’re related to cash flow, client relationships, growth or legal matters. When running a medical practice your primary focus is patients. It can therefore be overwhelming to have all the answers to issues concerning the management of the business side of your practice. 

In this post, we list the experts you can call on to help you solve some of these problems and improve the overall running of your practice. 

Technology partners

When it comes to your billing and clinical software, your technology partner’s role in their relationship with you isn’t just to look after the technical aspects of your software. They should provide consultative services to help you better utilise your software to ensure your practice thrives. The right technology partner has specialised skills to support medical practices like yours and should understand your unique requirements. Their role is to help you improve practice performance through a combination of practical solutions and data insights.  

For example, if you’re having challenges with productivity or patient collections, your technology partner can help you solve these issues by identifying gaps in your RCM process and advising you on best practice solutions to close these gaps. They are also able to review your reports and give meaningful insight into the/your data and much more. 

Independent Practitioner Associations (IPAs)

There are dozens of practitioners associations throughout the country and across various specialities. An IPA or similar association is a support and referral network for independent private practitioners. They are typically doctor-driven organisations that serve to address and communicate information to private practitioners when it comes to matters such as NHI, changes from medical schemes, Clinical Governance and the costs associated with the delivery of healthcare.  

IPAs are invaluable when it comes to helping practitioners with the interpretation of claims codes, balance billing, ICD-10 coding, the quality of care, locum licenses, the administration of medicines by non-dispensing doctors and more. Becoming a member of the relevant IPA can help you manage your practice better and improve the quality of care to your patients through referral management and peer review.  

Tax consultants

You might be questioning whether it makes more sense to file your own taxes or use a tax consultant. The reality is that filing taxes can be complicated and if not managed correctly, it can be the biggest expense your business will face. 

Using a tax consultant is more expensive than doing it yourself, but the benefits of a good tax consultant far outweighs the short-term savings. They are experts in tax laws and can help you with everything from timely and legal submissions, to how to maximise your cash flow to ensure you are not paying more tax than you need to.  

Accountants

One thing you probably don’t have much of is time, and at the same time practitioner’s financial requirements are getting more complex. Having an experienced, business-savvy accountant on your external team of consultants can have a profound impact on the running of your business. 

Your tax consultant and accountant can work together to ensure your records are accurate, up-to-date, and they can deal with any questions you might have throughout the year. You can rely on your accountant to prepare financial statements such as balance sheets, income statements and statements of cash flow. Employing the services of an accountant is one of the primary time savers you can adopt, with the added benefit of someone you can count on when it comes to financial planning and the growth of your practice. 

Peer groups

Peer groups exist to provide professional and personal support for practitioners. It gives you access to colleagues who understand the challenges that a doctor in private practice faces, both from a patient treatment perspective and a business perspective.  

Doctors are seeking out peer groups more and more to better manage challenges within the doctor-patient relationship. In a study by the NCBI*, doctors have reported limited success in managing patients with chronic disease, for example. And because many diseases are tied to lifestyle choices and social issues, peer groups can and have enabled a multidisciplinary thinking to approach patient relationships and outcomes more effectively. 

Do you have the right experts in place to support your business through every growth cycle and the challenges that come with it? Healthbridge has been working with doctors for over 20 years to build better businesses. For more information about how Healthbridge can help your practice, email queries@healthbridge.co.za

*https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4648132/