Any healthcare professional will likely spend most of their time caring for patients, which can lead to neglect in certain other areas. One of these areas that are often neglected is medical bookkeeping. Most physicians would prefer to focus on patient care, rather than the tedious tasks that come afterward.
However, a medical practice is also a business, and accurate medical bookkeeping is essential to ensuring the business is as efficient and profitable as it can be.
You want your bookkeeping to be accurate and up to date, which can be quite stressful to manage. This is often as demanding as if it were a job in and of itself, which makes the daily workflow of any physician running their own practice quite hectic. Here are three simple tips that can help you improve your medical bookkeeping:
Choose an Accounting Method
The majority of your time spent in bookkeeping will be taken up by accounting. Medical practices have the following two options to choose from when picking a type of accounting:
- Accrual basis accounting
- Cash-based accounting
Accrual Basis Accounting
Accrual basis accounting involves only accounting for expenses when a bill is received. All receivables will also be accounted for only when payment is received.
Cash Basis Accounting
Similar to an accrual basis, cash basis accounting will only account for any transactions once payment is received or made. Medical practices generally prefer this method, as it provides the most accurate and up-to-date view of their finances.
Scheduling Profit/Loss Statements
The financial records of any medical practice will provide a good look at the business’s overall financial health. To get the most out of them, it is best to create a regular schedule for the profit and loss statements.
Generating these statements regularly will allow practice owners to see what areas of their business are most profitable, and what areas are resulting in the most losses. This provides a good idea of where the practice should continue to invest, and also allows discrepancies to be spotted early.
Get Professional Help
While learning to properly manage your books will undoubtedly be beneficial in the long run, it can be quite time-consuming, and many physicians will not have the financial acumen to be able to do so effectively. This is before any considerations are made for schedule, which only makes it harder as most physicians are simply too busy. However, the insights gained through analyzing the financial data of the practice are too important to not have, and so physicians can simply bring aboard professional help.
There are many healthcare management firms out there with highly competent staff and a successful track record. Finding the right partner will save you the hassle of having to do your books yourself, whilst you continue to reap the benefits of having exceptional bookkeeping.
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