Medical Practice Management:  Three Success Drivers for 2023

We are already well into 2023 and the challenges that physician practice leaders are facing remain incredibly tough. In these times when margins are razor-thin, are you confident that your practice management systems and processes are as efficient as they could be?   Is your revenue cycle optimized for success?

Your medical practice must deliver superior patient care, but you need to provide that care in a way that also allows for strong financial performance.

Managing and growing a physician's practice is more difficult today than it's ever been.  Physician practice managers face one challenge after the next, including: 

• New regulatory mandates: Physicians must be prepared to respond and adapt quickly to new regulations like the No Surprises Act.

• Staffing shortages:  Labor costs for some healthcare staff have risen by 50% or more.¹ 76% of medical practices have made operational changes due to staffing shortages.²  EMSI data suggests there will be a critical shortage of 3.2 million healthcare workers by 2026.³

• Lower revenues: 40% of medical practices did not hit their revenue goals in 2021; many practices are still struggling to rebound from the lingering impacts of COVID-19. 

• Cash flow issues: 50% of medical practices say time in A/R has increased.

• More competition: The consumerization of healthcare continues at a rapid pace as CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, and others compete with traditional physician practices. 

To be effective at medical practice management today, you need the right resources, processes, and systems in place.  To remain resilient over time, your medical group must have built-in flexibility to adapt to an increasingly complex healthcare environment.   

Three success drivers of medical practice management

1.  Standardize best practice processes

Many medical groups today are working with disparate systems and procedures that make it hard to find much less fix the revenue leakage and cost overages that wreak havoc on the bottom line.  At a time when lower operating margins are the norm, a critical first step for reducing superfluous expenditures and waste is standardizing best practice processes. 

2.  Leverage fully integrated workflow technology and intelligent automation

By establishing uniformity across the revenue cycle and tapping into a  fully developed platform that integrates into existing systems, physician groups can lower overall cycle times and perform on a more consistent level, thus improving financial margins.

With healthcare’s rapid pace of change, a state-of-the-art, highly innovative platform can help physician practices get ahead rather than just keep up. Instead of taking on the challenge and expense of creating this infrastructure, a platform approach with an intelligent automation partner is key. 

3.  Ensure full transparency with analytics-driven performance management

Without the proper visibility into critical operational metrics, organizations position themselves to be reactive versus proactive, which tends to lead to significant (and often avoidable) problems.

Healthcare leaders need to have a regular line of sight into overall revenue cycle operations and performance metrics.  

Learn more about implementing the three success drivers

Running the business side of your physician practice has never been more difficult. Learn more about the three success drivers that will help you succeed in this increasingly complex environment. Download our  guidebook now:

1. Clinical Labor Pricing Updates Are Needed to Address Workforce Shortages, Financial Strain
2. Workarounds for Worker Shortages: 8 Strategies for Pandemic Staffing Issues in Medical practices
3. AHA Data Brief: Health Care Workforce Challenges