Can you really turn your healthcare practice into a money making business?

I belong to a lot of groups in Facebook and I see many questions coming in from staff that work in the healthcare practice about how to resolve denials, how to run a practice efficiently, and new staff that are asking for help because they simply do not have the skills or knowledge and were "thrown" into their roles.

Althought many may see this as an issue, I see this as an opporunity for success. There are so many great tools out there that can quickly help to ensure that your staff have the education to be successful in their roles, as well as teach others how to do this and also the providers or the healthcare practice owners/managers.

Just sitting with your staff, observing the daily operations to see what they know or do not know is key. We never just want to "throw" someone in a position and hope for the best.

The outcome of this could be very detremental in many ways- It can create a quick downfall of your revenue stream if your staff or you do not know the basics of what is needed  in each department.

For example, if you put a front end registration staff member up front and he/she does not understand the importance of ensuring that all of the information is put in correctly the first time, gathering all of the necessary insurance cards, scanning them in to your EMR, and also any new patient forms- You will be well on your way to many claim denials and a reduction of payments coming into your practice.

By developing streamlined training process and ensuring that your staff understands what needs to be accomplished will truly help any healthcare practice in their success.

Take time to answer questions and make sure that the answer and they "WHY" behind the answer is fully understood.

Over my 13 years in Practice Operations and Revenue cycle, I have seen time and time again where this has not occurred and it created almost complete financial disaster at many practices, but IT can get turned around if you just come up with simplified workflows and  put time in to ensure that the workflows are being followed correctly.