Top 10 Physician Practice Year End To-Dos

Today’s blog is by Emily Lambert and Mark Franklin

Your practice is gearing up to enjoy some well-deserved time off later this month. Plus, you want to make sure you start off the new year on the best foot. What should you be doing right now to close out 2023 well? We have your Top 10 list of year-end wrap ups.

1. Get Charges Entered. Work with your revenue cycle staff to have charges entered. Some payers slow payments down towards year-end and through the holidays. You don’t want to have that crunch leading into the new year.
2. Aim for Clean AR at Year End. Follow up on denials and aged claims that have been hanging around for too long. Write-off amounts that won’t be collected. Some practices might have ownership or buy-in calculations based on end of year AR, which means you want the most accurate AR as possible. You wouldn’t want a new physician buying into AR that won’t be collected or a retiring physician being paid for AR that doesn’t exist or is worthless.
3. Plan for Fee Schedule Increase. Some practices do not raise fees every year. Consider an inflationary adjustment. Also, review reimbursement from payers to see if there are codes paid at 100% or 90% if that is a reimbursement limiting factor in a payer agreement. Some payers pay Lesser of Conversion Factor or 90% of Fee schedule/Billed Charge. Make sure you understand this impact.
4. Communicate Medicare Fee Schedule Decrease to Physicians. This is especially important for practices with significant Medicare populations. Collection percentage in 2024 will be lower than in 2023 and you’ll want to make sure doctors know this in advance.
5. Actively Manage Invoices for Monthly/Quarterly Payments. Ideally, you want to ensure consistency year to year so making monthly or quarterly payments in 2023 is important. Why? Because it’s easier for comparison and budget purposes. Plus, this helps at physician board and finance meetings when the same expenses, like rent and malpractice insurance, occur at the same frequency from year to year.
6. Review Equipment Services Contracts. Make sure that equipment is still a necessary part of the revenue stream and patient care. There may be times when a piece of equipment has been replaced by newer technology, and maintenance agreements are no longer needed, or the physicians might be using a new or different piece of equipment with the other items being phased out. Don’t pay for something your practice is no longer using or needs.
7. Analyze 2022 vs 2023 Expenses. Have any of your 2023 expenses increased significantly from 2022? Why is that? Can you renegotiate for better terms or should you consider a new vendor? For example, consider a new credit card merchant if there has been a significant increase.
8. Optimize Your EMR/Software to Reduce Staff Burden. Are you getting the most out of your EMR or can you leverage technology better? Utilizing the features can free up staff time and offload manual processes. It’s a win-win for your practice and your staff. Remember it’s too easy to rely on the way things have always been done. Think anew because finding and training staff will not be easier in 2024. Make sure their time is maximized and focused on the right things.
9. Urge/Remind Physicians to Submit Expenses ASAP. Consider creating a deadline such as December 15 for reimbursement. It doesn’t have to be adhered to strictly, but it will lessen the reimbursements requested in the last week of the year when everyone would like to enjoy a little holiday cheer.
10. Call CLA. Have questions on how to approach any of the above (and more)? Wondering what technology tools are out there to help? Want to outsource a function? Have any other needs? We’re here to help. Reach out today.