Hi there,

First off, Happy New Year! We hope you had a wonderful holiday season and are now back at it. We had a chance to reflect over the holidays, and as we continue to emerge from the pandemic, we enter this new year with hope for more normality and a return to life as we knew it before 2020.

We're delighted to bring this month's newsletter to you and your team, and invite you to share it widely. We hope it brings you some inspiration as we get started with a new year.

Part 1: Jill's podcast

We're delighted with the growth of Jill's podcast, Medical Money Matters. It's available on all major podcast platforms, or you can find it here. 

She’s had solocasts on finance for physicians (and their managers!), budgets, demystifying financial statements and internal controls. Jill has had fun interviewing national experts on revenue cycle (Episode 3) and on embezzlers (Episode 7). Subscribe or Follow to get access to new episodes as soon as they’re dropped. Much more to come!

Part 2: Managing Deductible Season

With the start of a new year comes the reset of everyone’s calendar year deductible, which always has a depressive effect on cash flow in a medical practice. We recommend two things:

1. Get ahead of this by checking your patients’ eligibility and their accumulators. Your systems should show you where they are with their deductible and if your visit is going to apply to that. If so, request a deposit upfront – most groups do anywhere from $100 – 250.
2. Continue to expand your credit card on file program (or start one if you haven’t yet). Your billing system may have this functionality or you can add a credit card processor that is web-based and offers this capability. You can then have patients sign an agreement authorizing the use of their credit card up to a specified dollar amount once their EOB is received. This speeds up your collections and keeps you from having to wait through an entire statement cycle before getting the cash in the door.

New Coding Updates for 2023

While not as sweeping as the changes at the beginning of 2021, there are some updates for 2023. We found this resource from the American Academy of Family Physicians to be one of the best synopses: https://www.aafp.org/news/practice-professional-issues/2023-coding-payment-updates.html

The Thief in Your Company by Tiffany Couch, CEO of Acuity Forensics

The subtitle of the book is: Protect Your Organization from the Financial and Emotional Impacts of Insider Fraud, which is very well put.

Jill enjoyed the interview with Tiffany for podcast episode 7: The Thief in Your Clinic. (Listen here). 

They spent quite a bit of time talking about the emotional devastation of business owners who’ve been embezzled. You’re dealing with the financial impacts, sure, but in many cases, the erosion of trust has a much longer and deeper impact.

Medical Administrators Performance Series

Join us for a new experience of learning, building community, and driving performance that's specifically geared toward medical practice leaders

• Format and frequency: Held via Zoom the third Wednesday of the month (9 AM - 12 PM)
• Cost: Subscription model at $295/month - join a cohort and stay for as long as it works for you

Open to anyone who is running a clinic or clinic department. Please email us at info@healtheps.com if you have any questions prior to enrolling. 

Physician Leadership Program

Forming Cohort 4 now

The PLP is filling another cohort for a start sometime in Q1 - see www.physicianlp.org and nominate any of your up-and-coming physician leaders for this invaluable one-year course.