5 Key Performance Indicators to Watch in Your Small Medical Practice

What key performance indicators should YOU be watching?

We all know that today’s healthcare industry is not particularly welcoming to small medical practices. In order to stay in business it’s imperative to keep a constant finger on the pulse of your practice. That way you always know where you stand and you can make shifts as necessary. Let’s explore the five key performance indicators (KPIs) that are most important to watch in your small practice.

Cash Flow

Obviously strong finances are necessary to keep any business successful and a heavy cash flow is a big part of this. It’s important to keep track daily of how much money is received in your practice. Also, remain vigilant of what is deposited into the bank so that you always know what you have available.

Charges

Charges are what you can expect to receive in cash flow later. Each day keep track of what charges were created, and also track where those charges are in the process. Are theses charges being sent out to insurance or in patient collections? It’s also important to benchmark how long you are waiting for your charges to be paid. Then, you can notice patterns of long wait times so that you can work to improve those situations.

Payables

You need to know who owes you money and where you are in relation to receiving those payments. It’s equally important to understand what you owe and when. Keep a close eye on this KPI. Ensure that you have the money you need to stay on top of your payables. You should always be looking for ways to reduce overhead in order to make your practice more profitable.

Patient Appointments

Yes, you got into medicine to heal people’s illnesses. However, the truth is that without appointments no charges are created and no cash is received. For this reason, unfilled appointments can spell disaster for your practice if they become a chronic issue. Keep an eye on your schedule and if you see unfilled appointments, make an effort to fill them. Make sure your staff knows your practice’s policies on how to schedule and follows it without fail.

No-Shows, Physician-Directed Bumps, and Cancellations

Once there are appointments on your schedule, you need to make sure they stay there. Again, empty appointments equals lost cash flow. Keep track of appointments that end up empty due to patients not showing up, physicians directing those appointments to be bumped, and last minute cancellations that could not be filled with another patient. Look for patterns such as patients who are regularly flaky when it comes to their appointments. Also, be aware of doctors who are often bumping patients out of appointments. From there, seek to fix these issues in your practice.

Consider the use of an automated appointment reminder system, such as the tools available in MMDengage, to reduce no-shows and late cancellations. MMDengage enables practices to send automated appointment reminders in a variety of ways, as well as record patient confirmations.

Yes, each of these KPIs essentially comes down to one main theme – finances. But let’s face it, as much as you want to be focused on the business of healing, in order to do that you have to keep your practice going. To keep any business afloat you must keep it solvent – keep an eye on these 5 KPIs.

The good news is MicroMD can help. Our practice management system includes robust reporting capabilities that will allow you to keep an eye on KPIs you deem important to keep your practice on track. Plus, we offer our patient engagement solution, MMDengage, to help you increase productivity and efficiency while fixing any KPI issues you may find. Ready to get more information? Visit micromd.com or call 1-800-624-8832.