With the correct set of non-traditional billing tools and programs you can drive down the initial working capital needs of a new or existing medical practice by 90% . These tools are quite unique to ClaimCare and go well beyond a pure medical billing service or an in-house billing department.
All of these tools will have a positive operational impact on how you think about staffing and/or cash flow management/financing in your practice. If these tools are implemented when the practice opens its doors it could dramatically lower working capital requirements and make the practice cash flow positive extraordinarily fast.
- ClaimCare patient checkout tool (Bring in the bulk of the patient responsibility - about 20% of practice revenue - in the day the doors open and lower staffing requirements at the front desk) - With this tool the practice can substantially increase cash flow quickly by collecting patient balances (not just the co-pay of $20 but the co-insurance which can add up substantially more than a co-pay). This will have a huge cash flow impact, since with this tool the bulk of the patient balances can be collected before the patient leaves the office instead of 60 to 90 days after the visit. In addition, since the tool automates insurance verification it can reduce the work load requirements of the front desk (and allow you to have fewer staff members).
- Vendor Instant Payment Program - (A free 60 day bridge loan to help minimize working capital needs for the first two months of the practice) This is another program that could help a lot with working capital needs - and best of all it is actually free. With this program all of your vendors are paid within 24 hours of an invoice being approved. As long as the practice repays ClaimCare within 60 days there is no charge for the service. If the practice pays within 30 days they actually get a discount off the bill. This works because ClaimCare negotiates a fast pay discount with the vendors. If we are paid back by the practice within 30 days we share the discount with the practice. If we are paid between 31 and 60 days we keep the discount. As you can see, in the early days of a practice this can give you a 60 day free float on vendor payments. Once you are out of the start-up mode this program will allow you to lower your vendor costs.
- Equipment servicing contracts - (Lower the cost of maintenance contracts) As the practice buys their equipment they can save a substantial amount on the maintenance contracts through our leasing service program. This program has a great track record and basically self-insures the maintenance agreements. With this approach we are able to save about 20 to 25% off equipment maintenance agreements. This can really add up for a medical practice. This basically applies to any piece of equipment that plugs into the wall.
- EMR -(Start paperless without the upfront investment in either an EMR or paper medical record storage system) With our EMR offering we can get a practice on an EMR right out of the gate without any upfront cost. This can save you money and improve operations since you will not need to spend the money on typically paper medical record supplies and will, of course, be able to see the benefits from an EMR with the big price tag.
Combining all of this with a world-class billing solution provides a powerful set of tools for starting a medical practice with much less working capital and lower cost.
Copyright 2008 by Carl Mays II