You and some colleagues have decided the time is right for your group to start your own medical office. All of you have had the hospital experience, and you’ve had enough. Your group wants to provide healthcare services without all the frustrations that go with working directly for a healthcare company. As the idea gains momentum, your new physician’s office is soon to be a reality. It’s time to develop a base of patients, but even more important, this is a time for developing the back office infrastructure. 
Since you’re starting out as a small group practice, your first priority is creating an accurate and effective method of medical billing and coding to generate cash flow. You need to have your receivables as soon as possible. As you have spent your careers as physicians, setting up a new office will require all of you to learn more about medical billing and insurance payments. You’ll need a system that can do auditing and submit claims quickly and accurately within 48 hours. The claims process is important. You’ll want to have a billing system that can verify the status of each claim. It will be important to have the ability to identify any unpaid claims on a daily basis. And you’ll need to review your results regularly and help your staff improve.
Setting up, staffing and building a medical office requires a sizable investment. One of the items that can help in getting a quick return on investment (ROI) is to consider outsourcing your physician medical billing services. One of the major advantages to utilizing the services of a medical billing company is the cost effectiveness it provides. There will be no need to worry about hiring and training specialists to enter correct medical codes, especially with all the upcoming changes with ICD-10. There will be no need to hire someone to deal with the minute details of a complex medical billing system. Using a medical billing company means your group won’t have to pay expensive upfront fees, but a pay-as-you-go fee-based model.
Making the right decisions up front on your infrastructure can help make your new physician’s office both efficient and successful. Then you spend more time helping patients, which after all, is the reason you wanted to become a doctor in the first place.
If you opening up a new medical practice, or “re-opening” a new practice after being a hospitalist, Clinic Service is available to be a sounding board for you. Feel free to call us anytime with questions, or you can ask a question here and we’ll respond. We also have lots of free resources, tools and articles on our website that are designed for doctors just like you.
Good luck with your new venture!
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