For some of the best ideas to increase revenue in your clinic, look no further than your staff! That’s right one of the easiest ways to gather intimate data about your clinic is to ask the people who work for you.

You might be thinking “If my staff sees an issue, they will bring it to my attention.” That may be true, if it’s a big enough issue, let’s hope that they say something. Given that your staff is probably pretty busy during the day, however, it may take asking them point-blank in order to jog their memory. Putting a question front and center gives it it their attention.

Consider calling a short-and-sweet 30 minute staff meeting dedicated to brainstorming ways to increase revenue. Your people are your greatest asset in business. They may surprise you with the ideas that they’ve never had the courage to share. Or, the brainstorming process and collaboration of the team may yield results no one person may have created individually. This site outlines a step-by-step plan for how to conduct a productive and successful team brainstorm. It’s pretty basic, but sometimes everyone needs a refresher.

This post was authored by WebPT Billing Specialist, Geoff Elledge. Thanks for sharing your wisdom Geoff!

 There are many different ways to look at your clinic’s finances.  You can look at average revenue per patient visit, insurance payer mix, average referrals from physicians and on and on.  

Let’s start with a few of the basic questions you should ask:

• much does it cost you to treat an average patient?
• How much does the insurance pay you per visit?
• What is your average patient cost share per visit?
• How long does it take on average to collect?

These are some of the basic questions you have to ask before you can start to maximize your revenues versus expenses.

First of all, take a good hard look at your fixed costs and figure out how much it costs you just to see a patient.  It’s boring, but if you want to run a successful business, there’s no better place to start.  I know we are in the business of caring for our patients first, but it is still a business, after all!

Start by calculating your average fixed costs such as rent, utilities, equipment costs/depreciation.  Then take a look at payroll, salaries, benefits, etc.  Add them up on a monthly basis then divide them by the total number of hours your office is open on a monthly basis, say 160 hours per month.  The resulting number is your average hourly costs of operation. If you spend 30 minutes per patient on average divide by two and you have your per patient cost per visit.  Confused yet? That is just the beginning.

Today we're excited to release Part I of our interview with Ann Wendel, PT, from PranaPT. Thanks, Ann, for being candid and sharing your story of opening physical therapy clinics with us.

Tell us a little bit about you and your practice.
I graduated from University of Delaware in 1992 with a BS in P.E. Studies, concentration in Athletic Training. My goal was to work in sports medicine. I worked as an ATC in a sports medicine clinic for 3 years while taking more pre-requisites, then applied and was accepted to University of Maryland’s Physical Therapy Program. I graduated with with my Masters in 1998. I started working in a hospital right after graduation. They rarely hired new graduates to work PRN; but, I had more experience because of my years as an Athletic Trainer, so I got the job. I worked in acute care, neuro, and outpatient ortho. From 2003 to 2006 I went out on my own and ran my private practice in space I sublet from a Pilates studio. My next step was to work for a larger Orthopedic practice. I worked there for 4 years until October 2011, when I went back to my own business, Prana Physical Therapy. I now work as an independent contractor for Core Wellness and Physical Therapy in a co-op building. We end up co-treating patients and being more collaborative. We do different but complimentary techniques.

Tell us something we wouldn’t know. This can be an interesting fact, a fun anecdote or even a more formal piece of information about starting a PT clinic.
For my current business, we don’t take insurance. We’re a cash-based clinic, and out of network providers. As I left to start my new business, I had some Medicare patients that wanted to follow me. What I learned through research is that if you don’t accept Medicare, you can’t treat Medicare patients. It’s illegal to accept cash payments from Medicare patients for physical therapy (see Section 40 of the Medicare Benefit Policy Manual from CMS). Medicare patients can only pay out of pocket when they see a P.T. for “Wellness” (i.e. general conditioning and not treatment). This is a little known fact that is devastating for a small practice (read Ann's blog post on the topic for more info). These are the folks that typically need care beyond what Medicare can pay, and they are not able to come see you. If you didn’t know about this and you got audited by Medicare you’d be in trouble. The way the code is written, the only practitioners who cannot opt-out of Medicare are P.T. and Chiropractic.