Medical Journal Houston Vol. 11, Issue 2, May 2014 | Page 3

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May 2014

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FINANCIAL
PERSPECTIVES

BY REED TINSLEY, CPA,
CVA, CFP, CHBC
The clinical practice of
medicine leaves little time
for the business side. Many
physicians
have
trouble
finding time to review vital
financial details. In a solo practice, the
physician often entrusts the business side
of his practice to one individual, sometimes
a person with little experience! In large
groups, the responsibility for management
of the group’s finances may lie entirely
with the office administrator, who has
little oversight from physicians or outside
professionals. Physicians who oversee a
group practice often delegate their fiduciary
responsibility because of time constraints.

Financial health for your practice:
some easy tips for physicians
reimbursements are a fact, but employees
often use payors as a scapegoat for poor
operational issues that may plague your
practice. A competent business manager
should be able to predict with a fair amount
of accuracy your expected revenue each
month; as well, he/she can estimate a
decline in revenue if there are changes in
your patient load, a payment interruption
MS-Houston Med Jrnl (Nov):7.5x9.312
from a particular payor, contractual

changes, or CPT changes.
You should demand documentation and
facts to support monthly financial reports.
If you use a billing service, they can provide
detail that will supplement your monthly
financials, and your CPA will easily be
able to reconcile practice results to the
financials.
Island

10/25/12

12:04 PM

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Bank statements and general ledger are not
presented for review
Physicians are busy! They don’t want to
look at bank statements, canceled checks,
or online bank statements: “Oh, I let
Mary handle all of that.” Not holding your
employees accountable is an invitation to
Please see FINANCIALPERSPECTIVES page 23

ink muscles,
joints and bones.
It’s about getting
your life back.
If Eleanor isn’t moving, she isn’t happy. There’s
skiing, wakeboarding, rock climbing, and the
more down to earth activities like biking to the
store. When she needed surgery on her ankle,
she was worried.
She came to UTMB Health and benefited from
a multidisciplinary team of surgeons, doctors,
nurses, and physical therapists who knew that
Eleanor needed aggressive treatment to
return to her active lifestyle. They kept her
informed at every step.“I’m a Nurse Practitioner.
I practice what I preach about staying active
and healthy. When it came time for rehab, the
people here made sure I stayed with the plan.
You get out of it what you put in.”
Today, Eleanor is back to her old tricks, which
also happened to include kicking up her heels
and dancing at a friend’s wedding.
Whether it’s working in ortho, neuro, or any
aspect of the musculoskeletal system, UTMB
has gifted clinicians. These are the doctors
and surgeons who teach others their art, using
the very latest equipment, technology and
techniques.

Both scenarios can be a formula for disaster.
Long-term relationships develop over time;
often