Medical professionals and practitioners are among the most hardworking and busiest individuals. The nature of their work doesn’t give them much time to focus on the accounts. This will eventually lead to outdated records, poor management of the finances, and various tax problems like make the payment late. Such problems can be avoided by hiring professional accountants. The accountants are equipped with in-depth knowledge about various aspects of finances and handling the finances of the medical practices will be an easy job. This will reduce the pressure of maintaining the finances accurately from the doctors. Let us see what the financial maintenance difficulties they face are and how it can be resolved by professional accountants.
Accounting problems faced by doctors and dentists
A good account of receivable management can transform the cash flow of any business from negative to positive. Lack of proper management of the accounts will lead to poor cash flow. The most common problem that medical practitioners face is with the account receivable. Let us take a look at some of the problems faced by doctors.
Lack of expertise and knowledge
This is a common problem that is faced by many doctors. The doctors don’t have the education or experience related to business operations, finance, and accounting. Due to this reason, they face a myriad of issues with accounting. Most of the doctors are made to believe that major issues like slow reimbursements, long and drawn out audits, rejection of insurance claims, excessive debts of bad patients, unpaid bills due to the mistake by authorization of insurance, high AR days, and much more financial and accounting issues are simply how the game works. The doctors try to piece all the losses and weak cash flow into their business model. By hiring a professional accountant you can eradicate such problems with the use of the right technology and tools.
Let us take a look at a scenario. An average medical practice sees at least one in every three insurance claims getting rejected initially by private companies. This is a killer of cash flow. The insurance companies may do that on purpose but the doctors will perform the procedure on a manual claim. This will result in a huge fall back in payment. With the help of accountants, you can rectify the problem strategically. They will take a look at the forms before submitting them for insurance claims.
Unnecessary right-offs
The teams of accounts receivable management don’t maintain the payments that are less in amount. The direct effect of this is reflected in the balance sheets of the hospital. This is because some of the patients will pay the amount in installments. This can be avoided by hiring a professional team of an accountant who must approve and review everything before the writ-off. They have to see whether the amount is less or not and maintain everything in the book. This practice makes sure that the hospital or the clinic is not going towards loss.
Lack of proper accounts receivable management
The lack of proper management for accounts receivable in medical practice can lead to the loss of healthcare which includes bad debts and poor experience of patients. Also, you can analyze the bad debts in the book for accounts. A solution to solve this simple problem is to reconcile the bank statements to make sure that all the transactions are accurate and you have not missed anything. This will prevent the occurrence of frauds and errors and you can focus on your patient without any major headache from the finances.
Choosing the right process
The healthcare firms are different from each and so is their method of collecting the payments. Two hospitals may look similar from the outside but they will be different in everything from staff, patient demographics, and account dispositions to information system capabilities. This information helps them in creating the proper system of collection that is apt for your hospital. Expert accountants will understand what your process of operation is and what are the situations that you might go through and then decide the method that will suit you the best.
The benefits of hiring a professional accountant for managing medical accounts
There are a lot of problems that will arise daily in the medical accounts and this needs well-informed mid to solve. Only a professional accountant who has experience and knowledge about handling the issues can tackle the problem without any further problems and affecting the overall finances. Let us see why an accountant is ineluctable for a doctor or dentist
All-in-one solution
The accountant for medical professionals is not there just to keep the books. The professional will know all the aspects of managing and handling a business. This means that you can count on them for the management of your finances and some advice on how to improve the finances. They will give a helping hand in various aspects like increasing the profits and finance, managing the accounts of year-end and more. One thing rest assured is that you will be free from the headache of managing all the accounts and financial activities and gives you time to focus on the practice without any hassle.
Plan your taxes
Planning your tax payment way to improve the financial health and streamline personal finance is highly crucial. This requires high rooted knowledge and practice which the professional accounts possess and doctors don’t. They will know all the terms and conditions that are required for the payment of tax. They will also help when you need to interpret riders, sub-clauses, and clauses which can affect your liability.
Avoid paying more taxes than needed
Their attention to detail helps in curbing any errors and it helps in preventing the payment of higher tax. They will also help you get some deductions by paying everything on-time. by ensuring that you are only paying the right amount of tax they will help you maintain the finances properly.
Bottom line
If you are a doctor who is struggling with finances, you can get relief from numbers by hiring a professional accountant who can manage them properly and result in overall improvement.
