Medical Practice Management: Is Doing Everything In-House Costing You Time and Revenue...and Profit?

 Does Everything in Your Medical Practice Really Need to Be Done In-House?

Last week, we talked about something I think deserves more attention in medical practices:

Sometimes your staff isn't the problem.

You can have a great team. They can be hardworking, experienced, and completely committed to your practice and still be falling behind.

Why? Because there comes a point when there simply aren't enough hours in the day.

Claims need attention. Denials need follow-up. Aging A/R needs to be worked. Payments need to be posted. Credentialing deadlines don't disappear. Patients have billing questions. Reports need to be reviewed.

Meanwhile, your team still has an actual medical practice to run. So if you've recognized that your practice has a capacity problem, the next question becomes:

What do you do about it?

"Maybe We Just Need Another Employee"

That's often the first thought. And sometimes, hiring another employee absolutely is the right decision. But before automatically adding another position, there's another question worth asking:

Do we need another employee or do we need additional capacity?

Those aren't always the same thing.

A new employee means recruiting, onboarding, training, salary, benefits, management, coverage during absences, and potentially starting the process over if that employee leaves. And after all of that, your practice is still responsible for managing the work itself. So before immediately adding another person, take a closer look at what is actually overwhelming your team.

What's Eating Up Their Time?

Think about everything that happens behind the scenes just to turn a patient visit into collected revenue...

Insurance verification. Documentation. Coding. Claims submission. Rejections. Denials. Payment posting. Patient balances. Accounts receivable. Payer follow-up. Reporting.

Then add credentialing, administrative responsibilities, patient questions, staff issues, and the countless unexpected problems that happen during a normal day.

Individually, each responsibility makes sense. Collectively? It can become a tremendous amount of work. And that's where I think practice leaders should ask a question they may not have considered before:

Which of these responsibilities truly need to be handled by our internal staff?

"But We've Always Done It Ourselves"

That's understandable. Many practices grow organically. One employee takes on billing. Someone else handles credentialing. The practice manager starts helping with denials. Another person takes over patient balances. Over time, responsibilities get added wherever someone can squeeze them in. And eventually, that temporary solution simply becomes "That's how we've always done it."

But the structure that worked when your practice was smaller may not be the structure your practice needs today. Growth changes things. Patient volume increases. Payer requirements change. Administrative demands increase. A/R grows.

And the same employees who once had enough time may suddenly find themselves constantly choosing between what needs attention now and what will have to wait until tomorrow. That's when it's worth questioning the structure, not the people.

Look at What Keeps Getting Pushed Aside

Here's a simple exercise.

Ask your staff:

"If you had five extra hours this week, what would you finally get caught up on?"

Listen carefully to the answers. You may hear:

Our older A/R. Denial follow-up. Credentialing. Patient balances. Insurance follow-up. Actually reviewing our reports.

Those answers are valuable because they tell you where your practice may not necessarily have a knowledge problem.

You may have a dedicated-capacity problem.

And when revenue-related work keeps getting pushed to tomorrow, there may be dollars waiting right beside it.

Your Team's Time Has Value

There's another question worth asking:

What isn't your team doing because they're busy doing all of this?

Maybe your practice manager is perfectly capable of handling credentialing. But should your practice manager be spending hours doing it?

Maybe your front desk can handle insurance follow-up. But is that the best use of their time when patients are standing in front of them?

Maybe your billing employee can work aging A/R. But if today's claims always take priority, when exactly is that supposed to happen?

Being capable of doing something doesn't automatically mean it's the best use of someone's time. And that's where the conversation starts to shift.

Instead of asking: "How can we get our staff to accomplish more?"

Maybe the better question is: "What should our staff actually be responsible for?"

And That's Where We'll Go Next

Not everything needs to leave your practice. And outsourcing isn't automatically the right solution.

But neither is assuming everything must continue to be done internally simply because that's how you've always done it.

Next week, we'll look at the next part of this conversation:

When does outside support actually make sense for a medical practice?

We'll talk about the difference between replacing staff and supporting staff, which responsibilities may be better suited for specialized outside help, and the questions you should ask before deciding whether outsourcing is right for your practice.

Until then, here's one question I'd leave with you:

If you could permanently take ONE responsibility off your team's plate without sacrificing quality or control, what would it be?

Your answer might tell you exactly where to look next.

Want to learn more? Email us at info@dresdenmed.com and we will answer your questions and find the right solution for you, your staff and your practice!