Do you have 15 extra minutes per month? Fifteen minutes is really all it takes for you to take a good snapshot of how your practice is doing.

There are eight areas that you can examine and monitor on a monthly basis. They are as follows:

Patient Visits
If you have low patient visits, consider the time of year. Is it normal for your practice visits to drop off during certain months? If the answer is yes, then fine. You have identified a trend. If the answer is no, then maybe some marketing is due. Patient visits equate to revenue, so it’s important to keep an eye on this metric.

Monthly Charges
Along with the patient visits, you should be monitoring your monthly charges.

Monthly Collections

Do you know how much money is being deposited on a monthly basis? Keeping track of not just insurance payments but patient payments via statements and co-pays is critical information for you to have.

Average Charge per Visit and Collection per Visit

These help you keep track of underperformers in your practice. The average charge per visit and collection per visit provide great information. If you fall below this average on any given visit, it is a good idea to investigate why.

Net Collection Rate

How much of your charges are being collected after you consider the contractual adjustments? The formula is simple: (Collections + Adjustments)/Charges X 100. You should have a net collection rate greater than 95%.

Patient Balance
This is also important to keep under control. As with your entire payer mix (insurance contracts), there should never be a high accounts receivable balance in patient balances. It’s really a good idea not to carry patient balances on your books for more than 90 days. If you have patient balances over this timeframe, find out why.

Accounts Receivable (A/R)
This is what is due to you from the insurance companies and patients. The claims aged greater than 90 days should not be more than 25% of your total AR.

Dr. John Guiliana is an Executive Vice President of NEMO Health and author and lecturer on topics pertaining to medical practice management.   He can be reached at John@NEMOHealth.com.