Practice Management News For The New Financial Year
Welcome to the 2019 financial year! There have been a lot of changes this year. The introduction of QIPIP, new MBS items numbers and interesting new technology being incorporated into general practice. It is a very exciting time for general practice. However, it is also stressful due to the changes of DWS locations and the lack of general practitioners throughout Australia.
Setting up a new medical centre
Our team are receiving numerous phone calls regarding new medical centre setups. Practice setups are complex. It is not just a matter of building or fitting out a medical centre, there is numerous Medicare Australia documentation, linking of medical software and coordination of services. There can also be significant differences in quotes from medical equipment, IT and medical software.
If you are considering starting a new centre, please contact us so we can send you our practice setup book and other resources to help you with your decision.
Our company can assist with the setup of the centre including coordinating the project for you. We have access to some great medical suppliers and people who are experts in their industries. Our most important advice is not to try and attempt to set up a medical centre by yourself if you have not tackled this before. You want your project to be perfect by the time you open the doors so doctors can just walk in and start working.
Income leakage and practice audits
Not a day goes by when we don’t receive a phone call from a practice owner concerned about financial issues. As a practice owner, it is frustrating working really hard and not having any profit at the end of the week, month or year. We have seen all sort of reasons for this including staff not entering item numbers in software, doctors, and staff not understanding the MBS system and no company budget in place.
These are just 3 items. At a recent audit, we picked up dozens of items contributing to the loss of income.
If your practice income is bothering you, organise a practice audit. We will give you a full report on what is happening in your practice ( financial and non- financial issues), and a plan of action for you to work towards. This is a great working tool for your practice staff or our team can help you streamline the practice working off the plan of action.
Remote practice management
Our remote practice management model is ramping up. We now manage medical centres in NSW, QLD, VIC, and ACT. The sizes of the practices vary, but they are all privately owned practices.
We operate the management of the centres under the direction of the Medical Director. This means there is no corporate influence. All centres are managed differently according to the size and location of the practice. We know that practice management in a city is entirely different to managing a centre in a rural area.
If you are struggling to keep up with the management of your centre, contact Nicky here. There are many solutions to managing a medical centre and we may be able to assist in many ways.
Keeping up with the Joneses …eh sorry MBS
Headache with a capital H. The items change, the rules change, the amounts change and the MBS online facility is a nightmare to navigate. Should we mention the complexity of referrals and care plans flying in all directions?
There are some great tools to help you and also some great networks of practice managers. Contact your local PHN or add yourself onto a social network and speak to other managers.
Never think that you are the only one that doesn’t understand the way the MBS work. It is a nationwide issue that requires constant re-education.
Business and strategic planning
As a business owner myself, I understand the importance of developing good business plans and constantly marketing a company with cutting edge technology and ideas. However, sometimes you don’t know what you don’t know.
There are patient kiosks, software to help with your financial reporting, patient concierge systems ( “What is that?” I hear you asking …), and obviously the induction of Pencat Tools to help cleanse your medical data, increase your income and also part of the new QIPIP initiative.
However difficult these new general practice innovations are, it is really important that you keep up with the game. General Practice is very competitive.
New doctors and patients also look at your website If you don’t have any recent blogs or news, the photos are looking tired and there have been no visible improvements to your centre, you will not attract good doctors or staff. Start looking at all the quality improvements for your practice – not just data.
We have moved!
Because there wasn’t enough stress with the new financial year, we decided to relocate to bigger premises. We are now in a large office house on the Sunshine Coast opposite the new Sunshine Coast CBD. We have also expanded our team of practice managers which is further increasing our knowledge base. Check out our Facebook page for some photos.
Please don’t hesitate to contact us for any information. We also take enquiries about recruiting GP’s but we are NOT an agency. We pass on all enquiries for free.