For Physicians: Increase your Family Practice Revenue

If you are a physician and find your profits sagging, you’re in good company. Many physicians struggle to stay profitable in the face of increasing operating costs and saturated health care markets.

(Pixabay / punggolzenith)

Fortunately, there are a number of ways to increase your medical practice profits. Here are just a few ideas:

• Extend your hours. Few people like the idea of taking time off of work or school to see their doctor. Consider extending your office hours to make your clinic more patient-friendly. You could stay late once a week or offer Saturday hours once a month.
• Add services. When you refer patients out for different services, you lose continuity of care as well as earning opportunities. Some cases must be referred out, but there are a number of services that you can bring in-office with very little time and money. One example is allergy immunotherapy. Consider adopting a turnkey allergy treatment program. You can order an allergy test kit for physicians, complete a brief training, and prescribe sublingual immunotherapy (oral drops) or subcutaneous immunotherapy (allergy drops) to allergic patients. Since one in five patients has allergies, offering an allergy treatment program is an excellent way to serve your patients and increase your medical practice profits at the same time.
• Go online. If you don’t have an online presence—including a website or social media page—you’re missing a golden opportunity to attract new patients and engage your current ones. Studies show that over 70 percent of patients consult the Internet for healthcare questions and over 60 percent use online reviews to help them choose a physician. Build up your presence on popular review sites like Yelp, WebMD, Healthgrades, Google Reviews, Angie’s List, and Top Doctors.
• Negotiate with insurance companies. Did you know that you can actually ask insurance companies for a pay raise? Payer contracts are not static arrangements. Reach out to payers about increasing your fee schedule. If you can show that you are a capable and cost-efficient healthcare provider, they may be willing to pay you more. If you are unsuccessful, contact a healthcare business expert who may be able to assist you in your negotiations.

You don’t have to take drastic measures to increase your family practice profits. A few well-executed adjustments can improve your practice and your income stream.