Bookkeeping for pp

Started by liquidshadow22
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liquidshadow22

Junior Member
15+ Year Member
Struggling with keeping track of financials for my practice as I just don't really have the time.

Should I just bite the bullet and have my accountant do my bookkeeping or any tips for how to get started? Just use excel or worth buying quick books?
 
I use quickbooks. Update entries every morning as part of the pre-day chart review. You could also consider doing once a week?

I find this to be a very important task. Making sure each check or insurance deposit is appropriately labeled for each insurance. You can then break down and see the relative income per insurance company. The more information I have the more informed I can be for certain decisions.

It's also very handy, with the Profit and Loss statements that can be procured by QuickBooks when approaching banks for loans. They want a Profit loss statement and when the entries are up to day, it's click click done.

Long story short I couldn't imagine outsourcing this to my CPA. Payroll perhaps if I had more employees, but not the day to day deposits and data entry. There's also fraud prevention too, checking accounts often allows spotting identity theft. I've already had my business credit card hacked TWICE in three years. I spotted the concerning charges same day.
 
Another private practice related question.... Im cash only. Does anyone charge for online communication with patients? I am OK with patients messaging me questions/requests. My official policy is that I charge a $40 fee for scripts provided outside of visits (dont always bill this however).

Some patients really send a ton of messages..and it really does take up a lot of time to answer their questions/concerns. I understand that its important to just say that certain clinical issues need to be discussed in a visit, but was wondering how other people here handle this typically?
 
liquidshadow22 said:
Another private practice related question.... Im cash only. Does anyone charge for online communication with patients? I am OK with patients messaging me questions/requests. My official policy is that I charge a $40 fee for scripts provided outside of visits (dont always bill this however).

Some patients really send a ton of messages..and it really does take up a lot of time to answer their questions/concerns. I understand that its important to just say that certain clinical issues need to be discussed in a visit, but was wondering how other people here handle this typically?
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Some of the PP docs that I know around here will charge their hourly rate if a phone call goes over a defined period of time (commonly 15 minutes). I agree that a brief call or message probably shouldn't be billed, but if a patient's "question" ends up being a 30-minute conversation, I don't think it's unreasonable to charge them for the time. That's what you're selling, after all.
 
liquidshadow22 said:
Another private practice related question.... Im cash only. Does anyone charge for online communication with patients? I am OK with patients messaging me questions/requests. My official policy is that I charge a $40 fee for scripts provided outside of visits (dont always bill this however).

Some patients really send a ton of messages..and it really does take up a lot of time to answer their questions/concerns. I understand that its important to just say that certain clinical issues need to be discussed in a visit, but was wondering how other people here handle this typically?
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you could certainly do this if you are clear from the outset about it. however it is better to charge a sufficient fee for clinical visits so you aren't irked by it. in addition, selecting/screening patients appropriately so you dont end up with a lot of patients who abuse this. you can also use this as a gauge of how frequent the sessions need to be and set appropriate limits with yourself. I had a pt recently who sent a lot of messages, which prompted me to increase frequency of sessions from once a week to twice a week for example.
 
Another thing to consider with doing one's own accounting and being proactive with it, I believe it has a translational value.

In other words, the possibility of opening up another, different kind of business in the future.

I'm considering an agricultural business in the distant future and my experiences with private practice are helping the formation of the future business plan.
 
Sushirolls said:
I just encourage/ prompt the need for an appointment.
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That’s what I tend to do. “Sounds like you have a lot of concerns that we should talk about in an appointment. Looks like I have an opening ****, how about we set aside time for an appointment then?”

doesn’t work as well if your schedule is packed full constantly but at least you’re getting paid for it even if adding them in.
 
splik said:
you could certainly do this if you are clear from the outset about it. however it is better to charge a sufficient fee for clinical visits so you aren't irked by it. in addition, selecting/screening patients appropriately so you dont end up with a lot of patients who abuse this. you can also use this as a gauge of how frequent the sessions need to be and set appropriate limits with yourself. I had a pt recently who sent a lot of messages, which prompted me to increase frequency of sessions from once a week to twice a week for example.
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only issue is that with cash only, increasing the freq of visits can be financially prohibitive for some patients. For example, I had a few pts that were running through adderall too quickly and i proposed meeting weekly instead of monthly and I lost both patients (definitely better off now but my point is that patients will leave if I request this in a cash practice)
 
liquidshadow22 said:
only issue is that with cash only, increasing the freq of visits can be financially prohibitive for some patients. For example, I had a few pts that were running through adderall too quickly and i proposed meeting weekly instead of monthly and I lost both patients (definitely better off now but my point is that patients will leave if I request this in a cash practice)
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The people who pay cash who are fine with weekly visits are looking to see someone for intensive therapy (+ or - meds). Typical medication-focused appointments probably aren't going to cut it.
 
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