Tap into additional revenue streams for your practice

One of the main concerns by many physicians is the lower reimbursements and lower revenue generated for the same work that several years ago may have paid almost double what it does today. As costs increase, what physicians are earning is going in the opposite direction. So many turn to other streams of income to make ends meet. In this article, we will look at some of the options available to physicians that are being used through the country.

TAPPING INTO ALTERNATIVE INCOME STREAMS AND SERVICES

There are several ways that a physician can generate revenue for their practice. Initially, what you may want to do is figure out a way to keep and maintain the patients you do have, so that as you gain new patients, your practice can grow instead of simply replacing patients you’ve lost.

Healthcare Call Center

One of the growing trends in the healthcare space is the addition of a Call Center model for medium-to-large sized medical practices to implement a customer service center either onsite or outsourced to handle the volume of patient inquiries over the phone.

Let’s face it, no one likes to be put on hold, especially for an extended period of time. If you want your patients to be happy and feel attended to, you need to answer their calls quickly, and efficiently ascertain their needs and find solutions.

A Healthcare Call Center can provide such an experience to your patients. They can answer call, set appointments, and handle billing and an overall good experience for patients.

If you are finding that patients are beginning to complain about the service being offered them by your practice, this may be a good solution for you. Companies such as McKesson offer comprehensive programs to integrate a Call Center model for practices that need it

Doctor Dispensing

Doctor Offices and Pharmacies have always seemed to be completely separate entities, and they are. What many providers don’t know, or haven’t given much thought to, is the potential for their practice to have a Pharmaceutical Dispensing license. This license would allow a physician to increase the revenue of their practice by allow the doctor to earn adjudication revenue from the dispensing of medications.

If you have many patients that would qualify to be included in a physician dispensing program, those same medications that your patients are getting from a local pharmacy, could be dispensed by your practice. You could earn some revenue from those same medications your patients are taking, if you meet certain requirements.

In some cases, the revenue could be on the lower end of $1500-$2000 per month, and in other cases as high as $11,000-$12,000 per month or more. There are programs available that would allow a medical practice to do a review with a Dispensing Specialist to see if the practice would qualify to have a dispensing program and what medications their patients are currently taking. They would then receive a report as to what it would entail to start a dispensing program and the average revenue the practice could be making if they were to simply fulfill those same exact prescriptions themselves.

Patients therefore would receive a complete healthcare solution from a medical practice that incorporates Pharmaceutical Dispensing. A patient would be able to walk into a practice, with a certain condition. They could speak with a provider, receive a diagnosis, and walk out with the medications they need, all in one trip. 

3 out of 4 patients would prefer to receive their medications from their provider, during their medical visit

This saves the patient time and energy, making life easier for them.  They can make one trip, speak to their trusted physician and receive their needed prescription. The provider can bill for the consultation as well as receive adjudication for the prescription medication given to the patient. It’s a good system all around.

Now the laws for Pharmaceutical Dispensing in a medical practice differ from state to state, and each physician would have to do their due diligence to see if they are allowed to engage in these additional programs or not. The best thing is to find a reputable company that specializes in Dispensing and work with them to setup a program in your practice, if you are eligible. They would be able to train you and your staff from A to Z, on all the protocols you need to follow to ensure you provide the proper care your patients need, and you remain compliant with state and federal legislation.

Often for Direct Primary Care practices, physician dispensing is a natural fit, as it allows payment arrangements to be make between providers and patients, removing insurance providers from the equation. This often works well with patients that have a high-deductible or a health savings account, since most of their medical expenses except for catastrophic health care will be paid out of pocket.

If this is something you think you may be able to start in your practice, it would be a very stable way of increasing revenue for your practice, and keep patients constantly engaged with your medical practice.

Physical Products to sell to patients

This is a controversial subject to discuss. Many feel that a physician should stay out of the retail business, whether or not they are receive revenue from the products being offered. This is something that has to be thoroughly investigated by a provider, and probably should be something a physician should stay away from to be on the safe side. 

It can lead into an unethical situation where a physician may feel the temptation to use the influence and trust their patients have in them to push products they know they will earn and income from. At the end of the day, how can a patient truly trust you if you are willing to flirt with such a slippery slope? 

So it would be recommended to avoid selling products to patients, since it may cause tensions between the patient and your practice, and in some cases is against the law. After all, your real goal should be to what you do best, and offer them the best healthcare possible.

Medicare Chronic Care Management

Another development in Healthcare is the integration of Chronic Care Management. This is a program geared towards helping physicians and medical practices switch to a value-based reimbursement, quality-driven approach to reduce costs and increase patient satisfaction. Preventative care and continuity of care is the focus, to increase the quality of healthcare being offered.

Under this program, it would allow a medical practice to bill for the coordination of a patient’s healthcare for 2 or more chronic medical conditions. Each Insurance carrier is a little different but will often follow the lead of CMS, thus it is likely that VBR will soon become the norm.

93% of Medicare spending was utilized to service beneficiaries with multiple chronic conditions.

As of 2010, High Blood Pressure, High Cholesterol Heart Disease, Arthritis and Diabetes were the most common chronic conditions.

Since chronic conditions are conditions currently incurable, patients will require constant treatment for the duration of their lives. The type of health care provided them will have an impact on costs, morbidity and mortality rates, which may have serious repercussions to the future of our health care system.

Patients that have 2 or more current conditions lasting 12 months or longer, which place the patient at a significant risk of death, acute exacerbation, or decompensation or functional decline, would be eligible for the program. 

The patients must inform patients and obtain a consent form before they are able to officially bill for CCM. The CPT code used is 99490, and requires that a provider conduct a 20-minute minimum per patient, per month consultation, resulting in around $42 per consult. This would be a “non-face-to-face” interaction which can be conducted via a Telemedicine Platform utilizing audio/video capability, or even through the phone.

This would allow providers to utilize Telemedicine, especially a video capable platform to have a more intimate and engaging interaction with a patient, and still bill for the visit.

If a medium-sized medical practice were to have 300 patients that qualified for CCM, given that a minimum of 20-minutes per patient per month is required; considering sessions may go over 20 minutes, it would take 5 hours per day for 4 weeks to facilitate the sessions for these 300 patients. This would equate to a reimbursement of around $12,600 for coordinating the chronic care management for these patients.

As you can see, it is not going to massive different in what you are currently doing in your practice, but if you integrate a video-based Telemedicine platform it will create a more meaningful interaction with your patients, and allow your team to provide for all your patients, and even take on more patients. You could develop a team in your practice dedicated to taking care of your Chronic Care Management program to ensure it runs smoothly.

When combined with a Physician Dispensing program, your patients will receive at least 2 interactions with your practice per month. One via Telemedicine, and the second when then come to your office to pick up their medications. This would build a dynamic relationship between you and your patients and ensure your maintain a high patient retention. By implementing Marketing programs both online and offline, you will continue to receive inquiries from potential patients and continue to grow your practice.

In our next article, we will discuss how you can being taking advantage of many of the strategies disclosed in these articles, and how you can being increasing revenues and the quality of health care you are able to provide to your patients.