Engagements for Medical Professionals

Even generalists will find they can expand the services they offer to health care. clients. Many CPA firms practicing in today's competitive economic environment are struggling to find ways to increase practice revenue. Some concentrate on gaining more clients, others try to expand services to existing clients, while most try to do both. For CPA firms with physician clients or for firms wanting to attract them, there are enormous opportunities to expand revenue by adding consulting services to existing accounting and tax service capabilities. One reason for this opportunity is that most CPA firms don't render the consulting services physicians want and need. CPAs do a good job rendering accounting, tax and sometimes financial planning to medical clients. However, to the existing or potential client, it can be difficult to distinguish one firm from another. The ways to differentiate a firm are to develop and provide consulting services and to deemphasize the basic, traditional accounting services that other CPAs render. HITTING THE RIGHT TARGET While traditional accounting services are a business necessity, most clients also need help developing and managing their businesses. The keys to any successful enterprise are revenue optimization, cost containment and the maximization of bottom line net income. Medical practices are no different from any other businesses in that the success formula is the same. Most doctors desperately need help to create and maintain financially healthy practices. The reasons are numerous but two are paramount. The first is that most doctors never learn the business aspects of medicine while in residency or fellowship training. Since only clinical skills are emphasized, many doctors experience business problems soon after beginning their medical careers and don't know how to identify or solve them. This applies even to physicians who have been in practice for a number of years. In addition, there is a shortage of qualified medical practice personnel who have the unique abilities needed to manage complicated medical practice functions, such as billing and collecting. This shortage creates problems for a large number of medical practices. CPAs can help provide solutions by developing and providing medical practice management consulting services for doctor clients. They can accomplish this by becoming specialists and devoting the bulk of their practices to these services or by targeting a few types of consulting engagements to offer existing physician clients. The first step on either path is to gather the necessary expertise. GAINING KNOWLEDGE There are three basic ways for CPAs to increase their understanding of the workings of a medical practice: * Medical practice management conferences. A list of seminars can be obtained from any state or county medical association and the American Medical Association. * Health care publications. Practitioners can ask doctor clients and their office managers which practice management periodicals they read and which are the best publications on the Medicare and Medicaid systems. * Firsthand observation. An important way to learn about a health care practice is to spend time watching how the office works; this is good business even for CPAs offering only traditional services. Watching day-to-day operations helps a CPA understand how the practice generates revenue, how bills are processed and how potential practice management problems are and should be solved. ENGAGEMENTS FOR THE GENERALIST It's not always necessary to offer specialized engagements within a practice devoted exclusively to medical practice consulting. The services described below are well suited to generalist CPAs with large physician clienteles who want to add one or two specialized engagements targeted to them. * Physician contract review. The content of employment contracts used in incorporated medical practices usually is 90% financial detail. …