A physician speaks

My good friend Frank Cohen (www.cpahealth.com) recently received the following email from a friend of his who is a physician.  It is really quite sad but reflects the state of affairs we often find with our physician clients; any follow up comments to this email from the readership??:

Dear Frank;

How are you? Hope all is well and the new year is firmly in God's hands!

I need your help! I cannot seem to define the problem in my practice. I have a practice that excludes endoscopies and breast problems, yet emphasizes the minimally invasive approach to all forms of other general surgical issues. I have an EMR that works well and without difficulty but I am being suspended from hospital practice for record incompletion. I have a compassionate level of care and can endear patients to refer friends and family as well as bake pies. I fail to have the volume consistently that allows me to make more than $100,000. Despite this, I fail to have any malpractice events since starting practice here exactly 3 years ago. I am having a hard time paying for medication, repair of house or cars as I think necessary. I think that my product is really good for $300,000, so that I wonder if I am missing something. Certainly, I have been in prayer about this and also with patients.

I obtained the Ingenix percentile surgical charges for my zip code and am charging the 75 percentile amount for most of my procedures.

My questions are do I have a practice? Am I losing money in any way that I can stop? What is missing? How do you need the data to perform the analysis that you did previously? Thank you.

All my best,

About the Author

Reed Tinsley CPA

This article is written by Reed Tinsley, a Houston, TX-based CPA with over 30 years of experience advising physicians and medical practices across Texas and the United States. Reed holds certifications as a Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA), Certified Healthcare Business Consultant (CHBC), and Certified Financial Planner (CFP), specializing exclusively in the healthcare sector. He is a published author, nationally recognized speaker, and trusted advisor to physicians on accounting & tax, practice management, and financial planning. Schedule a Free Consultation.