Rising Costs Top Concern in Physician Practices

No real surprises from the Medical Group Management Association’s (MGMA) annual survey of medical practice administrators. Their top issue is managing the bottom line in a tough economy.

MGMA asked their membership to weigh in on the question “What are your top practice management challenges today?”  Over two-thirds of respondents rated cost control and physician compensation as either “challenging” or “extremely challenging”.  A comparison of the top challenges from 2009 and 2008:

* Percent of respondents who rated these issues as a “considerable” or “extreme” challenge

The good news is that practices appear less worried than in the past about EMR implementation.  But the emphasis seems to have shifted to a focus on cash flow.

We have found some great opportunities to decrease documentation costs in client practices.  One area of low hanging fruit is to eliminate staff time spent at the office fax or copy machine.  We know of one practice that was able to save $5,000 in faxing-related expenses alone by using electronic fax and distribution services.