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AISMA Finance Clinic – Episode Two: Profitability in General Practice

Why are some GP practices more profitable than others while still maintaining high standards of patient care?

Does high quality patient care always cost money? Not necessarily, is the answer from James Gransby, Abi Newbury and Andrew Burwood*, who are all medical accountants specialising in advising GP practices and their practice managers on financial matters. They say that maintaining healthy practice profits, without compromising on patient care, is a matter of getting the balance right between saving on expenses and maximising income.

This is the theme of Episode two of the AISMA Finance Clinic, presented in collaboration with Practice Index. During the episode the team of accountancy experts explore how healthy practice profits can go hand-in-hand with excellent patient care. Here is a taster of their advice and tips.

When it comes to reducing expenses don’t try and tackle everything at once. Pick one or two areas to focus on at a time (printing, stationery and postage is a good example of where costs can easily spiral) and set up reminders to help you review and manage them.

Also remember that getting value and benefit for what you pay for is important. Skimping just to cut costs can be counterproductive. This is true for income too. When it comes to chasing down that last QOF point, consider if the effort is worth the reward.

When looking at a new income stream, don’t look at the potential income in isolation. You need to weigh up whether the costs (hard costs and the time of both partners and staff) make the income worthwhile. And if you plan to expand your list size, make sure that the additional workload is also manageable.

With 2021/22 a critical year for PCNs to make use of their Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) entitlements, the team also discuss the challenges of recruiting mental health practitioners, clinical pharmacists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, dieticians, podiatrists and paramedics.

The episode covers much more besides, including looking at your staffing mix and making sure you’ve got the right people in the right roles. Use of locums was also up for discussion (locums are expensive, especially those who pension their income), together with managing claims for personally administered drugs, making use of the budgeting and cash-flow forecasting tools available on cloud-based accounts software, and the usefulness of benchmarking your practice’s financial performance against others in your local area.

* Andrew Burwood, James Gransby and Abi Newbury are all members of the Association of Independent Specialist Medical Accountants (AISMA).

 

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