Ms. Leslie Kane: Hi. I'm Leslie Kane, Executive Editor of Medscape Business of Medicine. One of the most common problem areas in a medical practice is reimbursement. You have seen the patient, and you have done the work, but the money is not coming in. One expert estimates that as much as 20% of revenue is being lost because of poor reimbursement practices. To help you tackle that problem, we are here with Judy Aburmishan, a certified healthcare business consultant from Chicago. Judy, thanks so much for being with us today. I appreciate discussing this topic with you. If a medical practice has a sizable reimbursement leakage, wouldn't you expect the physician or the accountants to be aware of it and to know what is happening?
Ms. Aburmishan:The physician usually is not aware of it until the practice's checks are bouncing because the practice does not have enough money in the bank to cover expenses. The reason is that many, many physicians are so tied up with doing what they do that they do not follow up on how that money is collected. The accountants typically only go in to close the books once a year, so this is much more of a practice management issue that perhaps no one is paying attention to.
