You must also determine ownership of your accounts receivable, while also calculating their value in the new practice using account aging and payer mix information. Conduct an inventory of fixed assets and reconcile it to depreciation schedule. Finally, check into your new practice s liability for notes payable and other contingent liabilities, such as payback for goodwill. Once you have established the financial foundation for your new practice, you must consider important operational issues. Naturally, buyout obligations and new physician salary requirements will have an impact on your working capital requirements.
Some contracts prevent and even penalize physicians for taking staff from one practice to another.
Consider hiring additional billing and collections personnel if you plan to absorb this function into the new practice. Speaking of collections, you probably should expect delays during the implementation of a new billing system. You should compare the current collection ratio to industry norms for reasonableness, and consider the impact of possible changes in patient volume and physician productivity on future collections. A lot of this depends, of course, on your choice of practice management systems. You can lease or purchase such a system, or outsource practice management functions altogether.