New episode of The Back Office breaks down what practices really collect

The newest episode of The Back Office, the monthly video series and podcast from Physicians Practice, is now streaming, and it picks up where the premiere left off, with the numbers that decide how much of a practice’s billing actually turns into revenue.

Host Lucien W. Roberts III, MHA, FACMPE, a longtime practice administrator, is again joined by Bert Wilson, CMPA, who spent years on the payer side before moving into practice management. Using a single follow-up visit as their example, the two break down allowables, patient responsibility and the difference between gross and net collection percentages, then explain why accounts receivable built on charges can make a healthy practice look like it is falling behind.

The Back Office is built around the parts of running a practice that rarely make the agenda at a clinical meeting. Each month, Roberts sits down with industry experts to dig into the real challenges administrators face, from revenue cycle to staffing to payer contracting, in candid, experience-driven conversations with people who have done the work themselves.

You can start with the debut episode, in which Roberts and Wilson explain how Medicare’s fee schedule shapes what practices get paid. These first two episodes form a working primer on practice revenue, from the formula behind a payer’s allowable to the collection rates that reveal whether the business office is keeping pace.

New episodes of The Back Office drop monthly on Physicians Practice.