A recent report found medical practices across the United States sought to eliminate costs anywhere they could, even if that meant spending less money on office supplies and the medications they kept on hand.
According to the Medical Group Management Association's report on costs in multispeciality practices, overall operating costs increased 52.64 percent between 2001 and 2010, outpacing the 45.87 percent growth in spending across that timespan.
In an effort to mitigate spiraling costs, practices took time to trim certain expenses where possible. That includes 23.37 percent in reduced spending on furniture and equipment and 8.52 percent in cutbacks on drug supplies.
"[Practices] have worked to reduce operating expenses, and renegotiate rates with vendors, supply companies and insurance carriers," said William Jessee, MGMA president and CEO. "This means medical practices are not spending as much money as they were last year, which isn’t necessarily a good thing."
Jessee noted many practices are essentially against the wall, having made nearly all the sacrifices they could reasonably make without cutting into critical care costs.
More of these facilities might benefit from turning to services and technology that could increase their productivity without limiting the quality of the care they provide. Electronic medical records software, for instance, can help digitize the painstaking medical records process and cut down on the occurrence of costly human errors.
This technology can be especially beneficial when paired with medical scheduling software, which provides physicians with the opportunity to organize their practices' daily activities down to the finest detail. That may help ensure that no moment is wasted and that their time is spent in a manner that's both efficient and beneficial to a practice.
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