Finance & Enjoyment Blog
June 02, 2011Cloud Computing and Your Business
Category: Successful Practice Management
Cloud Computing and Your Business - Recently, a lot of talk about cutting edge business technology involves the use of cloud computing. There are advertisements almost daily claiming that it will revolutionize the business world, but one thing these advertisements lack is any sort of explanation as to what clouds do. The following is a brief synopsis of the purpose and function of clouds, and how they may help your business. What is a cloud? A cloud is a series of powerful networked computers that hold different applications that a user can run from their own computer, but al …
Read The Rest of This PostJanuary 26, 2011Tax Planning Basics
Category: Successful Practice Management, Your Financial House, Rules and Regulations
What You Should Know About Tax Planning - For the most part, significant tax issues may be avoided by careful planning and attention to your financial situation. The goal of any tax payer should be to pay the least amount of tax, but this philosophy may lead to errors or even create more of a tax liability than what was originally saved. Tax returns filed by medical practices can be complicated, and leaving it up to Turbotax or H&R Block can have disastrous results. Usually the cost associated with hiring a CPA is made up several times over by the dollars saved on the tax …
Read The Rest of This PostJanuary 24, 2011Why Hire a CPA to do Your Tax Return?
Category: Successful Practice Management, Your Financial House
Why Hire a CPA for Tax Returns - As the beginning of the tax season is upon us, we have become immersed in advertising from the likes of H & R Block, TurboTax, and Jackson Hewitt, informing us that they will do everything in their power to get you your money back at a very low cost. While these services may be slightly cheaper than your local CPA firm, you may not be getting the best value for the dollars you spend. It is important to realize that there are many additional benefits you receive from a CPA firm these other sources do not offer. There are at least five distinct advantages …
Read The Rest of This PostDecember 28, 2010New Healthcare Bill - Penalties Enforced for Employers
Category: Successful Practice Management, Rules and Regulations
New Healthcare Bill - Penalties Enforced for Employers Due to the recent Healthcare bill there will be new penalties enforced that may affect employers with over 50 full-time employees, or full-time employee equivalents. These new penalties have been enacted to encourage employers to provide employees with either health insurance or another health plan that pays for 60% of their employee’s health care costs. If an employer fails to do this they will incur a $2,000 penalty for each employee beginning in 2014, with 30 employees being exempted from the calculation of the penalty. The gove …
Read The Rest of This PostNovember 03, 2010Changes to Hospice Care
Category: Successful Practice Management
Hospice Care Changes are Coming! Due to health care legislation passed recently there will be several new changes within hospice care. One of these changes will be in the quality data requirements. Currently there are no uniform standards within the hospice care industry on what quality data should be reported. This will soon change as the Secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services has been tasked to come up with quality measures that all hospices will be required to report or risk facing a 2% decrease in their reimbursement basket increase. This reporting is to begin in …
Read The Rest of This PostNovember 02, 2010Medicare Fraud Prevention
Category: Successful Practice Management
Prevention of Fraud in Medicare Payments In response to crimes, fines for health care fraud will increase by 20-50% for crimes involving more than $1,000,000 in losses. Also, obstructing a fraud investigation will be considered a crime. There will be an expansion of Recovery Audit Contractors to investigate Medicaid, Medicare Advantage, and Part D to ensure proper payment has been made. New powers will be given to the secretary and inspector generals to investigate and audit health insurance exchanges to prevent health insurance fraud. A large part of the Health Ca …
Read The Rest of This PostNovember 01, 2010Changes to FSAs, HSAs and MSAs
Category: Successful Practice Management
Changes to Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs), Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), and Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs)! One of the biggest changes that occurred with the passing of the Health Care Reform Act of 2010 was with Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs), Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), and Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs). Starting in 2011, all over the counter medicines are prohibited from being reimbursed by these accounts. This change will be felt on many different levels as over the counter medicine is the most common purchase by these accounts. For those that plan well, this change will b …
Read The Rest of This PostAugust 08, 2010Medicare Tax Increases - 2010
Category: Successful Practice Management
With the passing of the recent Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) there was an increase in the Medicare tax on individuals and joint filers whose income exceeds $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for joint filers. This increase includes a .9% increase, in addition to the already enacted 1.45% Medicare tax for all income, applying to wages that exceed the above mentioned thresholds. The burden to withhold this tax increase rests solely on employers who must withhold this additional tax once the thresholds have been exceeded regardless of a spouse’s income level. However …
Read The Rest of This PostApril 01, 2010What Should Small Business Be Doing in a Downturn?
Category: Successful Practice Management
Small business is a major driver of the U.S. economy. In hard times, however, smaller businesses have a tough time surviving. What should they be doing to survive and thrive? Manage Payroll - Payroll is typically one of the largest costs in a small business. The challenge is to employ just the right number of people to provide optimum customer service. This means projecting sales and staffing to meet that need. The successful business will master the art of maintaining high quality service levels, without employing excess personnel that consume the businesses pot …
Read The Rest of This PostFebruary 11, 2010Prepare for the RAC Attack
Category: Successful Practice Management, Retirement and Exit Strategies
RAC Audits Are Coming! Have a sample of your claims reviewed by an outside coding expert. Be sure your compliance manual is up to date. Look for your most frequently used and highest dollar claims, and be sure coding is accurate. These will be among the first areas of RAC examination. Monitor the RAC’s Web site for the items at the center of their attention, and scrutinize your practice for all that apply. CMS requires that RACs inform the public of specific areas of interest. Connolly’s Web site is: www.connollyhealthcare.c …
Read The Rest of This PostJanuary 21, 2010KKB in the Community
Category: Successful Practice Management
Oftentimes in our lives we get so caught up in our careers and focus so intently on them that we may forget the importance of community and the need, as humans, to do what we can to improve the world around us. Volunteering is just one way, I believe, that enables us to do this. I hope you are able to see from my own experiences the joy that can be found in giving up ones time for the benefit of others. As well as how easy it is to become a volunteer. After recently moving to Lakewood from Iowa it was important to me to find ways I could give back to the place I now call home. I was luc …
Read The Rest of This PostJuly 15, 2009Lease vs. Buy
Category: Successful Practice Management
Clients frequently ask me whether to buy or lease a certain piece of equipment for the medical practice. Before I can answer that question I must consider a great number of facts about the client’s specific circumstances. The first thing we look at is the current cash flow situation. Is there enough cash in the practice currently to buy the equipment outright? If the cash is there, we can save interest charges that a loan to buy the equipment would incur. With interest rates on savings accounts being almost zero these days, and credit being tough to find, paying ca …
Read The Rest of This PostJuly 14, 2009Thoughts on Influencing Organizational Culture
Category: Successful Practice Management
The organizational culture of your business defines the way you relate to your customers and to the people you work with. Your customers will be served best when the entire team works together with the same well-defined positive orientation towards service and customer care. As a customer, you inherently know when you are working with a competent individual who cares about what you want and need. It doesn’t take long for you to determine if the sales person before you is attentive and knowledgeable about store products. There was a time when “customer service& …
Read The Rest of This Post
