5 ways for GP practices toimprove their performance

1. Check claims have been paid

With Primary Care Contractor Services now run by an outsourcing company, GP practices have reported issues including non-payment of childhood immunisations, training grants and seniority payments. Keep up-to-date records of claims and match them to payments.

2. Control stock levels

Profitability of drugs purchases is an area practices often fall down on. Review claims to ensure they have been paid and keep stock levels under control. We always review claims as part of the year-end process.

3. Code clinical work correctly

Coding of work done in clinical systems is now more important than ever. Many payments to practices rely on the automated extraction of data – so if it’s not coded correctly you won’t get paid. Make sure clinicians are aware of what they need to record.

4. Beware of rising staff costs

With increasing patient demand, it’s easy to try to plug the gap by employing more staff. However core funding for practices remains unchanged and, whilst in some areas local schemes have provided new sources of funding, these are not guaranteed to be recurrent. Be careful not to expand your cost base too much.

5. Benchmark against others

Comparing your practice to others is a good way to highlight potential problems and identify areas for improvement. As part of the year end accounts process, we can monitor the performance of your practice and provide you with benchmarking statistics.

Hall Liddy - medical accounting specialists in the North of England

These notes have been prepared purely as support material. No action should be taken based on the contents or views expressed without firstly taking professional advice

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