Ask MGMA: How to Cut Costs and Improve Efficiency in Your Medical Practice

In this episode, host Daniel Williams talks with senior advisor Cristy Good about practical ways to cut costs and boost efficiency in medical practices. They address key challenges like rising labor, tech, and inflation-driven expenses, and explore solutions such as cloud-based tools, smarter scheduling, strategic outsourcing, and cross-training staff. The episode also covers how to avoid overspending and make better use of group purchasing organizations. Cristy offers advice for leaders feeling overwhelmed by vendor costs and explains how MGMA members can get additional support.

00:50 Introduction and Welcome

01:21 Today's Topic: Reducing Expenses and Boosting Efficiency

02:15 Challenges in Cost Management

04:25 Effective Cost-Cutting Strategies

09:54 Cross-Training and Scheduling Innovations

11:14 Leveraging Group Purchasing Organizations

13:12 Conclusion and Contact Information

Additional Resources:

• MGMA Playbooks
• MGMA Events
• MGMA Consulting
• MGMA DataDive
• MGMA Stat
• MGMA Podcasts

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Episode Transcript

Daniel Williams (00:56):
Well, hi, everyone. I'm Daniel Williams,
senior editor at MGMA and hostof the MGMA Podcast Network.
We're back for another ask MGMApodcast today. And as always,
our senior adviser and cohost,Christy Goode, joins us. So,
Christy, welcome.

Cristy Good (01:14):
Thanks, Daniel. It's always great to be here and
connect with our members on whatreally matters in their

Daniel Williams (01:20):
It really is. Thank you so much. And today,
because Christy has shared withme, everybody, she shared with
me a really interesting topicthat came in from some MGMA
members. So today, we're digginginto actionable strategies for
reducing expenses and boostingoperational efficiency in the
medical practices. While,Christy, you and I were talking

(01:44):
offline, I told you I wascutting some of my streaming
services.
I was looking at ways to cutthings, and you were telling me
that, you have an awesome gymfree gym membership because you
work a few days a week. The gymAnything to cut cost right now.
Right? That's our our mindsetright now. Yeah.

Cristy Good (02:02):
Yeah. I clip coupons every week too for King
Soopers.

Daniel Williams (02:07):
Me too. That's our local grocery store here in
the Denver area, everybody. Solet's get to it. One member had
noted how surprising it was thatthe last MGMA thread on cutting
practice expenses dated all theway back to 02/2009. Christy,

(02:27):
why do you think thisconversation is resurfacing now
in such a big way?

Cristy Good (02:33):
It actually was in our MGMA member community, and
they were looking at an articlefrom way back when, and they
were asking what people haveasking. Have they noticed
changes? That kind of thing. Andso it really jumped out to me,
And I was like, that's a greatquestion. And I think we've
reached the point where risinglabor costs, inflation and tech

(02:53):
related expenses are justcreating sustained pressure,
especially on reimbursementrates that remain flat or
decline.
And while practices are focusedon growth and staffing or even
recovering from COVIDdisruptions, we need to really
continue to focus on a long termstrategy on how to do cost

(03:14):
containment and make it acontinuous process, not just
yearly at budget time.

Daniel Williams (03:20):
Alright. Thanks for that, Christie. Now the
community member pointed outthat both large and small
organizations are strugglingwith the same core issues,
limited administration support,and vendors holding firm during
negotiations. Are you alsoseeing this across the board?

Cristy Good (03:39):
Yes. Whether you're a nine site urgent care group or
a major health system with14,000 employees, really comes
down to bandwidth. Admin teamsare stretched thin, as we all
know, and many don't have thecapacity to analyze their spend
at that really small granularlevel, or even to engage in a
kind of strategic negotiationwith their vendors. And vendors

(04:02):
know this, right? They're like,people are busy.
And I think they try to takeadvantage of that a little bit.
So practices need both strategyand structure to really dig into
what those expenses are and howthey can make some difference in
reducing those.

Daniel Williams (04:17):
Perfect. Perfect. Okay. So let's keep
taking a deep dive into things.I know you were talking about
clipping coupons earlier.
Based on your conversations withMGMA members and the recent cost
cutting guide, what categoriesof spend are actually moving the
needle for practices this year?

Cristy Good (04:38):
We've talked to many members, and a number have
responded on the community aswell. But there are some key
areas. First is that cloud basedtech and automation, Things like
automated claim scrubbing, AIassisted coding, digital payment
systems really help reducemanual errors and staffing
costs. The second area is inscheduling optimization.

(05:00):
Practices that use waitlistfills or double book high no
show slots are reclaiming someof that revenue they used to
lose, which is really a greatidea.
And then a third one is reallystrategic outsourcing. So things
like credentialing, priorauthorizations, and billing can
save you costs and improveturnaround times if it's done
with the right partner, andthat's really the key. You have

(05:22):
to make sure you know who whatthe terms are of that contract
and hold them accountable too ifthey're not delivering.

Daniel Williams (05:30):
Okay. We've been talking about cost cutting,
but then there's alsooverspending. So my wife and I
actually went to King Soopers,our grocery store, over the
weekend. We got to the checkoutline. We just had a small bag of
groceries, and, we played theprice is right game to see who
could get the closest to it.
I was gonna be so far off thatshe went first, and I did the

(05:51):
old strategy from the price isright. I just went under that
several dollars, and she was soclose, miraculously close to it,
but she went over. So I I won. Iwon even though I had no idea
what I was doing. But with thatsaid, what are some where are
some places then where practicesmight be overspending without

(06:15):
even realizing it?

Cristy Good (06:18):
That's such a great question. I actually recently
just talked to a practice, andthey're trying to figure out how
to track their referrals becausethey come in from a fax machine.
So I think looking at some ofthose overlooked areas such as
copier or fax leases, softwarelicenses and utilities is
another that's an area to reallylook at. We also had another

(06:41):
practice paying for twooverlapping patient messaging
platforms. And like I said,another one was leasing
equipment that hadn't been usedin months, even though they were
using their fax machine.
Others have had a fax machinesitting there for years, never
using it. So just looking atsome of those things. And then
also like shredding services orstorage fees. If you're still

(07:04):
storing your records at one ofthose storage facilities and
it's past the date that you needto, you really should look at
that so you could help kinda cutthose costs so you're not
overspending on something youdon't need to.

Daniel Williams (07:18):
Alright. Next question then. You put this
guide together. Tell us aboutit, what the origin of it was.
What are some interesting thingsin the guide?
Then I wanna ask you a couple ofpieces more detailed within the
guide there.

Cristy Good (07:31):
Okay. So I just put together a guide of what are
some cost saving strategies,where to look, and where to
reduce expense and boost yourefficiency. And so I looked at
the 2,009, what was written inthat article, then compared it
to what's going on today in themarketplace and seeing where the

(07:54):
changes have been. So we willhave that available just to give
you some thoughts to where youmight wanna strategically look
at your practice. And where Isuggest is really start with
automation.
For example, automatingappointment reminders via text
or email can drastically reduceno show rates and from desk

(08:18):
workload. We know that patientthat gets that reminder the
night before, the morning of,are more likely gonna be oh,
yeah. I have an appointment. Ibetter figure that out and get
in. Versus someone who has setup that appointment six months
ago because it's our wellcheckup or a follow-up
appointment.
They get busy in their everydaylife. So that's something simple

(08:40):
to start with. And then fromthere, I would suggest you look
at AI tools and billing anddocumentation. Many now
integrate in EHRs and reduceboth denials and staff time. If
you want the outsourcing route,that is a bit of a bigger leap.
But if credentialing or priorops are slowing your team down,
that's a great candidate toshift externally. The ROI for

(09:03):
these cases is about freeing upinternal resources to focus on
patient care and revenue drivingtasks.

Daniel Williams (09:10):
So you mentioned the guide. Is it
available now? I'm sorry. Youare working on so many different
projects, Christy, that I'm notsure which ones are in the
pipeline or which ones arealready out available to the
public. So just bring us up tospeed on this guide.

Cristy Good (09:25):
Yeah. It's just a quick guide, little checklist,
where to think about. And it'snot out yet. Hopefully, it'll be
uploaded this week, if not nextweek, on our website. But we can
then attach it to this podcastas well.

Daniel Williams (09:39):
That sounds great. Yeah. So that sounds
good, everybody. We'll justwe'll hold that because we will
we'll make sure it is availablefor y'all when we publish this
podcast. Whenever this hits,we'll have that direct link for
you in the episode show notes.
One thing that I've had a lot ofconversations with p people
recently, Christy, maybe youhave too, but what role can

(10:02):
cross training staff or evenrethinking your scheduling
approach play in reducing cost?

Cristy Good (10:10):
Definitely, that's a huge one. Cross training
builds flexibility and allowsyour team to pivot when
someone's out or during slowperiods. For instance For
instance, like a front deskstaff could learn basic billing
workflows or clinical staff canhelp with outbound patient
calls. And I think it also givesyour staff just that career
growth, maybe some of thatchange or variety in their job

(10:33):
that many are probably lookingfor. And then scheduling is
another area with room forinnovation.
So things like group visits forchronic care or adding Saturday
hours to capture patients whocan't come in during the week
can lead to more efficientthroughput and patient
satisfaction. And I know thatmany have gone to maybe a half
Saturday morning, and some ofthose staff actually like having

(10:57):
a day after in the week whenit's less busy to do their
errands or maybe to go skiing ormaybe to go do something fun
where it's more busy on theweekend, and then they actually
like coming in to work on aSaturday. So it is an option,
and just talk to your staff andinvolve your staff in those
conversations.

Daniel Williams (11:15):
Group purchasing organizations,
they're mentioned in the costsaving guide as well. So can you
please explain how practices canmake use of them and whether
they're worth it?

Cristy Good (11:25):
Sure. It's definitely worth it for a small
practice and mid sized practicesthat don't have that same buying
power as a hospital system. GPOsaggregate demand and negotiate
lower prices for things likemedical group supplies,
equipments, even vaccines. Thekey is you need to do your
homework, though. You need tomake sure that the GPO you join
has pricing arrangements oragreements with the vendors that

(11:48):
you already use.
And then check that theircontract terms are favorable.
It's not always a one size fitsall, so you wanna make sure that
the savings could besubstantial. MGMA has an
opportunity for practices toparticipate in something called
what they call as MGMA BestPrice, which offers some of that
group price purchasingdiscounts.

Daniel Williams (12:08):
Thanks for that. Last question then. We
talked a lot about cuttingcosts, about watching for
overspend. Could be a bitoverwhelming. A lot of
information here.
So for a practice leader whoknows they need to tackle vendor
spend but does feel thatoverwhelm, where's a starting
point? What are some first stepsto take?

Cristy Good (12:29):
My personal suggestion would be to start
with, one area. It could betechnology subscriptions or
maybe medical supplies. Do aninety day look back and ask,
are we still using this? Arethere redundancies? Can we
renegotiate?
Involve your team, your frontoffice, your clinical, even your
IT, because they often havegreat insights and ideas as to

(12:53):
what they see, and then engagingthem creates buy in. So you
don't have to overhauleverything overnight. Just start
small and be consistent. And thekey is cost containment. Right?
And you make it part of yourculture, then it continues to be
done instead of just once a yearduring budget season.

Daniel Williams (13:11):
Perfect. Alright. Christie, thanks again
for walking us through thesereal world strategies. These are
exactly the kinds ofconversations our members are
having every day. They'rereaching out to you.
So remind our listeners, how dothey find Christie Good on-site?

Cristy Good (13:27):
There's a couple different ways. One is that
little green button on our MGMAwebsite that says ask MGMA.
Another one is just [e-mail], and either
way, it will get you to us. Andthen again, this whole
conversation started on the MGMAcommunity where colleagues are
talking to each other. So that'sa great place also to just put

(13:50):
your question out there to seewhat others are doing.

Daniel Williams (13:53):
Perfect. Alright. So thanks everybody for
being a listener to the MGMApodcast. As Christie said, just
go out there to that greenbutton, ask MGMA, and ask a
question there, or ask thosequestions, as she said, in the
member community as some of ourmembers did right here. Until
next time, stay well and keep onasking questions.

(14:14):
Thank you so much.

Cristy Good (14:15):
Thank you.