The Operating Baseline
Not Sure Where to Start? Start by Finding Out What Is Really Going On.
When cash feels tight, the schedule is full and the team is stretched, it is tempting to reach for new software, another hire or a new strategy. The Operating Baseline gives you four weeks of careful diagnosis first, so the next move addresses the problem you have instead of the one you suspect.
Something is off. The cause is rarely obvious.
Collections may look steady while there is never enough cash to distribute. Providers may be booked out while appointment slots still go unused. The billing team may be working harder while old A/R keeps growing. You may have added staff or software and still feel the same pressure.
Those symptoms can come from very different places. Before you change the schedule, replace a vendor, hire another person or commit to a larger strategy, it helps to know which problem is driving the rest. That is what the baseline is for.
Four weeks later, you know what deserves attention
No vague diagnosis and no list of twenty priorities. You leave with clear answers, the evidence behind them and a practical order of work.
Written findings memo
A plain-English account of what is getting in the practice’s way, what is merely a symptom and what the evidence says. Each finding points back to a report your team already uses.
KPI scorecard
One page showing where the practice stands today. It covers collections, denials, A/R, access, schedule use, staffing and margin, with a sensible target for each measure.
90-day plan
A short, ordered plan for what to do first, what can wait and what is not worth doing. Every action has an owner, a date and a way to tell whether it worked.
The four weeks
Week 1
See the practice as it is
We listen to what you and your administrator are seeing, then read the reports behind it: the schedule, A/R aging, denials, authorizations, staffing and the trailing P&L. We also follow how work moves through the front desk and billing team.
- • Leadership conversations
- • Report review
- • A practical view of how work moves
Week 2
Separate symptoms from causes
We test the explanations people have been carrying. Is the access problem really a demand problem, or are templates and cancellations hiding capacity? Are collections down because of billing follow-up, or because claims are leaving wrong in the first place?
- • Test the likely explanations
- • Trace the recurring breakdowns
- • Fix anything that should not wait
Week 3
Decide what is worth fixing
We compare the likely benefit of each change with the time, cost and disruption it would take. That keeps a difficult problem from turning into a long software project, a rushed hire or a strategy the team cannot absorb.
- • What matters now
- • What can wait
- • What you should stop spending time on
Week 4
Put the answer in writing
We walk through the findings with the people who will carry the work. You leave knowing what is happening, why it is happening and what the next 90 days should look like.
- • Written findings
- • One-page scorecard
- • A 90-day plan your team can run
What each side commits to
What we commit to
- A fixed fee, quoted in writing before anything starts.
- A named start date and a named delivery date, both in the agreement.
- Every finding tied to a measure and a source report, never to an opinion.
- A plan your own team can run, with no dependency on us to execute it.
- A signed confidentiality agreement, and a business associate agreement where one applies.
What we need from you
- Read-only reporting access to the practice management system and clearinghouse.
- Trailing twelve months of financials and the current payer fee schedules.
- Four to six hours of administrator time across the four weeks.
- About two hours of physician leadership time, in scheduled conversations.
- Permission to speak candidly with the front desk and billing team.
Estimates are intended to support management decision-making and do not constitute guarantees of future financial performance.
Questions owners ask before they start
Start with the baseline
Tell us about the practice and we will send the scope, the fee and the two available start dates. A short fit call comes first, and if the baseline is not the right first step we will say so.