The U.S. healthcare is dealing with a lot of changes, one of which is the increasing number of physicians employed by large institutions and hospitals. A survey conducted by the Division of Economic and Health Policy Research, an independent team that supports AMA, revealed that there are now more employed physicians than independent physicians. Among the 3,500 doctors surveyed, 47% were employed compared with 46% who were self-employed. The number of employed physicians has risen six percent since 2012, while the number of self-employed doctors dropped by 7%.1

The Challenges of an Independent Practice

The change in the landscape in the healthcare business means it is more difficult to be in the independent physician practice segment. Aside from taking care of patients, independent physicians also face the challenge of taking on administrative tasks, insurance reimbursements, and the many other tasks involved in running a healthcare business.

Choosing the Right Partner to Run Your Healthcare Business

If you’re an independent physician or part of a small team seeking to control your cost and the quality of time you spend with patients, ALN Medical Management offers excellent help so you can focus on what matters most – your patients. 

ALN is a revenue cycle management for physicians. Founded in 2000 by Tim Coan, this company supports independent health practitioners with the help of technology and business intelligence. Its executive team is composed of people with deep healthcare experience and revenue cycle management experience. 

Tim Coan, CEO of ALN Medical Management said that their clients consist of individual practices and the segment he calls ‘bigger than small and smaller than big’ which is composed of a team of five to 30 providers (though they also have bigger teams of up to 200 providers). This niche, he explained, makes the company bigger than most mom and pop outsource billing companies but small enough for them to be intimately involved with the practices and configure what is needed. 

The ALN Commitments

ALN offers two differentiating value propositions to their clients.

 First is the Net Collection Ratio. In Tim’s words, “we have the best of class performance in terms of what is called the net collection ratio, and that is getting them every available dollar that their contract requires. And that is really a combination of the things that we discuss, but how we get into tying that into their operation.” 

This value proposition ensures the small healthcare businesses that they are effectively collecting the reimbursement for their services. 

The second value ALN offers is business intelligence. The company website explains business intelligence as ‘standard reporting in four areas to give clients a fully rounded view of their revenue cycle and business.’ The four areas include Cash, Billing Operations, Production, and Reimbursement. 

Enabling Physicians to be Clinicians and Businessman

Tim shared, “I think it’s helping our clients who are physicians. They own their business, but their primary jobs are to take care of their patients. How do we help them take this incredibly complex thing of the health care revenue cycle? And if you have ever tried to explain it to somebody, they’ll look at you like you have got four heads. But to translate that in a way that our physicians who come into a board meeting, for an hour a month, that they can understand it enough to make the necessary decisions as owners of the business without getting lost in the weeds. I think that is one of our biggest challenges. But when we can do that and enable them to be a clinician ninety-nine percent of the time and owner 1 percent of the time and bring those together, that’s when we know we’re doing good stuff.”

Whether its billing, reimbursements or creating strategic business decisions, you can turn to ALN for support. This company is not just a management provider. It is a billing resource, a business intelligence resource, a business strategy partner, and more.

Listen to the  full conversation with Tim here: https://outcomesrocket.health/aln/2020/04/