Ancillary Services to Increase Revenue for

your Medical Practice

The addition of ancillary services to your existing medical practice can help maximize

profitability and serve your patients better. Patients prefer to have the convenience of

getting medications at the medical clinic/office and having laboratory or diagnostic

services done by the physician’s setup itself, rather than having to go to different places across town. Physicians providing patients with these added services are likely to see

an increase in both revenues and patients. Depending on their type of practice,

physicians are adding many new services, with some even falling out of insurance

coverage where patients are paying for them out-of-pocket.

However, the numbers of practices that have launched new services recently is still

small. According to Medscape’s Physician Compensation Report, only one fifth of doctors

interviewed said that they had started providing ancillary services. While any type of

practice can add ancillary services, PCPs (primary care physicians) have the benefit of

choosing the maximum range of services that can be added.

But, how does a practice decide what ancillary service to offer? One of the best ways to

figure that out is to look at the referrals – services that you have been referring out are

prime prospects to be added as ancillary services to your practice. Out of all the

services that you refer out, find the ones that are highest in number, for example, if

your blood test referrals are 60% of the total; then providing blood tests at your

practice should be a good proposition. However, a complete feasibility study is

important to determine volumes and payer coverage in order to be sure of the viability

of the added expenses and requirements. You also need to work out your cost benefit

ratios before starting any added services.

With shrinking reimbursements, the number of physicians offering added ancillary

services is going to rise. However, before you step up and start investing in providing

these add on services, you need to make a careful examination of your areas of

interest and strength, the needs of your patients, the competition in your area, the cost

benefit ratio of these services, the regulatory compliance and accreditation required,

and your time constraints.

A complete analysis will help ensure that your new ancillary services are adding to your

bottom line without taking anything away from your primary practice.