This post is the sixth installment of our “Review, Benchmark, and Improve Practice Revenue” series, where we dive into how to diversify your revenue, lower operating costs, optimize billing procedures, and outshine your competitors.

Running an independent practice means juggling rising costs while keeping your patients happy. 

Most practice owners think they have to pick between cutting expenses and good patient care. But that's not true — and managing expenses the smart way can leave money on the table.

The best independent practices cut waste in some areas and put those savings right back into their staff, systems, and patient experience.

Think about managing practice finances the same way you diagnose a tricky case. You need to know what's going wrong before fixing it. In this article, we'll provide strategies to help you reduce and reinvest your operating costs.

Every practice spends money differently, but there are some pretty predictable patterns. When you understand these patterns, you can spot places where your money might work better.

A recent survey by Tebra shows that 48% of practices say provider salaries are their biggest expense, while staff wages create the most expenses on a day-to-day basis.

Most practice spending falls into 7 main categories:

Your spending should match what actually matters to your specific practice. For example, a pediatric practice might spend more on creating play areas to make kids comfortable. However, a telehealth practice might put more money into technology and less into waiting rooms.

It is therefore important to be deliberate about what matters to your individual practice. Ensure your expenses align with what actually helps your patients and keeps your practice running smoothly.

Look at your spending over 3 months compared to these benchmarks. You'll find at least one area where you can move money from something that's not helping to something that makes a real difference.

Download our free worksheets to help you benchmark your spending against other practices.

Once you know where your money goes, you can understand where to cut your costs.

These strategies help you trim the fat while keeping — or even improving — the quality of care and the happiness your staff.

Your front desk staff spend countless hours fielding appointment requests, talking to patients, and managing scheduling conflicts.

You can remove all this manual work by using online scheduling systems. Most patients prefer the convenience of booking appointments on their own schedule rather than calling during business hours.

Platforms like Tebra automatically prevent double-booking and can send confirmation emails without requiring your staff to talk to them directly. This reduces phone interruptions during patient visits and frees your team to focus on higher-value activities like patient care coordination and insurance verification.

The time savings add up quickly. A typical practice can potentially save 2–3 hours of staff time daily, translating to reduced overtime costs and less burnout among your front office team.

Manual appointment reminders consume significant staff time. And they often miss patients anyway. How many times has your staff called a patient to remind them of their appointment only to catch their voicemail, or worse yet, have a non-working number?

Automated reminder systems avoid all the back-and-forth, and send texts, emails, or calls at specific intervals. As a result, you'll reduce no-shows while eliminating the need for staff to make dozens of reminder calls each day. 

The best part is that it also handles:

According to our survey, more than a third of practices report losing more than $7,500 per month due to cancellations and no-shows. But when they use automated reminders, they typically see no-show rates drop from anywhere between 30% to 50%. 

“No-shows and cancellations are the bane of our medical practice,” says Dr. Jesse Houghton, MD, FACG, senior medical director of Gastroenterology at Southern Ohio Medical Center. “Automatic reminders via text, call, and email help the most in trying to reduce these wasted time slots.”

Paper intake forms create multiple inefficiencies:

With digital intake processes, that’s not the case. However, only 20% of practices use this strategy, making it an underrated option for reducing inefficiencies.

Digital intake also allows patients to complete their information before arriving.

Your staff no longer needs to decipher handwriting or chase down missing information during busy appointment times. These forms automatically populate your electronic health records, so you don't have to worry about entering the same data repeatedly while improving billing accuracy.

Traditional paper billing involves printing costs, postage, and significant staff time processing payments and managing follow-ups. On the other hand, digital billing systems send statements via email or text and allow patients to pay online immediately.

You’ll also notice that online payment options reduce the time between service delivery and payment collection. As a result, it’ll improve your cash flow significantly.

Your patients can set up payment plans or automatic payments so your staff doesn't have to follow up regularly to make collection calls. The right platforms do this at specific intervals and automatically handle the entire accounts receivable process. Currently, only 11% of practices use digital payment options, but the ones that do see a faster payment cycle.

Many patients prefer digital payment options for their convenience and record-keeping. You'll also reduce the costs associated with processing paper checks and handling cash transactions — while improving payment tracking and reconciliation processes.

Your billing operation might cost more than necessary if performance metrics suggest inefficiencies. Start by measuring key indicators:

If more than 15% of your claims go unpaid after 120 days, or your net collection rate drops, it might be time to reassess your approach.

Additionally, the decision between in-house and outsourced billing depends on your specific situation and priorities. 

About 78% of practices that outsource billing do so to avoid hiring and training billing staff, while 64% cite easier compliance with billing regulations as their primary reason. 

However, 76% of practices that keep billing in-house value the direct control it provides, and 56% have strong existing teams they want to maintain.

Ultimately, it depends on the specific needs of your practice at the present time. Here’s a guide on deciding whether you should keep your billing in-house or outsource it.

High turnover costs impact practices significantly through recruitment, training, and lost productivity during transition periods. When practices want to improve their bottom line, 64% focus on hiring capable front desk staff. These practices understand the value of hiring the right people.

When you do so, you can be sure that your employees make fewer errors and offer a good patient experience. 

Here are ways to keep your employees satisfied:

When staff members feel supported and see a future with your practice, they're more likely to stay. They are also more likely to contribute to a positive workplace culture that patients notice and appreciate.

The goal of cost reduction shouldn't be to squeeze every penny from your practice budget.

Instead, use these strategies to create breathing room in your finances so you can invest in the areas that matter most for long-term success. When you reduce administrative waste and inefficient processes, you free up resources to support your staff, improve patient experiences, and build the kind of practice that thrives for decades.

Plus, every dollar you save through smarter operations is a dollar you can reinvest in what makes your practice exceptional.

Ready to optimize your practice finances?