TLDR
- Physicians nowadays face several challenges in a form of financial, operational, and personal pressures.
- Many physicians face financial challenges ranging from rising costs, billing rules to changing tax policies that impact their income.
- Administrative burdens such as compliance requirements and time-consuming documentations eat into patient time and add stress.
- Partnering with the right financial advisors and leveraging technologies can help uncover savings, streamline practice operations and free up more time for patient care.
Tips for smoother practice management
Being a physician today involves much more than patient care. From evolving tax and billing rules and shrinking profit margins to increasing administrative demands, physicians face a wide range of financial, operational, and personal pressures. In this article, we’ll explore some of the common challenges and share practical ways to manage them.
1. Managing financial pressures
Many physicians find that even with a full patient schedule, their income doesn’t go as far as it once did. Rising costs, tighter billing rules, and shifting tax policies can all chip away at your bottom line. That’s why being proactive with your finances matters more than ever.
Sitting down with a team of trusted advisors to review your tax strategies and financial plan can help to uncover savings, reduce risks like unexpected tax liabilities, cash-flow shortfalls, or compliance issues, and make sure your practice is working the way it should. It also helps to think beyond your practice — whether that’s teaching, consulting, or incorporating more passive investments like rental properties that can help build wealth in the background. By planning ahead rather than reacting to changes, you’ll be better positioned to protect your earnings and keep your financial foundation strong.
2. Reducing administrative burdens
Let’s be honest — you didn’t go to medical school to spend your days buried in paperwork. Yet alongside financial pressures, many physicians are also feeling weighed down by the administrative side of running a practice. Insurance forms, compliance requirements, and endless documentation can quietly eat up hours that could be better spent elsewhere.
Technology can help make it easier. There are practice management systems that can handle scheduling, patient reminders, and billing, all helping to flag potential errors and eventually helping to save time and money. Another game-changer for many physicians is using medical scribes — either in-person or virtual — to document patient encounters in real time, often saving two to three hours of charting a day.
Rethinking how your team works makes a difference too. Delegating tasks like prescription refills, appointment follow-ups, and lab result tracking can help to free up your time. Outsourcing bookkeeping or payroll, or even using standardized referral letters and template notes, could shave hours off your week.
With the right mix of tools, team support, and enhanced workflows, you could spend more time with patients and less time buried in paperwork.
3. Staying current with technology and changes
Medicine is always evolving, and keeping up is about more than staying sharp. It also means investing in technology and adapting to new models of patient care. Upgrading your practice software, electronic medical records, or even medical devices can help to boost efficiency and improve patient experiences, but it takes planning, training, and sometimes a significant upfront investment. That’s where financial planning is just as important as medical expertise.
Physician-focused financing solutions can make these investments more manageable. Options such as professional practice loans, equipment financing, and lines of credit with flexible repayment terms allow you to spread out costs, maintain cash flow for daily operations, and invest in other priorities like staff development or patient programs. Depending on your tax position and long-term goals, a financial advisor can also help you determine whether it makes more sense to purchase, lease, or finance new equipment.
Artificial intelligence is another game-changer making its way into medical settings. Physicians are already seeing AI assist with tasks like pre-populating patient charts, analyzing imaging results, flagging potential drug interactions, and predicting patient risk for chronic conditions. By easing administrative burdens and offering deeper insights, AI can give physicians more time for direct patient care and support stronger decision-making.
By combining effective financial strategies with a forward-looking approach to technology, physicians can ensure their practices stay efficient, resilient, and ready to deliver the best possible care.
Rise to the challenge
Balancing finances, staff, and ever-changing healthcare policies is part of daily life for physicians. By tackling these challenges with practical workflow tweaks, thoughtful planning, and smart financial strategies, you help can keep your practice running smoothly, while staying flexible and ensuring your patients continue to get the care they need.
Start by reviewing the partners and technology you already use. Are there upgrades or new tools that could streamline workflows, reduce administrative burdens, or enhance patient care? Take a fresh look at financing and technology options, too — solutions may be available that you haven’t yet explored.
With careful planning and guidance, you could identify the changes that make the biggest impact and implement them gradually. Partnering with a team of experienced advisors can help you evaluate your options, prioritize improvements, and turn small steps into lasting efficiency and stability for your practice.
We’re here to help
Discover how RBC Healthcare Specialists can help you keep your finances on track and your practice running smoothly.
professional advisor should be consulted regarding your specific situation. Information presented is believed to be factual and up to date, but we do not guarantee its accuracy, and it should not be regarded as a complete analysis of the subjects discussed. All expressions of opinion reflect the judgement of the authors as of the date of publication and are subject to change. No endorsement of any third parties or their advice, opinions,
information, products or services is expressly given or implied by Royal Bank of Canada or any of its affiliates.
This article is intended as general information only and is not to be relied upon as constituting legal, financial or other professional advice. A professional advisor should be consulted regarding your specific situation. Information presented is believed to be factual and up-to-date but we do not guarantee its accuracy and it should not be regarded as a complete analysis of the subjects discussed. All expressions of opinion reflect the judgment of the authors as of the date of publication and are subject to change. No endorsement of any third parties or their advice, opinions, information, products or services is expressly given or implied by Royal Bank of Canada or any of its affiliates.
