I hear lots of health care professionals talking about “overhead.” As in, “We have to keep overhead down.” “We need to look at reducing overhead.” Well, it certainly is true that overhead, i.e., your fixed expenses, can get away from you if you’re not careful. But this is “cup half empty” thinking. Let me explain what I mean:

Which would you rather have:
A. $500,000 gross collections with 70% overhead
B. $400,000 gross collections with 50% overhead

B. gets you $50,000 more profit/revenue than A. In the end, it’s more about how much you bring in and less about how much you spend to get it. It is about increasing revenue with the same overhead.
How do you do that?
1. Improve your collections rate. Get those patients to pay you faster.
2. See more patients.
3. Find more revenue sources (like products).
4. Make your space more productive. Bring in an independent contractor or hire an associate and put him/her on a percentage.

Think “cup half full” rather than “cup half empty.”