Since the start of fiscal year 2014 — Sept. 1, 2013, Texas Tech Physicians of Lubbock has recorded gross payments exceeding $5 million in six of the nine months.

"This is a very positive sign,” said Brent D. Magers, CEO of Texas Tech Physicians. "Not long ago we considered exceeding $5 million in gross payments per month as a high watermark.  While we still do, it is time to set our rule-of-thumb goal higher to exceed $6 million per month in gross collections.

While there are a number of financial metrics the practice uses to measure internal performance and how well it is doing compared to similar academic practices, the monthly collections total is a figure that everyone can quickly read and understand, Magers said.

"It seems that achieving $5 million in collections is close to becoming the new normal, so, we will adjust our sights even higher," Magers said.

At the Annual Planning Retreat held at the beginning of the fiscal year, a goal was established (which would be later approved by the MPIP Policy Committee) to increase collections 6 percent this fiscal year.  Collections are seen as a barometer of overall financial health.

"At the end of May, our collections are up 5.63 percent, so we are close,” Magers said. “I think with proactive measures, we can still achieve our goal during the last quarter of the fiscal year. One of our huge priorities is turning accounts receivable into cash or in other words, getting paid for work that has already been done."

Charges have also been going up nicely, with two months of more than $15 million--another high water mark.  Charges and collections obviously correlate. Visits are up year-to-date through the end of April, to a total of 193,022 or an increase of 12,500 over the same period of time last fiscal year.

"All of this is a tribute to, first and foremost, our clinical faculty,” Magers said, “but, also to the many hands that touch the revenue cycle, at all of its multiple steps, and to our dedicated employees in the clinics who attend to our patients.”