New medicines, evolving patient expectations and shifting standards of care mean navigating constant, rapid change in healthcare. These pressures demand more than ever from medical practices — which must also contend with broader uncertainties like delayed reimbursements, higher labor and supply costs and increasing cybersecurity threats.
As a result, building a medical practice that’s truly resilient can feel like pushing a rock up a hill. However, physicians who are ready, willing and able to stay adaptable and seize opportunities will give their medical practices staying power. Here are three strategies for prospering amid uncertainty.
1. Diligently manage accounts receivable. When running a smaller practice, slow payer reimbursements can quickly become a large financial burden. Consequently, meticulously tracking accounts receivable is imperative to financial stability.
Practitioners should track days in accounts receivable and strive to collect payments for services within 35 to 40 days. If collections lengthen to 60-plus days, it could indicate a process issue. Make sure claims are submitted with all the necessary patient information, correct billing codes and required documentation. Otherwise, employees could be triggering claim denials or time-consuming back-and-forth with insurers before payment is released.
A healthy revenue cycle ensures more stable cash flow, which will help the practice absorb unexpected shocks, such as supply chain disruption. Many business owners are currently experiencing supply chain issues, which, for medical practices, can manifest as price hikes on essential goods such as masks and gloves. With healthy cash reserves, clinics can establish a dedicated emergency fund to cover unexpected cost increases, ensuring they have the supplies they need to provide quality patient care.
2. Bolster digital defenses. The exposure of patients’ health records is becoming increasingly common, with the HHS Office for Civil Rights reporting 381 healthcare provider breaches affecting 500-plus individuals in 2025 alone. Maintaining operational stability and patient trust in an uncertain marketplace is critical, which is why many business owners are planning to use digital tools to increase their cybersecurity in the coming year.
Yet nearly a third of healthcare organizations’ IT security teams are understaffed or severely understaffed, per the Health Sector Coordinating Council’s Cybersecurity Working Group. Even with lean internal resources, smaller medical practices can and should conduct an annual HIPAA risk assessment to pinpoint vulnerabilities, followed by rigorous stress-testing to actively uncover exploitable weaknesses.
For example, a HIPAA risk assessment may identify that remote access to the office’s electronic health record (EHR) system relies solely on a username and password. Recognizing the risk to patient data this poses, the office then engages a cybersecurity firm to perform a penetration test, probing their external network and remote access points. The stress test demonstrates how a hacker could easily bypass the login screen to gain unauthorized access to the EHR. Armed with this information, the clinic can implement measures such as multifactor authentication, which will provide a crucial layer of defense.
3. Meet with a trusted team of advisors quarterly. Physicians are primarily dedicated to patient care; it’s an essential commitment that forms the very foundation of their work. This laser focus, however, means they have less capacity to consider the full spectrum of complex, rapidly evolving business challenges.
That’s exactly why medical practice operators should meet with a dedicated advisory team of bankers, accountants and attorneys quarterly. A banker can review the office’s line of credit and debt-to-income ratio to ensure liquidity, while an accountant can ensure healthy operating ratios by evaluating overhead and staffing expenses relative to revenue. Finally, an attorney can review payer contracts to identify opportunities for rate adjustments or improved reimbursement terms.
More than that, however, having a bench of advisors can help physicians cultivate a healthy, realistic sense of optimism, which is fundamental to resilience. It’s easy to become paralyzed by sensationalized headlines about the state of the economy. Having experienced advisors with deep industry expertise can help physicians maintain a level head as they navigate challenges.
Change is the only constant in this world, and business owners must meet ever evolving challenges with an open mind and adaptive strategies. Physicians can weather any storm and position their medical practices to keep growing if they maintain good cash flow, manage cyber risk and get the right experts on their side.
Photo: Hollygraphic, Getty Images
Chris Kutscher is a Senior Vice President with Bank of America Practice Solutions, a national leader in providing financing to healthcare professionals.In his role, Chris leads the firm’s Medical Financing division, where he drives business development strategy, oversees regional market growth, and guides relationship management efforts for medical professionals seeking capital to start, acquire, expand, or modernize their practices. He manages a nationwide team of business development officers who support doctors across the country with tailored lending solutions and practice-building expertise. Bank of America’s Practice Solutions team is one of the nation’s most established healthcare practice banking platforms. The team works exclusively with healthcare professionals and helps to solve real-world financial challenges — and common missteps — that healthcare practice owners face at every stage.
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