Medical Money Matters with Jill Arena

Jill Arena
  • 5.0 (11)
  • MEDICINE
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Who is this podcast for? It's for you if you: Lay awake at night wondering if your medical practice is doing well financially, or if you are concerned about your insurance contracts or your reimbursement, or if you worry about being embezzled. Do you want a big piece of new equipment, but are not sure it's a wise purchase, or do you shudder every time a financial question comes up? Join Jill Arena, CEO of Health e Practices and other healthcare industry experts as they demystify the business of outpatient medicine in this weekly podcast.

  1. 4D AGO

    Episode 168: Buying Back Your Autonomy: When—and How—to Leave the Hospital System or Large Group

    Send us a text There was a time when hospital or large group employment felt like the safe choice. Predictable income. Built-in infrastructure. Someone else worrying about staffing, compliance, billing, and contracts. For many physicians, it felt like a reasonable trade—give up some control in exchange for stability. But over the past several years, something has shifted. More and more physicians are realizing that while hospital or large group employment may reduce certain risks, it often introduces a different kind of cost. Less autonomy. Less flexibility. Less influence over how medicine is practiced day to day. Schedules are set by committees. Compensation models feel disconnected from effort or quality. Decisions that directly impact patient care are increasingly made far away from the exam room. That’s why today we’re talking about buying back your autonomy. Specifically, when—and how—to leave the hospital system and build your own independent practice. Please Follow or Subscribe to get new episodes delivered to you as soon as they drop! Visit Jill’s company, Health e Practices’ website: https://healtheps.com/ Subscribe to our newsletter, Health e Connections: https://share.hsforms.com/1FMup6xLPSpeA8hB77caYQwd32sx?hsCtaAttrib=171926995377  Want more formal learning? Check out Jill's newly released course: Physician's Edge: Mastering Business & Finance in Your Medical Practice. 32.5 hours of online, on-demand CME-accredited training tailored just for busy physicians. Promo pricing available now: https://education.healtheps.com/offers/Ry3zfLYp/checkout?coupon_code=PHYSEDGE3000  Purchase your copy of Jill’s book here: Physician Heal Thy Financial Self Join our Medical Money Matters Facebook Group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3834886643404507/ Original Musical Score by: Craig Addy at https://www.underthepiano.ca/ Visit Craig’s website to book your Once in a Lifetime music experience Podcast coaching and development by: Jennifer Furlong, CEO, Communication Twenty-Four Seven https://www.communicationtwentyfourseven.com/

    16 min

  2. JAN 27

    Episode 167: The Seven Metrics That Predict Your Practice’s Future

    Send us a text Today we’re diving into a topic that separates thriving practices from those that drift — the key metrics that don’t just describe your practice, but actually predict its future. If you’ve ever felt like your practice is reactive rather than proactive, this episode is for you. You might be tracking revenue and visit volume, but unless you’re watching the right signals — the ones that truly forecast performance — you’re flying blind. By the end of today’s show, you’ll know the 7 metrics that matter most, how they work, industry benchmarks where available, why they matter, and how often you should be reviewing them. You’ve probably heard the phrase measure what matters. But in medical practice management, that’s easier said than done. There are hundreds of numbers you could look at — claims denials, phone calls, referral turnaround, days to bill — but some have real predictive power. We’ll go through the seven most predictive ones today, and even give you two “extra credit” metrics for when your group is ready to level up. Please Follow or Subscribe to get new episodes delivered to you as soon as they drop! Visit Jill’s company, Health e Practices’ website: https://healtheps.com/ Subscribe to our newsletter, Health e Connections: https://share.hsforms.com/1FMup6xLPSpeA8hB77caYQwd32sx?hsCtaAttrib=171926995377  Want more formal learning? Check out Jill's newly released course: Physician's Edge: Mastering Business & Finance in Your Medical Practice. 32.5 hours of online, on-demand CME-accredited training tailored just for busy physicians. Promo pricing available now: https://education.healtheps.com/offers/Ry3zfLYp/checkout?coupon_code=PHYSEDGE3000  Purchase your copy of Jill’s book here: Physician Heal Thy Financial Self Join our Medical Money Matters Facebook Group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3834886643404507/ Original Musical Score by: Craig Addy at https://www.underthepiano.ca/ Visit Craig’s website to book your Once in a Lifetime music experience Podcast coaching and development by: Jennifer Furlong, CEO, Communication Twenty-Four Seven https://www.communicationtwentyfourseven.com/

    14 min

  3. JAN 20

    Episode 166: Forget Resolutions—Step Boldly Into the New Year with a Private Practice Survival Guide

    Send us a text The calendar flipped, and now every private practice has a choice—coast into the new year, or step boldly into it with a plan. 2026 is already shaping up to be a big year for healthcare. From financial tightening and operational pivots to compliance shifts and new technologies, there’s no shortage of challenges—or opportunities. And the practices that prepare now, that move with clarity and intention, are the ones that will stay strong, stay independent, and thrive. This episode is your playbook. A practical, no-nonsense guide to help you take stock, refocus, and align your team around what really matters. Whether you’re an administrator, a physician leader, or part of an executive team, this conversation is meant to help you lay the foundation for a smarter, stronger year ahead. Please Follow or Subscribe to get new episodes delivered to you as soon as they drop!   Visit Jill’s company, Health e Practices’ website: https://healtheps.com/ Subscribe to our newsletter, Health e Connections: http://21978609.hs-sites.com/newletter-subscriber Want more formal learning? Check out Jill's newly released course: Physician's Edge: Mastering Business & Finance in Your Medical Practice. 32.5 hours of online, on-demand CME-accredited training tailored just for busy physicians. Find it here: https://healtheps.com/physicians-edge-mastering-business-finance-in-your-medical-practice/    Purchase your copy of Jill’s book here: Physician Heal Thy Financial Self Join our Medical Money Matters Facebook Group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3834886643404507/ Original Musical Score by: Craig Addy at https://www.underthepiano.ca/ Visit Craig’s website to book your Once in a Lifetime music experience Podcast coaching and development by: Jennifer Furlong, CEO, Communication Twenty-Four Seven https://www.communicationtwentyfourseven.com/

    15 min

  4. JAN 13

    Episode 165: From Hidden Rates to Contract Intelligence: The Data Transparency Era

    Send us a text Negotiated payer rates are public… sort of. For decades, some of the most important numbers in healthcare lived behind locked doors. The actual negotiated rates between payers and providers—the numbers that determine whether a practice thrives, survives, or quietly bleeds margin—were treated like trade secrets. You were expected to negotiate them, manage against them, and forecast your future with only partial visibility. (Which may also be referred to as guessing.) And now, suddenly, those rates are posted online. Publicly available. Downloadable by anyone. Often buried inside massive machine-readable files that can be tens or even hundreds of gigabytes in size, split across dozens of links, and structured in ways that make them nearly impossible to interpret without specialized tools. So yes, the data is “public.” But that doesn’t mean it’s usable. And that gap—between availability and usability—is where the real story begins. This episode isn’t about patient shopping tools or consumer price estimates. This is a conversation for physicians, administrators, and revenue leaders who live in the real world of payer contracts, underpayments, denials, and annual budget pressure. It’s about what the price transparency laws actually unlocked on the payer side, what data is now available because of them, why payers released it so reluctantly, and why a whole new category of software has emerged almost overnight to turn that raw data into something you can actually use. And most importantly, it’s about why renewing insurance contracts—every single year—is no longer optional best practice, but essential financial governance. Please Follow or Subscribe to get new episodes delivered to you as soon as they drop! Visit Jill’s company, Health e Practices’ website: https://healtheps.com/ Subscribe to our newsletter, Health e Connections: http://21978609.hs-sites.com/newletter-subscriber Want more formal learning? Check out Jill's newly released course: Physician's Edge: Mastering Business & Finance in Your Medical Practice. 32.5 hours of online, on-demand CME-accredited training tailored just for busy physicians. Find it here: Purchase your copy of Jill’s book here: Physician Heal Thy Financial Self Join our Medical Money Matters Facebook Group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3834886643404507/ Original Musical Score by: Craig Addy at https://www.underthepiano.ca/ Visit Craig’s website to book your Once in a Lifetime music experience Podcast coaching and development by: Jennifer Furlong, CEO, Communication Twenty-Four Seven https://www.communicationtwentyfourseven.com/

    19 min

  5. JAN 6

    Episode 164: Is Your New Year's Resolution to Get More Professional Development for Yourself and Your Team? If Not, It Should Be

    Send us a text New year, new goals… but how many of us actually prioritize professional development as a resolution? Most people jump into January thinking about eating better, working out more, maybe saving some money or getting more sleep. And those are all important. But here’s something that often gets left off the list—and it might be the most important investment you can make: developing yourself as a leader, and investing in the growth of your team. If that hasn’t made it onto your list of resolutions, I’m going to make the case for why it should be. In fact, I’d argue it might be the single most strategic move you can make this year—for yourself, your organization, and your team. Whether you’re a physician leader, an operations executive, or a practice administrator, staying stagnant is not an option. The world of healthcare is simply changing too fast. The workforce is demanding more than just a paycheck. And organizations that don’t evolve—well, they start to fall behind pretty quickly. Today, we’re diving into the “why” and the “how” of professional development in 2026: how to get started, what it can look like, and how to avoid the all-too-common trap of underinvesting in your own growth—and that of the people around you. Please Follow or Subscribe to get new episodes delivered to you as soon as they drop! Visit Jill’s company, Health e Practices’ website: https://healtheps.com/ Subscribe to our newsletter, Health e Connections: http://21978609.hs-sites.com/newletter-subscriber Want more formal learning? Check out Jill's newly released course: Physician's Edge: Mastering Business & Finance in Your Medical Practice. 32.5 hours of online, on-demand CME-accredited training tailored just for busy physicians. Find it here: https://healtheps.com/physicians-edge-mastering-business-finance-in-your-medical-practice/    Purchase your copy of Jill’s book here: Physician Heal Thy Financial Self Join our Medical Money Matters Facebook Group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3834886643404507/ Original Musical Score by: Craig Addy at https://www.underthepiano.ca/ Visit Craig’s website to book your Once in a Lifetime music experience Podcast coaching and development by: Jennifer Furlong, CEO, Communication Twenty-Four Seven https://www.communicationtwentyfourseven.com/

    12 min

  6. 12/30/2025

    Episode 163: Thought Experiments: Your Practice’s Secret Weapon for Smarter Decisions

    Send us a text What if your next big change wasn’t executed on day one… but first asked as a simple question: “What would happen if we did this?” What if you stopped offering walk‑in appointments for two weeks, or changed your scheduling template entirely, or removed all paper forms—and saw what surfaced? That kind of question is the heart of a thought experiment—a structured “what if?” scenario that lets leadership explore change without diving straight into full implementation. In a sector like healthcare—where change is expensive, stakes are high, and risk is real—thought experiments give you a way to test assumptions, surface hidden risks, uncover unexpected opportunities, and engage your team in the future before you commit your budget, staff, or systems. At Health e Practices, we’ve seen some of the most effective transformations begin not with a mandate, but with a moment of curiosity: “What if we did this—and what might break first?” Today we’ll walk through what thought experiments are, why they matter in medical groups, how to run them effectively, what to do when they succeed (and when they don’t), and how to build a culture around them that makes your organization smarter, more resilient, and more agile. Please Follow or Subscribe to get new episodes delivered to you as soon as they drop! Visit Jill’s company, Health e Practices’ website: https://healtheps.com/ Subscribe to our newsletter, Health e Connections: http://21978609.hs-sites.com/newletter-subscriber Want more formal learning? Check out Jill's newly released course: Physician's Edge: Mastering Business & Finance in Your Medical Practice. 32.5 hours of online, on-demand CME-accredited training tailored just for busy physicians. Find it here: https://healtheps.com/physicians-edge-mastering-business-finance-in-your-medical-practice/    Purchase your copy of Jill’s book here: Physician Heal Thy Financial Self Join our Medical Money Matters Facebook Group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3834886643404507/ Original Musical Score by: Craig Addy at https://www.underthepiano.ca/ Visit Craig’s website to book your Once in a Lifetime music experience Podcast coaching and development by: Jennifer Furlong, CEO, Communication Twenty-Four Seven https://www.communicationtwentyfourseven.com/

    18 min

  7. 12/23/2025

    Episode 162: Denied and Forgotten: How Medical Claim Denials Are Costing You 13% of Your Revenue

    Send us a text Imagine this: You see a patient, perform the exam, document the care, your staff submits the claim—to all appearances everything looks right. But then the claim comes back denied. The team may shrug, file it away, mark it unresolved. And the revenue disappears. What you delivered—the service, the documentation, the provider expertise—is lost financially. And more often than you think, this is happening silently. And this is in addition to the money you’re losing on adjustments, which we reviewed in our last episode. Today we’re diving into an issue that’s also quietly eroding the bottom line of many medical groups: claim denials that aren’t followed up. The stats are startling: about 20% of medical insurance claims are denied (yes, you heard that correctly: one‑in‑five) and around 65% of those denials are never appealed or corrected. Put those together and you get this: if 20% are denied, and 65% of those are lost, you’re effectively giving away 13% of your revenue. That’s a huge hit—and yet most practices aren’t managing it as one of their top financial risks. Many aren’t even aware of it. They’ve just gotten used to it over the years as an “acceptable loss.” This isn’t theory—it’s real work you’ve done, for real patients, with real documentation and care. And if you don’t follow up on denials, you’re essentially saying someone else’s rules are dictating your revenue. For physician groups, this means margin gets squeezed, growth stalls, and independence becomes harder to maintain. All because you’re handing over a bunch of money to the payers. Please Follow or Subscribe to get new episodes delivered to you as soon as they drop! Visit Jill’s company, Health e Practices’ website: https://healtheps.com/ Subscribe to our newsletter, Health e Connections: http://21978609.hs-sites.com/newletter-subscriber Want more formal learning? Check out Jill's newly released course: Physician's Edge: Mastering Business & Finance in Your Medical Practice. 32.5 hours of online, on-demand CME-accredited training tailored just for busy physicians. Find it here: https://healtheps.com/physicians-edge-mastering-bu Purchase your copy of Jill’s book here: Physician Heal Thy Financial Self Join our Medical Money Matters Facebook Group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3834886643404507/ Original Musical Score by: Craig Addy at https://www.underthepiano.ca/ Visit Craig’s website to book your Once in a Lifetime music experience Podcast coaching and development by: Jennifer Furlong, CEO, Communication Twenty-Four Seven https://www.communicationtwentyfourseven.com/

    18 min

  8. 12/16/2025

    Episode 161: Adjustments: How You’re Losing Real Revenue Without Even Knowing It

    Send us a text Imagine this: you see a patient, orders the labs, do the follow‑up, navigate the complexity, chart the visit, and deliver the care. The work is done. Then someone in the billing department closes the claim with a single click, marking it as “adjusted off.” You never see the revenue. You might not even know it was written off. That’s a dollar (or many dollars) you earned but never realized—and it happens way more often than you think. Today we’re going to pull back the curtain on one of the quietest, yet most destructive revenue leaks in medical group finance: adjustments—the write‑offs, the staff mistakes, the unmonitored decisions that erode your bottom line. We’ll talk about what adjustments are, why many revenue cycle departments don’t monitor them, the real cost of uncontrolled write‑offs, and how you can take back control. If you’re a physician leader, an administrator, a CFO, or part of a practice leadership team, this episode is for you. Please Follow or Subscribe to get new episodes delivered to you as soon as they drop! Visit Jill’s company, Health e Practices’ website: https://healtheps.com/ Subscribe to our newsletter, Health e Connections: http://21978609.hs-sites.com/newletter-subscriber Want more formal learning? Check out Jill's newly released course: Physician's Edge: Mastering Business & Finance in Your Medical Practice. 32.5 hours of online, on-demand CME-accredited training tailored just for busy physicians. Find it here: https://healtheps.com/physicians-edge-mastering-business-finance-in-your-medical-practice/  Purchase your copy of Jill’s book here: Physician Heal Thy Financial Self Join our Medical Money Matters Facebook Group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3834886643404507/ Original Musical Score by: Craig Addy at https://www.underthepiano.ca/ Visit Craig’s website to book your Once in a Lifetime music experience Podcast coaching and development by: Jennifer Furlong, CEO, Communication Twenty-Four Seven https://www.communicationtwentyfourseven.com/

    17 min
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About

Who is this podcast for? It's for you if you: Lay awake at night wondering if your medical practice is doing well financially, or if you are concerned about your insurance contracts or your reimbursement, or if you worry about being embezzled. Do you want a big piece of new equipment, but are not sure it's a wise purchase, or do you shudder every time a financial question comes up? Join Jill Arena, CEO of Health e Practices and other healthcare industry experts as they demystify the business of outpatient medicine in this weekly podcast.

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