NatRevMD

NatRevMD
  • 5.0 (29)
  • Medicine
  • Weekly

Medical billing tips for healthcare professionals — by healthcare professionals.  This podcast is here to help private practices get paid what they’ve earned. We share real-world strategies for accurate coding, smoother billing workflows, and fewer denials — all from a team that’s been in your shoes. Whether you’re just getting started or trying to tighten up your revenue cycle, you’ll get practical advice you can actually use. Join the conversation in our Facebook Group: NatRevMDLearn more at www.natrevmd.com

  1. 2d ago

    #234 Your Medical Practice Doesn’t Need Fewer Meetings. It Needs These 5.

    Send us Fan Mail Why does your practice keep solving the same problems over and over? A claim issue snowballs, a provider gives notice, a patient complaint lands on the owner’s desk. Everyone scrambles, and six weeks later it happens again. Most independent practices don’t have too many meetings. They have the wrong ones, or none at all. In this episode, Dr. Heather Signorelli shares the five-layer meeting rhythm she has used to lead teams of up to 8,000 people. She scales it down for practices from a team of four to multi-location groups. It draws on Death by Meeting, Traction (EOS) and Scaling Up, and it’s built for healthcare. You’ll learn: The 10-minute daily huddle that catches problems at 8 AM instead of 2 PM.The weekly leadership agenda: five to seven scorecard numbers, wins, commitments and one or two real issues solved.How a monthly review turns status updates into decisions.How to set quarterly “Rocks.” For example, “improve patient experience” is not a Rock, but “cut check-in wait time from 14 to 8 minutes by December 31” is.How to run an annual planning session so your whole team knows where the practice is going in 2027.Why async video updates can replace the Monday round robin.If 2026 ended with goals you didn’t hit, your meeting structure may be the reason. Start with the huddle, the weekly meeting and one-on-ones, and build from there. Free resources: Billing Performance Scorecard. Score your billing on six numbers in about 20 minutes and see what’s green, yellow or red. A ready-made start for your weekly scorecard: https://eligibility.natrevmd.com/natrevmd-billing-performance-scorecard-actionable-planFree Metrics Audit Review. For practices with two or more reds, a physician-led second look at your numbers: https://eligibility.natrevmd.com/metrics-audit-natrevmdWant help setting up your practice’s meeting rhythm? Email us at info@natrevmd.com Books mentioned: Death by Meeting by Patrick Lencioni, Traction by Gino Wickman, Scaling Up by Verne Harnish Missed the last episode? It covers how to run one-on-ones and skip-level meetings that develop your team. If this episode helped, share it with a practice owner or office manager who needs it, and leave us a review. It helps more independent practices find the show.

  2. 4d ago

    #233 From Zero Patients to Five Physicians: Building an Independent Practice That Lasts

    Send us Fan Mail You hung your shingle, or you’re thinking about it. Now what? How do you get patients through the door, keep good staff for a decade, and add physicians without the practice falling apart? Dr. Ram Surendran, M.D., MBA, opened Rochester Primary Care in Michigan in 2003 with three exam rooms, one employee and no patients. His first patient walked in two weeks later. To keep the doors open, he worked urgent cares, ER shifts and medical evals on the side. He practiced solo until 2021. Today the practice has five physicians. In this episode, Dr. Heather Signorelli talks with Ram about what it actually took, and what independent owners can borrow from his playbook. You’ll hear: How he built patient volume from zero: being available, same-day access, and showing up at ERs and urgent cares until they sent patientsWhy his staff stay 5, 10, even 15 years, and why paying for their education costs less than replacing themHow a medical assistant became his operations manager, and the three-person team that now runs the officeWhy he markets each new physician as their own brand, so their patients follow them and they stayThe hardest part of ownership: narrow networks that exclude independent physicians, shifting rules on care management, and the fight to get paid for the workWhy he thinks we’re entering a new wave of physician independence, and what he hopes 2027 bringsFree resources for practice owners Free Metrics Audit: Get a physician-led review of your billing numbers with Dr. Signorelli, so you know where your practice stands before you add your next provider. https://eligibility.natrevmd.com/metrics-audit-natrevmd2027 Revenue Impact Brief: See where the 2027 reimbursement changes will hit your practice’s revenue. https://eligibility.natrevmd.com/know-where-2027-will-impact-your-practices-revenue-free-brief-natrevmdBilling Performance Scorecard: Score your billing on six numbers and get a one-page 90-day plan. https://eligibility.natrevmd.com/natrevmd-billing-performance-scorecard-actionable-planConnect with Dr. Ram Surendran on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ram-surendran-md/ Questions about your billing or your team? Email info@natrevmd.com or visit natrevmd.com. If Ram’s story hit home, leave a review and share it with a physician thinking about going independent.

  3. 5d ago

    #232 The Meeting Every Practice Owner Skips (and Pays For Later)

    Send us Fan Mail You own the practice. You see your team every day. So why are you always the last one to hear about the problem? Your front desk has been falling behind on eligibility for weeks. One of your providers runs 45 minutes late and patients are starting to complain. Your billing team is sitting on open charts and denials nobody has flagged. Everyone around you knows. You don't, because nobody has a set time and a safe place to tell you. By the time it reaches your desk, it's a resignation letter, a payer takeback, or a month of lost collections. In this episode, Dr. Heather Signorelli, co-founder of NatRevMD, walks you through the one meeting that fixes this: the one-on-one. She ran them across a team of roughly 8,000 in corporate healthcare, and she shows you how to make them work in a practice with one office manager or five locations. What you'll walk away with: Why "I talk to my staff all day" is exactly why you're missing thingsThe four ways owners turn one-on-ones into meetings nobody wants (and how to avoid them)A 30 to 45 minute format where your employee sets the agenda, not youThe one question that gets your team to tell you what they really needHow to use skip levels to hear from your front desk and billers without undermining your office managerWhat happens to trust when you cancel, reschedule, or never follow throughThree things to put on your calendar this weekIf you're planning a second location, adding a provider, or just tired of finding out about fires after they've spread, start here. Free resources for practice owners Free Metrics Audit: Get a physician-led second opinion on your billing numbers, so you know what to ask your team in your next one-on-one. https://eligibility.natrevmd.com/metrics-audit-natrevmdMulti-Site Revenue Cycle Scorecard: Opening another location? Find out where ownership and accountability will break before you grow. https://eligibility.natrevmd.com/natrevmd-multisite-scorecardPractice Financial Health Dashboard: The numbers your team should be bringing to you every week, in one ready-to-use workbook. https://eligibility.natrevmd.com/free-practice-financial-health-dashboard-for-physicians-natrevmdBooks mentioned: High Output Management by Andy GroveRadical Candor by Kim ScottNext episode: the other meeting rhythms that keep your practice aligned as you grow, without burying your team in meetings. Want Heather's eyes on your numbers or your team structure? Email info@natrevmd.com or visit natrevmd.com. If this one hit home, leave a review and send it to another practice owner who needs to hear it.

  4. Oct 25

    Pitched an AI Billing Tool? Fix Your Process First

    Send us Fan Mail How many AI billing tools have you been pitched in the last few months? If you are like most practice owners, more than any other vendor in years. Some of these tools are very good, and we are piloting one ourselves. But if your billing process is not clean, adding AI on top of it will only break it faster. In this episode, Dr. Heather Signorelli shares how we are running our own AI pilot alongside our billing team. She also gives you a simple framework to decide where AI belongs in your revenue cycle and how to evaluate any vendor before you sign. Fix the process first. If eligibility breaks because the right information is not captured at the front desk, a tool will not fix it. Get workflows out of people’s heads and onto paper, with one set of policies, trainings and checklists across every location. Then decide what to automate. Automate the work, keep the judgment with your people. AI fits high-volume, rules-based, repetitive work where the right answer is known. Complex denials, judgment calls and quality assurance stay with humans. Run a controlled pilot. Start with one painful process in one or two practices. Check 100% of the AI’s work at the start and track how fast the review time comes down. If your team has to recheck everything forever, that is not automation. Define success before you start. Know your denial rate, clean claim rate, eligibility issues and claim speed today. Decide what accuracy the tool must hit and who on your team owns the evaluation. Ask the hard questions. Ask about accuracy on claims like yours, who catches the errors, what the contract says about performance, and what an exit looks like if the vendor is sold. Where AI fits in billing today: Eligibility and benefits: work clearinghouse failures, check payer portals, escalate what it cannot fixClaim scrubbing: check every claim against payer rules and coding editsPayment posting: handle checks that fail auto posting and pull missing EOBsA/R follow up: claim status review and the first layer of denial workPayer contracts: prepare the data and test offers against the CPT codes you actually billYour one action this week: if you are evaluating an AI vendor, ask them which of your billing metrics their tool will move, and by how much. RESOURCES Free Metrics Audit Review (a physician-led second opinion on your numbers): https://eligibility.natrevmd.com/metrics-audit-natrevmdFree Billing Performance Scorecard (six numbers, green, yellow or red, plus a one-page 90-day plan): https://eligibility.natrevmd.com/natrevmd-billing-performance-scorecard-actionable-planNatRevMD AI Kit (prompts and tools for using AI in your practice): https://eligibility.natrevmd.com/natrevmd-ai-kit-toolWebsite: https://natrevmd.comIN THIS EPISODE Why every practice is getting pitched AI right nowAI on a broken process just breaks it fasterMulti-site practices: getting the process out of people’s headsHow we are running our own AI pilotWhere AI fits, and where humans still winHow to evaluate an AI vendor and define successContracts, performance terms and your exit planRed flags that the tool is not working

  5. Oct 21

    #230 Your Next Patient Called. Nobody Called Them Back. With Dr. Mona Sodhi

    Send us Fan Mail Most practices don't have a lead problem. They have a follow-up problem. Dr. Mona Sodhi, DO, co-founder of Super Doc Tech, built her own direct-pay obesity medicine practice from scratch and found herself running ten disconnected tools on top of seeing patients. In this episode, she and Dr. Heather Signorelli talk about why interested patients slip away, why your CEO time matters as much as your clinical time, and what it takes to build a system that turns interest into booked patients. What we cover: The Disjointed System Website in one place, newsletter in another, networking cards lost under a car seat. None of it talks to each other, so you never know what happens after you meet a potential patient. Most people need about seven touches before they decide to book, and one ask is rarely enough. The Perfectionist Trap Medical training teaches us we can't afford a mistake. Carry that into marketing and most physicians freeze and do nothing. Business is flexible. Lives are not on the line when you build a business. Make Time to Be the CEO Dr. Mona and her co-founder block four hours a week, just the two of them, to work on the business. If it isn't on the calendar, it doesn't happen. The Leaky Bucket Calls that never get returned, contact forms that go nowhere, Instagram automations with no follow-up. Heather shares her own experience trying to find a new physician and never hearing back. Speed to lead matters, and plugging the leak is easier than chasing new patients. A VA Executes. A Thought Partner Builds Revenue. Why outsourcing marketing tasks is not the same as having someone ask whether each newsletter, automation and CRM step is actually driving revenue. Three actions this week: - Put one recurring CEO block on your calendar and protect it like a patient visit. - Check how every new patient inquiry gets answered today, and how fast. - Map the follow-up a new patient receives after the first contact. If it ends after one touch, start there. Episode breakdown: 00:00 Welcome Dr. Mona Sodhi 00:53 From obesity medicine practice to tech company 02:09 Disjointed systems that never talk to each other 05:11 Why running a practice feels so hard for physicians 07:17 How to find time to be the CEO 11:02 Calendar blocking everything 12:28 What practices struggle with most 15:53 Why a VA is not a thought partner 16:33 Heather's unanswered contact form 19:06 A CRM built around revenue 21:43 How to work with Super Doc Tech Free resources from NatRevMD: Billing Performance Scorecard: see where your billing stands in 20 minutes https://eligibility.natrevmd.com/natrevmd-billing-performance-scorecard-actionable-plan Free Metrics Audit Review: for practices with 2+ red flags https://eligibility.natrevmd.com/metrics-audit-natrevmd Connect with Dr. Mona Sodhi and Super Doc Tech: Website: https://superdoctech.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/superdoctech/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/superdoctech/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/superdoctech/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGcVrEsMu7vjjRP5y-iAi9g Listen to her podcast: Super Doc Stories Connect with NatRevMD: https://natrevmd.com https://www.linkedin.com/company/79500978/

  6. Oct 20

    #229 The Bill to Stop Corporate Takeovers of Medical Practices: What It Covers and What It Leaves Out

    Send us Fan Mail Last week a bill was introduced in Congress to stop corporate takeovers of physician practices. Some people are calling it reform. Dr. Heather Signorelli read the actual text, and in this episode she walks through what the bill says, what it leaves out, and why she thinks it misses the root cause of what’s squeezing independent practices. This is not a political episode. It’s a briefing for practice owners, physicians and healthcare executives who want to understand what’s moving before they’re asked for an opinion on it. What the bill actually does Practices would have to be majority owned and majority governed by licensed clinicians, including NPs and PAs. Private equity, insurers and for-profit corporations could not own or control a practice. MSOs could still handle billing, payroll and IT, but not hiring, schedules, pay, billing policy or payer contracts. Non-competes, NDAs and non-disparagement clauses would be void for clinicians, except those who own 25% or more of the practice. The exemption nobody is talking about The ownership ban exempts hospitals, all of them. By the sponsors’ own numbers, over 80% of physicians are corporately employed, and roughly 60% of them work for hospitals. That means the ownership rule reaches only about 20% of physicians. The non-compete ban and clinical autonomy protections do apply to everyone, which could be a big change for hospital-employed physicians. Autonomy without a payment rule The bill says no one can pressure a doctor on time with patients, orders or coding. But a payer still reimburses an office visit built for 15 minutes. The bill protects the 40-minute visit. It doesn’t pay for it. Where Heather thinks the real problem sits Low reimbursement, denials, prior auth fights and same-day bundling cuts are what push practices toward volume over patient needs. Ownership structure doesn’t change any of that. She also covers the Texas Attorney General’s action against UnitedHealthcare and how IPAs give independent physicians negotiating leverage, a thread from EP227 with Ben Phillips. Three takeaways for practice owners Know what the bill does and doesn’t touch: ownership and contracts, not payment, denials or admin burden.If you employ clinicians under non-competes, watch this space. That provision applies broadly.Your negotiating position with payers matters more than who owns you. Pooling with other independents is one way to strengthen it.Episode breakdown 00:00 What the bill is and why it caught our attention 01:54 What the bill actually says 04:05 Enforcement, divestiture and the odds it passes 05:30 The Texas AG vs UnitedHealthcare and the pushback on payers 07:28 What the bill doesn’t touch: payment, denials and admin burden 09:48 IPAs and negotiating as a group (EP227 with Ben Phillips) 10:30 The hospital exemption 13:44 Clinical autonomy vs the 15-minute visit 17:21 Fixing payment at the root: coverage tied to standard of care 19:40 Final thoughts Resources Billing Performance Scorecard: see where your billing stands in minutes. https://eligibility.natrevmd.com/natrevmd-billing-performance-scorecard-actionable-planFree Metrics Audit Review: if your scorecard shows 2 or more reds, we review your numbers with you. https://eligibility.natrevmd.com/metrics-audit-natrevmdListen to EP227 with Ben Phillips on IPAs, ACOs and payer leverage: [EP227 link]Learn more about NatRevMD: https://natrevmd.com

  7. Oct 16

    #228 Your Best Staff Aren’t Leaving for Money

    Send us Fan Mail Over the last two weeks I have been interviewing candidates, and I asked every one of them the same question: why are you leaving? The top answer was not money, PTO or benefits. It was career growth. In this episode I share what that means for your practice and how we run our own hiring process. Build a career ladder for every role. Growth does not have to mean management. Front Desk Coordinator I, II and Lead Front Desk give people a next step. The same works for MAs, NPs moving toward partnership, and physicians on a partner track. Map year one, two and three. Start people where they are, then add skills like eligibility, prior auths and patient workflow so year three still feels challenging. Often those tasks come off your plate or your office manager’s. Tie raises to responsibility. Instead of an automatic 2% raise every year, attach a small raise to mastering the next level. Culture matters too: trust, autonomy and input keep people. Give tech-savvy staff a real project. Evaluating AI vendors or automation, or running HIPAA-compliant social media and website updates. Carve out the time so it is real. Hire in two interviews. We use an Indeed automation, a short VideoAsk screen with four or five questions to see presence and communication style, then the top three meet me and our leadership panel. Three actions this week: List every role in your practice and write the next level for each onePick one tech-savvy team member and give them one defined project with protected timeAdd a short video screening step before your first live interviewEpisode breakdown: 0:00 Why we are talking about hiring0:32 The number one reason candidates leave1:25 What career growth really means1:54 Building a career ladder for front desk and MAs2:51 Mapping year one, two and three3:21 Tie raises to mastery, not the calendar3:47 Culture: trust, autonomy and input4:46 Give tech-savvy staff an AI project5:40 Leveraging social media skills (HIPAA-safe)6:06 Our hiring process: Indeed automation6:34 Screening with VideoAsk7:31 Two interviews and a panel8:00 Wrap upFree resources: Billing Performance Scorecard: https://eligibility.natrevmd.com/natrevmd-billing-performance-scorecard-actionable-planTwo or more reds? Free Metrics Audit Review: https://eligibility.natrevmd.com/metrics-audit-natrevmdNatRevMD AI Kit: https://eligibility.natrevmd.com/natrevmd-ai-kit-toolWebsite: https://natrevmd.com

  8. Oct 14

    #227 Your Payer Rates Are Low Because You Negotiate Alone

    Send us Fan Mail Most independent practices sign the payer contract they are handed. One or two doctors alone are not on a health plan's radar, so the rate stays low and the practice works harder to make up the difference. This week Dr. Heather Signorelli sits down with Ben Phillips, CEO of Nivano Physicians, an independent physician association in Northern California, and host of Healthcare Uncut. Together they break down how small practices build the leverage the big systems already have. ACOs vs IPAs. ACOs are built to lower the total cost of care, and physicians share in the savings, usually paid the following year. IPAs bring independent doctors together to negotiate managed care contracts as one group, often on a capitated, delegated model. No IPA in your area? Throw a pizza party. Ben's advice is literal: invite the independent doctors in your community, across specialties, to dinner and ask whether everyone is struggling with the same rates. That conversation is how an IPA starts. How to judge an IPA. Look at it like any business you would join: its contracts, its stars rating, whether physicians have a real voice, and whether you are a shareholder or just a member. Brand is leverage. The bigger institution gets better rates because of the patients it brings. A practice that grows its patient base and shows a health plan where it saves money earns a stronger seat at the table. THE IPA INTERVIEW: QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE YOU JOIN - Contracts: Which payers do you hold, long-standing plans or startups? What are the rates? - Quality: How many stars do you have? How do you track HEDIS? - Patients: Can patients get in on time, get follow-up care and a call on lab results? - Voice: Is my voice as a physician expected, encouraged or dismissed? - Ownership: Am I a shareholder or just a member? - Network: Which hospitals and surgery centers do you partner with? - Community: Are local doctors of every specialty represented? THREE ACTIONS THIS WEEK - Pull your current commercial rates and compare them to Medicare for your top codes - Ask the independent doctors near you whether they belong to an IPA, and which one - Score your billing on six numbers before your next payer conversation FREE RESOURCES Billing Performance Scorecard: six numbers in, green, yellow or red on each, the dollar value of every red, and a one-page 90-day plan. https://eligibility.natrevmd.com/natrevmd-billing-performance-scorecard-actionable-plan Two or more reds? Get a free physician-led Metrics Audit Review: https://eligibility.natrevmd.com/metrics-audit-natrevmd 2027 Revenue Impact Brief: where 2027 changes will hit your revenue. https://eligibility.natrevmd.com/know-where-2027-will-impact-your-practices-revenue-free-brief-natrevmd 2027 CONFERENCE Heather and Ben are planning a 2027 conference for independent practices. Send topic ideas to info@natrevmd.com CONNECT WITH BEN LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bpsf Healthcare Uncut on YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook CONNECT WITH NATREVMD Website: https://natrevmd.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/79500978/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NatRevMD

See All (235)

5
out of 5
29 Ratings

About

Medical billing tips for healthcare professionals — by healthcare professionals.  This podcast is here to help private practices get paid what they’ve earned. We share real-world strategies for accurate coding, smoother billing workflows, and fewer denials — all from a team that’s been in your shoes. Whether you’re just getting started or trying to tighten up your revenue cycle, you’ll get practical advice you can actually use. Join the conversation in our Facebook Group: NatRevMDLearn more at www.natrevmd.com

Information

  • Creator
    NatRevMD
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    235
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 NatRevMD
  • Show Website
    NatRevMD

You Might Also Like