Why Your Practice's Credit Line Is Really a Symptom of a Broken A/R Engine
A practice can be busy, profitable on paper, and still struggle to pay its bills on time. That is when a credit line starts looking like a solution. The practice uses borrowed money to cover payroll, vendors, technology, rent, or other operating expenses while waiting for insurance payments to arrive. The problem is that repeated dependence on a credit line can indicate something deeper: the practice is not converting earned revenue into cash quickly enough. The problem may not be a lack of revenue. It may be a broken accounts receivable (A/R) engine. When Revenue Exists but Cash Does Not A medical practice can generate significant charges every month without collecting that money efficiently. Claims can remain in A/R because of coding issues, payer delays, eligibility problems, authorization issues, claim rejections, denials, underpayments, or weak follow-up. The result is a growing gap between services provided and cash received. When that gap becomes large enough, leadership m...
