Professional Business Management, Inc.

10/29/2026

Ever opened an insurance payment and found it came up short because of a completely different patient? It's called a recoupment. It happens when a payer decides it overpaid you earlier and takes the money back out of a future payment instead of sending a bill. Many contracts allow it, though many states limit how far back a payer can reach, often to a year or two, and the rules may not apply the same way to self-funded employer plans.

For your accounts receivable, the practical lesson is to treat these adjustments like any other balance. Tie each one to the original claim, make sure your team posts it correctly so patient accounts stay clean, and check whether the payer is actually right before accepting it. Dispute windows can be short, so a notice that sits in a pile for a month can cost you the chance to push back.

**This information is for educational purposes only and should not be considered tax, legal, or accounting advice. Consult your tax professional regarding your specific situation.

Many dentists and staff members are surprised the first time a payment is reduced because of an issue involving a different patient.

10/23/2026

When thinking of expanding, ask yourself: who will run the second location when you aren’t there? You may need an associate dentist or a manager.

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10/22/2026

Here's a reminder from the accounting world that applies to every practice owner. The AICPA recently approved a new auditing standard on fraud, and even as it gives outside CPAs more to do, it restates that the people running an organization stay primarily responsible for preventing and spotting fraud. In a medical or dental office, that means you, not the accountant or advisor that you see throughout the year. You see the day-to-day aspects of your office more than anyone.

The good news is that strong internal controls don't have to be complicated. A simple starting point is making sure the person who collects payments is not also the person who reconciles the bank account, and giving your team a safe way to raise a concern if something looks off. A short conversation with your accountant about who touches the money at each step is often enough to find the gaps.

**This information is for educational purposes only and should not be considered tax, legal, or accounting advice. Consult your tax professional regarding your specific situation.

The American Institute of CPAs’ Auditing Standards Board (ASB) has approved a new standard that clarifies and enhances auditors’ responsibilities relating to fraud or suspected fraud in a financial statement audit.

10/21/2026

When your first medical or dental practice is profitable, efficient, and operating at a healthy capacity, you may be ready to expand, provided you have enough cash flow and reserves.

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10/21/2026

If you're thinking of expanding your practice, but your first location is struggling with staff turnover, it may not be the right time to expand.

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10/15/2026

If your practice offers a retirement plan, or you've been thinking about starting one, next year's numbers are worth a look now. Projections for 2027 suggest the total that can go into a 401(k) for one person, counting both employee and employer dollars, will rise from $72,000 to $75,000, and the amount an employee can defer will climb from $24,500 to $25,500. The SEP-IRA ceiling moves to $75,000 as well, and the SIMPLE IRA limit edges up to $17,500. The IRS usually confirms the official figures in the fall, so these could shift slightly.

For a practice owner, the bigger question is how the plan is built. The design decides how much you can set aside for yourself and what you offer your team, so it's worth talking it through with your accountant before the year wraps up rather than in April.

**This information is for educational purposes only and should not be considered tax, legal, or accounting advice. Consult your tax professional regarding your specific situation.

The contribution limits for 401(k)s, 403(b)s, IRAs, and HSAs will change for 2027. Here's what you need to know.

10/06/2026

Most people think about retirement in three broad phases: the go-go years, the slow-go years, and the no-go years, but that framing misses a lot of what actually matters for tax planning. A more useful way to think about it breaks retirement into six distinct stages, each with its own opportunities. Early retirement, before you can touch retirement accounts penalty free, is often prime time for Roth conversions and keeping income low enough to maximize ACA subsidies. Once Medicare eligibility kicks in, the focus shifts to managing IRMAA surcharges. Once required minimum distributions begin, the math changes again, and for surviving spouses, moving from joint to single tax brackets can create a real jump in taxes almost overnight. Understanding which stage you're heading into next, and planning a year or two ahead of it, tends to make a meaningful difference in how much of your nest egg actually stays yours.

10/06/2026

Leaving appointment slots open or having high levels of no-shows results in lost revenue.

Read more 👉 https://pbminc.net/resources/blog/how-to-evaluate-and-improve-your-practices-scheduling-efficiency/?utm_campaign=how-to-evaluate-and-improve-your-practices-scheduling-efficiency&utm_medium=social_link&utm_source=missinglettr-facebook

09/29/2026

Here's a phrase worth borrowing from a recent conversation among healthcare business consultants: being evidence-based in revenue cycle management just means show your work. Too many billing and compliance decisions in practices still get made on tribal knowledge or office habit instead of what the actual numbers say. That shows up in small ways everywhere, from how claims get coded to how denials get worked to how staff decide which patient balances to chase first. The fix isn't complicated, but it does take discipline. Start tracking your own numbers on the handful of things that matter most, clean claim rate, denial rate by payer, and days in accounts receivable, and let those numbers drive process changes instead of gut instinct. A quarterly look at your own data will usually surface more opportunity than any new software or vendor pitch.

09/22/2026

Here's something worth checking against your own numbers. A recent industry poll found that only about 3 in 10 medical practices got a commercial payer rate increase in the last year, and half haven't seen one in three years or longer, all while operating costs keep climbing. That gap between what you're being paid and what it actually costs to run your practice is exactly what quietly squeezes cash flow over time. The practices that are winning increases tend to have a few things in common. They know exactly when each payer contract renews, they walk in with real data on their costs and collections by payer, and they're willing to push the conversation rather than accept an auto-renewal. If you can't remember the last time you renegotiated with your top commercial payers, that's probably the first place to look.