How to maximise practice revenue: 5 essential tips for better billing

For many practices, revenue loss rarely stems from undercharging. It happens in the gap between providing patient care and receiving payment. 

Whether you're running a specialist, general or allied health practice, the administrative complexities of medical billing create genuine financial risk. 

Even minor oversights in coding or documentation can lead to significant revenue loss. By refining these processes, practices can ensure they’re actually rewarded for the work they perform. 

Why billing goes wrong: The documentation breakdown

The most common billing failures happen in the handover between clinical and administrative processes; specifically, capturing accurate billing information from doctors.  

The treating practitioner is responsible for selecting and authorising the Medicare Benefits Scheme item number, not the practice manager making assumptions about consultation length or complexity.  Yet many practices operate with doctors scribbling notes on paper, creating a recipe for errors, missed charges and compliance issues. 

This problem intensifies for inpatient and ward round work, where documentation processes often lack structure. Without clear systems for how doctors record and submit their billing details, practices leave substantial revenue on the table. 

System failures compound the problem

Even well-intentioned practices stumble when their systems aren't properly maintained. The Medicare Benefits Schedule is updated regularly throughout the year, including annual fee indexation, with new or revised item numbers and fees. 

Private health funds won't process claims correctly if amounts don't match current schedules. The seemingly simple task of keeping fee schedules current becomes a major source of claim rejections when overlooked. 

Similarly, billing software must be configured correctly from the outset. Missing details like referring doctor information or procedure specifics trigger automatic rejections. By the time practices realise something was set up incorrectly, months of claims may require resubmission. 

5 tips to help improve your billing process

The key to avoiding issues is ensuring your billing systems and workflows are set up correctly from the start. Here’s what you can do to get your billing right: 

1. Establish clear documentation workflows 

Create a standardised process for how doctors submit billing information for both outpatient consultations and inpatient work. This might include: 

• Digital forms that capture all required fields 
• Clear templates for ward round documentation 
• Daily submission deadlines that prevent backlogs 
• Verification steps before claims are submitted. 

The goal is eliminating ambiguity. Every doctor should know exactly how and when to submit billing details, with no room for handwritten notes that get lost or misinterpreted. 

2. Invest in team expertise and training 

Practices that experience ongoing debt recovery issues almost invariably trace problems back to inadequate training or system setup errors. Undertrained staff may not always know which questions to ask or which patient and insurance details are required, leading to incomplete information and rejected claims. 

Consider implementing: 

• Structured onboarding for new billing staff, including shadowing experienced billers 
• Regular refresher training on system updates and Medicare schedule changes 
• Clear escalation pathways when staff encounter unfamiliar scenarios 
• Documentation of common issues and their solutions. 

While you can teach anyone how to submit a claim, the real value lies in knowing when something's wrong in the backend and how to fix it. Professional billing services like Avant Practice Solutions' Billings+ provide this expertise as standard, via a dedicated team who can handle complex scenarios daily. 

3. Maintain your systems rigorously 

Set quarterly calendar reminders to review and update: 

• Medicare fee schedules 
• Private health fund billing codes 
• System configurations for new item numbers 
• Health fund registrations and provider numbers. 

This preventive maintenance stops problems before they start. Claims submitted with correct information process smoothly; those with errors trigger rejections, follow-up work and potential revenue loss. 

4. Resource your follow-up adequately 

Many practices excel at submitting claims but allocate insufficient time and personnel to account follow-up. Claims get submitted, then... silence. Months pass, accounts age and suddenly you're facing Medicare's two-year limitation period with substantial revenue unrecovered. 

Effective debt recovery requires team members with sufficient time to systematically review outstanding accounts, investigate rejections, resubmit corrected claims and escalate when necessary. 

5. Recognise the expertise gap 

The backend of medical billing—fixing rejected claims, appealing decisions, navigating health fund disputes—requires specialised knowledge. When practices struggle with debt recovery, it's rarely because claims weren't submitted. The problem is that something wasn't set up correctly at the beginning, and staff lack the expertise to diagnose and resolve the issue. 

This is where professional billing services can help. Avant’s Billings+ provides not just claim submission but full account follow-up, with an experienced team who understands exactly why claims get rejected and how to resolve each issue. 

Our smartphone app makes it effortless for doctors to submit billing information; they can simply photograph the patient label, enter item numbers and dates and hit submit. From there, the Billings+ team processes claims within two business days and handles all follow-up on unpaid accounts. 

Getting billing right from the start  

The most cost-effective approach to medical billing isn't fixing problems but preventing them.  

When systems are properly configured from day one, health fund registrations are current, staff receive adequate training and documentation processes are clear, you encounter far fewer downstream issues.  

Claims process smoothly, payments arrive promptly, and your team spends time on productive work rather than troubleshooting rejections.