The Role of Consolidated Billing in Independent Optometry
What is Consolidated Billing?
Consolidated billing is a significant efficiency driver for businesses of all sizes and is quite popular in health care. At its foundation, it is the method of combining multiple invoices received by a business from multiple vendors into one single invoice. In “normal” operations, businesses receive individual invoices from a variety of their vendors, utilities, banks, leaseholders, and other debtors periodically throughout the month, quarter or year. It then becomes the responsibility of “someone” in that business to ensure those bills are paid on time.
This requires a keen understanding of cash flow management such that the “someone” in charge of paying the business bills is assured there is sufficient revenue or cash available to cover the outgoing expenses. In the case of consolidated billing, businesses can opt to avoid hassles of managing multiple vendor invoices with varying payment due dates and fees for missed or delayed payments and instead have some, most or all of their outgoing expenses consolidated together into one monthly invoice.
Why is Consolidated Billing Helpful?
There are a variety of obvious reasons why the opportunity to pay one single bill each month creates immediate efficiency rather than paying multiple bills a month. However, the benefits over time are actually quite significant. For Independent Optometry practice owners, changing the method of bill pay to a consolidated billing model can unlock tremendous value.
Managing multiple eyewear vendors, manufacturers, and distributor payments alone to ensure you pay on time, track rebates, enjoy discounts for prompt or early payment, and avoid incorrect or unknown fees is a tremendously important job.
Done well, this part of the cash flow management process can help protect and grow profitability as well as your credit standing. Done poorly, it can put your vendor relationships, profitability, and creditworthiness at great risk, and worse, it can negatively impact your inventory and timeliness of lab work.
Sounds too good to be true? It’s not! For more information about best in class consolidated billing for Independent Optometry practices, call CECOP USA today at 888-466-8263!
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