Practice growth and business strategy
Decisions about payers, staffing and new locations, made with your own billing data instead of guesswork.
Growth in a medical practice usually depends on a few decisions: which payers to keep, what rates to push for, which services to add, when to hire, and whether a second location will pay for itself. Most practices make those calls on instinct because the numbers sit in a billing system nobody has time to analyze.
SFA Solutions turns your billing and payment data into a working plan. We run a revenue gap analysis to show where collections fall short of what your volume should produce. We benchmark your payer rates, often expressed as a percentage of the Medicare fee schedule, and prepare the data you need to ask for better terms at renewal. We look for cost savings in billing and admin work, review patient acquisition data such as referral sources and new patient trends, and model the staffing and payer mix needed for a new provider or location. Clients have seen up to 35% revenue improvement in selected client results, and this kind of analysis is often where that work starts. Results vary by practice, payer mix and market.
Who this is for
Growth consulting fits independent practices planning a new provider or location, groups preparing for payer contract renewals, practices whose revenue has flattened despite steady volume, and owners thinking about a merger, sale or new service line. Nurse practitioner practices, primary care groups and specialty practices with a small number of high-volume codes often see the clearest results from rate benchmarking.
Related services
What our practice growth & business strategy service covers
Revenue gap analysis
Expected vs. actual collections by payer, provider and service line, with the gap explained and ranked by size.
Payer rate benchmarking
Your contracted rates for top CPT codes compared across payers and against the Medicare fee schedule for your locality.
Negotiation support
A data packet for each payer showing your volume, quality of claims and rate comparison, ready for renewal talks.
Cost reduction
Review of billing, admin and staffing costs to find work that can be cut, automated or shared.
Patient acquisition data
New patient trends, referral sources and payer mix by zip code, so marketing spend goes where patients come from.
Expansion planning
Break-even models for a new provider, service line or location, including credentialing lead time and ramp-up.
How we deliver it
Discovery
We talk through your goals, pull 12 months of billing and payment data, and collect your payer contracts.
Analysis
We build the revenue gap, payer comparison and cost views, and list the options with their likely impact.
Plan
You get a written plan with recommended actions, timelines and the numbers behind each one.
Follow-through
We support payer outreach, track results monthly, and adjust the plan as the data comes in.
Growth levers and the data behind them
| Growth lever | Data we use | Question it answers |
|---|---|---|
| Payer contract rates | Allowed amounts for top CPT codes vs. Medicare fee schedule | Which payers pay least for the same work? |
| Payer mix | Visits and collections by payer | Which plans are worth keeping, adding or dropping? |
| Service lines | Charges, collections and denials by CPT code | Which services are profitable once denials and time are counted? |
| Provider capacity | Visits, RVUs and open schedule slots by provider | Is it time to hire another provider? |
| New location | Patient zip codes, referral sources, payer mix by area | Will a second site pay for itself, and how soon? |
Practice Growth & Business Strategy for your specialty
We bill for 28+ specialties. These are the ones we work with most.
Nurse Practitioner billing
Billing for NP-led and physician-NP practices, from the 85% Medicare rate and incident-to rules to split/shared visits and getting each NP credentialed under the right NPI.
Learn moreInternal Medicine billing
Billing for internists who manage complex, chronic patients, with E/M levels, wellness visits and care management codes captured when the documentation supports them.
Learn moreOphthalmology billing
Eye exam codes, refraction, diagnostic testing, cataract globals and high-cost injectable drugs all follow their own rules. Ophthalmology is one of the specialties we bill most often.
Learn moreQuestions about practice growth & business strategy
Can an independent practice really negotiate payer rates?
Often, yes, especially with clean data. Payers respond better to a request that shows your volume, claim quality and how your rates compare to other payers and to Medicare. Results vary by market and payer, and some large national plans negotiate less with small groups.
Why compare rates to the Medicare fee schedule?
Medicare publishes its rates for every CPT code by locality, so it is a common yardstick. Expressing each payer's rates as a percentage of Medicare makes it easy to see which contracts are below market.
Do we need to be an SFA billing client?
No, though billing clients get the most from it because we already have clean data. Other practices can share reports and contracts for a project-based engagement.
How long does a growth plan take?
It depends on the number of payers, providers and locations, and how quickly your data and contracts are available. We agree on a timeline during discovery.
Will you contact payers for us?
We prepare the data, draft the rate request and can help with payer outreach. Final contract decisions and signatures stay with the practice owner.
Start with a free review
Tell us a little about your practice. We will look at where practice growth & business strategy is costing you money today and walk you through what we find.
- No commitment
- Reply from an RCM specialist, typically within one business day
- No patient records needed to start
Get a free review
An RCM specialist typically replies within one business day.