The appropriate fund accounting software program can prevent time and streamline your processes. However as a group well being middle, you’re already working on lean margins, which makes it even tougher to carve out time to implement new software program. That’s why it’s vital to ensure your crew is ready for the change and able to establish the enhancements that may enhance your group well being middle’s effectivity and accountability.
Listed below are 5 ideas to assist make your group well being middle’s fund accounting implementation clean and seamless.
1. Establish the proper expertise in your crew.
You don’t want an enormous employees to efficiently implement new fund accounting software program—you simply want to have the ability to faucet into the proper expertise in your crew or know when to depend on an outdoor marketing consultant.
You want information assortment and information construction expertise, not only a information entry individual—somebody who is aware of how your group operates and the perfect methods for data to be delivered. You’ll additionally need somebody who’s accustomed to compliance, particularly GAAP and FASB. In a small, grant-funded group, you won’t have these expertise and that’s okay! Working with a marketing consultant (both your vendor’s or an exterior accomplice) will save money and time as a result of the system can be arrange on your group’s precise wants.
2. Identify some extent of contact who sees the large image.
Establish only one individual to speak with the software program vendor. This individual shouldn’t be the clerical or information entry individual.
Your level of contact understands the significance of monitoring affected person visitors traits, growing economies of scale, and figuring out grants that may shore up income streams. The purpose of contact works with the software program vendor to align the brand new system to your group’s imaginative and prescient for the long run, stopping your group from flying blind. They’ll work collectively to make sure the system is configured to automate board reporting and UDS information so that you’ve got extra free time for different priorities.
3. Begin now gathering the knowledge you have to.
Assemble related accounts and information to focus on the processes you wish to simplify and issues you wish to clear up with new software program. It’ll assist you to envision the convenience of an optimized construction on your chart of accounts and the enterprise guidelines that can be most helpful.
An important doc to have readily available is a trial steadiness report—with 36 months of historical past—out of your legacy system. This permits the seller to account for all the things and map your historical past to a brand new and optimized chart of accounts. You’ll additionally wish to preserve a working checklist of all the things from places, companies, and departments to financial institution accounts, bank card holders, customers, and entry ranges. Spending extra time now compiling grant data will even assist to maximise worth out of your new software program. From the beginning, you need the system monitoring the grants that fund a number of packages and to benefit from the ease of getting all grant documentation in a single digital supply.
4. Decide the non-financial metrics you wish to observe.
The power to trace and analyze non-financial metrics alongside your financials is what is going to actually enhance your group well being middle’s effectivity and skill to serve extra sufferers.
For instance, monitoring affected person encounters (whole visits) and sufferers served (sufferers who’re seen by a supplier) by service line, supplier, and payer streamlines UDS reporting. The good thing about monitoring in your monetary software program is you can decide income per go to and value per go to, making it straightforward to establish enterprise issues reminiscent of lagging places or suppliers.
5. Take into consideration the long run.
Take this chance to simplify as many processes as you’ll be able to. Would a month-to-month transmission of knowledge out of your EMR, payroll, or pharmacy system be simpler than guide journal entries and spreadsheets? Guarantee that is potential together with your new accounting software program and embrace this as a part of your implementation scope.
In actual fact, ask about obtainable API and customizations, together with utilizing Microsoft Energy Platform, to be sure to are getting essentially the most out of your new software program.
And at last, don’t overlook to maintain scalability in thoughts with the chart of accounts design and doc design selections to make sure utilization and worth continues properly into the long run.
Discovering the Proper Fund Accounting System for Your Neighborhood Well being Heart
The accounting wants of a group well being middle are complicated, from managing grant funding to understanding historic location efficiency. Industrial accounting techniques require workarounds to maintain observe of restricted funds and full your reporting necessities. With a real fund accounting system, you get software program that’s constructed for nonprofit organizations so you’ll be able to handle restricted funds inside one system, which makes reporting easy.
See how a fund accounting system like Blackbaud Monetary Edge NXT® might help your group well being middle save time and assets with our newest product tour.
