Financial Clarity for Healthcare Practitioners
Running a medical or dental practice means juggling clinical care with business management. Between insurance reimbursement delays, regulatory requirements, and complex compensation structures, your finances deserve a CPA who speaks healthcare.
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How can we help?
Understanding Your Industry
Cloonan & Associates works with physicians, dentists, and practice owners to bring financial order to the business side of healthcare. We handle the nuances of insurance billing reconciliation, multi-provider compensation models, and the specific tax strategies available to healthcare professionals. From solo practitioners to multi-location group practices, we provide the accounting and advisory support that lets you focus on patient care.
Common Challenges We Help Solve
Complex Revenue Recognition
Healthcare revenue involves a mix of insurance payments, patient copays, write-offs, and adjustments that arrive weeks or months after services are rendered. Accurately recognizing revenue requires tracking claims through every stage of the billing cycle.
Insurance Billing Reconciliation
Matching payments from insurance carriers to specific patient claims, identifying underpayments, and tracking denied claims requires detailed systems. Without proper reconciliation, revenue leaks go undetected and accounts receivable becomes unreliable.
Regulatory Compliance Costs
HIPAA, OSHA, state licensing, and payer credentialing all carry compliance costs that must be tracked and documented. Falling behind on compliance can result in fines, loss of insurance contracts, or practice closure.
Practice Valuation Challenges
Whether you are buying into a practice, bringing on a partner, or planning an exit, you need an accurate valuation. Healthcare practices have unique valuation factors including patient base, payer mix, provider reputation, and equipment condition.
Retirement Planning for High Earners
Physicians and dentists often reach peak earning years with limited retirement savings due to student debt and late career starts. Maximizing contributions through defined benefit plans, cash balance plans, and other strategies is critical for catching up.
Multi-Provider Compensation Structures
Group practices need fair, transparent compensation models that account for production, collections, overhead allocation, and ancillary revenue. Poorly designed compensation formulas create disputes and drive talented providers away.
How We Help
Services for Medical & Dental Practices
These are the services most commonly used by businesses in your industry.
Monthly Bookkeeping Services
Our monthly bookkeeping service covers every aspect of keeping your financial records accurate and up to date. We handle transaction capture, bank and credit card reconciliations, accounts receivable and payable management, month-end closing, and financial statement preparation. We also track 1099 vendor payments throughout the year so you are ready when filing season arrives.
Learn MoreBusiness Tax Preparation Services
We prepare federal and state business tax returns for S-Corporations, LLCs, partnerships, and C-Corporations. Our service goes beyond compliance. We review your entity structure, calculate quarterly estimated payments, identify all available deductions and credits, and coordinate your business return with your personal return to minimize your total tax liability. We also advise on entity selection and restructuring when it can produce meaningful tax savings.
Learn MoreFinancial Statement Preparation
We prepare professional financial statements including profit and loss statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements. Depending on your needs, we can provide compilation or review-level reports. Our statements are formatted for clarity and include the detail that lenders, investors, and management teams need to make informed decisions.
Learn MoreRemote CFO Services
Our remote CFO service provides small businesses with the same level of financial leadership that larger companies get from their in-house finance executives. We handle budgeting, forecasting, 13-week cash flow modeling, KPI dashboard development, pricing analysis, lender relations, and board or investor reporting. We become a trusted member of your leadership team, attending meetings, advising on strategy, and helping you make financial decisions with confidence.
Learn MoreRegulatory Compliance Advisory
Regulatory compliance is not just a big-company concern. Small businesses face requirements from federal, state, and local regulators that can carry significant penalties for noncompliance. We conduct compliance reviews, assess your internal controls, identify process improvements, and help you build systems that keep you in good standing. Our approach is practical and proportionate to the size and complexity of your business, giving you confidence without unnecessary burden.
Learn MoreCommon Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
What accounting method should my medical practice use?
Most medical and dental practices use the cash basis of accounting because it aligns taxable income with actual cash received, which is especially helpful given the delays inherent in insurance reimbursement. However, if your practice exceeds certain revenue thresholds or has significant inventory (common in dental practices with lab supplies), the accrual method may be required. We evaluate your practice size, payer mix, and growth plans to recommend the most tax-efficient method.
How can I reduce taxes as a high-earning physician or dentist?
Key strategies include maximizing retirement plan contributions through vehicles like defined benefit plans or cash balance plans, which allow contributions well above standard 401(k) limits. We also evaluate your entity structure (many practices benefit from S-Corp status), timing of equipment purchases, and available deductions for continuing education, licensing, and professional expenses. For practice owners, the qualified business income deduction may provide additional savings depending on your taxable income level.
Do you help with practice acquisitions and buy-ins?
Yes. We assist with financial due diligence for practice acquisitions, including reviewing historical financials, analyzing payer contracts, evaluating staffing costs, and assessing equipment condition. For buy-ins, we help structure agreements that are fair to both parties, tax-efficient, and clearly define the transition timeline. We coordinate with your attorney and lender to ensure all financial aspects of the transaction are addressed.
How should I handle accounts receivable for insurance claims?
We help you establish aging categories that match your payer mix, identify claims that are past their timely filing deadlines, and reconcile payments against expected reimbursement rates. Regular AR analysis reveals patterns in denied or underpaid claims, allowing you to address root causes with your billing team. We also ensure your financial statements accurately reflect the collectibility of outstanding receivables.
What retirement plan options work best for practice owners?
Practice owners with high incomes and few employees often benefit from defined benefit or cash balance plans, which allow annual contributions of $200,000 or more depending on age and plan design. For practices with more staff, a combination of a 401(k) with profit sharing can balance owner contributions with employee costs. We model different plan designs alongside your other financial goals to find the structure that maximizes your tax savings without creating unsustainable costs.
Can you help with financial reporting for my lender or landlord?
Yes. Lenders, landlords, and equipment financing companies often require compiled or reviewed financial statements. We prepare these reports in accordance with SSARS standards, formatted to meet your specific lender's requirements. We also provide the supporting schedules and documentation that lenders typically request during the underwriting process.
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Cloonan & Associates serves residential and commercial real estate investors, from single-property landlords to portfolio owners managing dozens of units. We specialize in the tax strategies that make real estate one of the most tax-advantaged asset classes, including depreciation planning, 1031 exchanges, cost segregation analysis, and passive activity loss optimization. Our goal is to help you keep more of your rental income and build long-term wealth through smart tax planning.
Learn MoreReady to Work With a CPA Who Understands Your Industry?
Schedule a free consultation. We will review your situation, explain how we can help, and give you a clear picture of what working together looks like.