How a private medical practice actually runs.
Six drawers covering the work of keeping an independent practice open: getting paid, keeping people, moving patients through the day, staying compliant, running the systems, and staying independent. Written in plain language by Marina Davar, who has managed one since 2020.
The index
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Drawer 1 · Red · 4 filed
Getting paid
The money you already earned and have not collected yet. Eligibility, prior authorization, coding, denials, appeals, days in A/R and payer contracts.
Latest: The Contracts Nobody Has Read Since Signing -
Drawer 2 · Green · 4 filed
Keeping people
Hiring and holding medical assistants, front desk and billers in a market where hospital systems pay more than you can. Wages, cross-training, turnover cost.
Latest: Turnover Cost, Calculated Roughly -
Drawer 3 · Orange · 3 filed
Moving the day
Schedule templates, room and provider utilization, cycle time, no-shows, referrals that never close, and the access metric that tells the truth.
Latest: Cycle Time Broken Into Segments -
Drawer 4 · Blue · 2 filed
Staying out of trouble
HIPAA, OSHA, CLIA, Stark and Anti-Kickback, documentation standards and audit response, in the practical version a small practice can actually use.
Latest: Documentation and the Claim Describe the Same Visit, or They Do Not -
Drawer 5 · Purple · 2 filed
Running the systems
The EHR somebody else chose, migrations and the productivity dip nobody budgets for, portals and digital intake, and where AI documentation currently helps.
Latest: The Productivity Dip After Go-Live -
Drawer 6 · Teal · 2 filed
Staying independent
Reading a P&L next to your accountant, overhead by category, honest benchmarking, and what survivability requires when systems are buying practices nearby.
Latest: Reading the Monthly Financials Next to Your Accountant
Written from inside the job, not from a vendor's marketing department.
Almost everything published about practice management is produced by companies selling software or services to practices. This site is written by Marina Davar, who has managed a private medical practice of about fifty people since 2020.
The aim is to explain how this work actually fits together, in plain language, drawn from experience rather than from a product roadmap. Nothing on this site is for sale. There is no newsletter, no download, no form. If something here is useful, use it.
Before you act on any of this
This is general information about practice operations. It is not legal, medical, billing, tax, or compliance advice, and it is not a substitute for professional counsel. Reading it creates no professional relationship.
Rules differ by state, by payer, by specialty, and by plan, and they change often. Do your own research and check anything here against current regulations, your own payer contracts, and your attorney, coding professional, or compliance advisor. Decisions about your practice, your staff, and your patients remain yours.