Love it or hate it, money is a key part of any business.

An essential part of your private practice is the management of cash flow.

Good cash flow management will open doors for your business, and poor cash flow management will limit opportunities.

If numbers aren’t your thing, don’t lose heart.

Some amazing tools are now available, created specifically for small business owners.

They take much of the pain out of managing your business’s income and expenses.

Finding the tools that work best for you will go a long way toward maintaining a strong bottom line for your business.

Several software options are available that are created specifically made for private practice therapists.

Electronic Medical Records systems, known as EMRs, can help you do more than store notes.

They also offer perks such as:

• Scheduling, or even allowing clients to schedule their own appointments.
• Electronic intake paperwork that clients can fill out online.
• Self-pay options, where clients can input credit/debit cards to be stored, or pay each time without storing their cards.
• Invoicing for clients.
• Creating “superbills” to bill insurances for out of network benefits (you or your client can submit these to insurance).
• Automatic billing options for in-network insurance.
• Report generation that look at monthly income, amount paid per client, amount you’ve billed, and more.

Commonly used EMR programs include Simple Practice, Theranest, and Therapy Notes.

Each has similar basic features, but they all offer pros and cons.

The biggest differences that many therapists end up noticing are the setup and ease of the platform, and the way billing and income are reported in the system.

Most programs offer a free trial period where you can set up a fake client profile and play around with the system.

Most of the EMR systems can also be synced with Microsoft Excel, which can be purchased as a part of the Microsoft Office 365 Suite.

This is an often-used tool to record and keep up with business cash flow.

One mistake new private practice owners sometimes may make is with bank account management.

Keeping a separate personal and business account is a must.

To maintain a smooth and easy cash flow operation, the biggest snarl to avoid is having your business cash flow mixed in with your personal cash flow.

Keeping the two separate saves a lot of time and headache when it comes to managing your finances, both personal and business.

In addition to tracking how much cash you have coming in, and how much cash you have on hand, it is also important to track how much cash is going out.

Tracking your outgoing cash is important for two reasons.

First, so that you can maintain an accurate record of your cash on hand.

The second reason is to prepare for and pay taxes.

You work hard for your money and maintaining tight control of your cash flow also involves making sure you account for every business expense for tax deductions.

As your therapy practice starts booming, you may have little time to spend sifting through a shoebox full of receipts.

Shop around for the app that best fits your personal and cost needs.

Quicken is one tool that can help easily track business expenditures, even automatically recording mileage if needed.

Depending on how large your business is at this point, and how effective you are at money management, you might consider some professional help.

There are accountants who specialize in small business or health business management.

They can advise you on managing income, separating accounts, and what expenses are tax deductible.

The basics of cash flow management are cash in, cash on hand, and cash outgoing.

A healthy cash flow is the cornerstone for maintaining a healthy and growing business.

The tools mentioned are the bare bones essentials for cash flow management.

Consulting an accountant may also help you consider if this expense is helpful in the long run.

New platforms and programs are being developed and released all the time, so it pays to check on what new tools might be most helpful for your needs.