# Cash flow for a physician-owned practice

Canonical: https://ledgerfox.io/industries/medical-practices/cash-flow

Medical practice cash flow management is the timing problem under a busy clinic. Collections, payroll, and supplies rarely land in the same week, and a full schedule does not guarantee cash in the account.

## The practice is busy, and the operating account is still tight.

Patient visits post as revenue before the cash arrives. Payroll and supplies do not wait for the payer. A slow month, a new hire, or a larger supply order can use cash the profit-and-loss statement still calls available.

Owners feel this as surprise, not as a forecast. The books explain last month. They do not yet say what the next eight or thirteen weeks require.

## A short-horizon view of practice cash.

We connect the close to a cash view: what is expected in from collections, what must go out for payroll and supplies, and what is left for a hire or a slow stretch.

This is operating cash for the practice. It is not a loan package, and it is not personal cash-flow planning for the physician.

## What the cash view includes

- **Collections timing.** Revenue on the books versus cash that has actually arrived, so a strong month is not spent twice.
- **Payroll and supplies.** The two outflows that most often collide with a slow collection week.
- **A short forecast.** Weeks, not a five-year model — enough to see a crunch before it hits the operating account.
- **Room for a decision.** Whether a hire or a slow month fits the cash you have, not the revenue you hope to bill.
- **A monthly rhythm.** The cash conversation happens with the close, not after the account is already short.

## What you receive

- **Cash position.** What is available after the obligations already on the calendar.
- **Timing map.** Collections, payroll, and supplies on one timeline.
- **Near-term forecast.** A rolling look at the next stretch of operating cash.

## Questions

### If we are profitable, why is cash tight?

Profit records work that has been done. Cash records what has been collected and what has been paid. In a medical practice those clocks are different, especially when payroll is weekly and collections lag.

### Do you collect from payers for us?

No. We treat collections as an input to cash flow. Billing and follow-up stay with your biller or billing staff.

### How far ahead do you forecast practice cash?

Usually a short rolling window, often around thirteen weeks, adjusted to how lumpy your collections are. The point is the next decision, not a decorative annual spreadsheet.

### Is this only for practices that are short on cash?

No. Practices that want to hire or open space need the same picture before they commit, even when the account looks comfortable today.

## Related

- [Medical practice CFO advisory](https://ledgerfox.io/industries/medical-practices): Bookkeeping and CFO advisory for independent physician-owned practices.
- [Practice profitability](https://ledgerfox.io/industries/medical-practices/profitability): Overhead, margins, and what each provider contributes.
- [Practice planning](https://ledgerfox.io/industries/medical-practices/planning): Adding a physician, a second office, or a different cost structure.
- [Cash Flow Management](https://ledgerfox.io/cash-flow-management): How LedgerFox looks at cash across growing businesses.
- [Bookkeeping Services](https://ledgerfox.io/bookkeeping): Monthly books the advisory conversations depend on.
- [CFO Advisory](https://ledgerfox.io/cfo-advisory): The general advisory relationship these industry pages sit inside.

## See the cash the schedule does not show.

Tell us how collections, payroll, and supplies move today. We will say whether a cash view belongs with the monthly books.

- [Request a practice consultation](https://ledgerfox.io/contact?inquiry=medical-practice)
- [Cash flow management](https://ledgerfox.io/cash-flow-management)