Your comprehensive roadmap to starting a successful medical practice. From credentialing to billing setup, compliance to financial planning — we have you covered.
We specialize in helping new practices get off the ground quickly and profitably. Our launch package includes everything you need for billing success from day one.
A structured roadmap from planning through opening day and beyond.
Everything you need to launch billing-ready from day one.
What to expect financially in your first year and how expert RCM support improves outcomes.
| Metric | Typical Experience | Best Practice (with Medages) |
|---|---|---|
| Credentialing Timeline | 90-120 days per payer | Start 6 months before opening |
| Initial Claim Payment Lag | 30-60 days from submission | Budget for 90-day cash flow gap |
| First Year Collection Rate | 60-75% for new practices | 85-95% with experienced RCM support |
| Startup Capital Needed | 6-12 months operating expenses | Include credentialing, technology, and working capital |
| Time to Profitability | 12-18 months | 9-12 months with optimized billing |
Learn from the costly errors most new practices make so you do not have to repeat them.
Cannot bill insurance for 3-6 months, losing significant revenue
Begin credentialing 6 months before opening. Work with credentialing experts to expedite applications and avoid the most costly new practice mistake.
Cash flow problems in first 6-12 months that threaten practice viability
Budget for 6-12 months of operating expenses. Plan for 60-90 day payment lag from insurance companies and maintain adequate reserves.
High claim denial rates, delayed payments, and patient frustration
Invest in staff training for registration, eligibility verification, and authorization management from day one before the first patient walks in.
Manual inefficiencies, coding errors, and billing delays that compound over time
Choose proven EHR and practice management systems with strong billing capabilities and clearinghouse integration from the start.
Risk of audits, fines, and legal liability that can devastate a new practice
Establish HIPAA policies, compliance training, and documentation standards before seeing your first patient.
Overwhelmed staff, billing errors, and owner burnout that reduces patient care quality
Partner with experienced RCM providers for credentialing, billing, and collections to focus on what you do best: patient care.
Get a free consultation with our practice launch specialists. We will create a customized timeline and budget for your specific situation, and show you how to avoid the expensive mistakes most new practices make.
Essential credentialing for new practice enrollment with all payers.
Learn More →Start credentialing at least 6 months before your planned opening date. Most payers take 90-120 days to process applications, and delays in credentialing mean you cannot bill insurance during that period. Starting early gives you buffer time for requests for additional information, application corrections, and slower payers.
You need an NPI number (individual and organizational), state medical license, DEA registration if prescribing, malpractice insurance, a business entity (LLC or PC typically), a physical location, an EHR/PM system, and credentialing with at least your major payers. You also need HIPAA compliance policies and billing processes in place before seeing patients.
Most practices budget 4-8% of collections for outsourced billing. However, for a new practice the more important budgeting concern is the 60-90 day cash flow gap between seeing patients and receiving insurance payments. Budget for 3-6 months of operating expenses as a runway before collections normalize.
Most new practices benefit significantly from outsourcing billing, especially in the first 1-2 years. In-house billing requires hiring, training, managing, and replacing billing staff while also dealing with system costs. Outsourced RCM provides immediate expertise, no training period, and scales with your practice. Once you reach 3-5 providers it can make sense to evaluate in-house options.
Most physicians should plan for 9-18 months from decision to first patient. This includes 2-3 months for business formation and planning, 3-6 months for credentialing and payer enrollment, 2-3 months for facility setup and hiring, and 1-2 months for technology setup and staff training. Rushing this timeline, especially credentialing, is the single most expensive mistake new practices make.
The most common are starting credentialing too late, underestimating the cash flow gap, not verifying patient eligibility before every visit, poor documentation that does not support the billed codes, failing to follow up on denials promptly, and not tracking KPIs like denial rate, days in AR, and collection rate. Having an experienced RCM partner from day one prevents most of these.