Demetra: For someone that's new to managing their cash flow,
can you help us better understand how someone
might start doing this?
Calvin: Well, I think a good starting point
is to determine exactly where you are.
So, you know, and that seems very basic of course,
that you should know what your starting point
in terms of cash is, but oftentimes you don't see that.
So, really it's taking stock of
where you're at in terms of cash,
what exactly are the cash outflows
that are coming up in the practice, in your business.
Getting a good handle in terms of when exactly
those payments are due, you know.
So, we would typically say you should look out
certainly in the short-term
to determine exactly what your costs might be,
your outflows might be.
Generally on a weekly basis, if that's not possible,
certainly on a monthly basis.
What we find of course in medicine
is that there are lots of fixed costs,
so a lot of these things are going to be,
going to exist, these costs are going to exist
regardless of cash inflows.
So you have to really have a handle on what exactly on what,
what really is your breakeven point, if you use that term.
And then after that, it's really getting a good handle,
if you can, as to exactly what your cash inflows are.
What are amounts that perhaps have not been billed
that should be billed.
What are some backlogs in terms of collections.
Getting explanations and generally trying to expand
the cash that's walking into the business.