Industries · Health and social services

Bookkeeping for doctors and healthcare professionals

In a practice, money rarely comes directly from patients. We allocate advance payments and final payments from the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, payouts from the billing agency, and payments from self-paying patients so that you can see each month what the practice is actually earning.

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For medical and dental practices, psychotherapy, physical therapy, and other healthcare professions, digitally and in Hamburg

Month-end close for a medical practiceExample

KV advance paymentAdvance payment for the month posted

posted

Balance due from the previous quarterNotice received, payment pending

1 open

Private billing agencyPayout split into revenue and fees

split

Self-payerCard terminal and cash register reconciled

34 payments

Results by doctorCosts by allocation key

ready

Example of a monthly overview. You can see outstanding final payments in the client portal until they arrive.

Health and social services:Doctors and healthcare professionalsDaycare centers and childcare All industries in the field of

Your industry

What sets your industry apart

For patients with public health insurance, doctors and dentists bill through the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians or the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Dentists. The association makes monthly advance payments, with the final payment for a quarter arriving months later, after deductions for administrative costs and levies. Therapists typically bill health insurance funds directly or through a billing center. We assign each payment to the billing period and quarter to which it belongs and show you which remaining payments are still outstanding.

Services for private patients are often handled through a private billing agency. It issues the invoices, collects the payments, and pays the practice, minus its fees and sometimes with advance funding. A lump sum is then deposited into the account. To ensure that revenue and fees are recorded correctly, we post entries based on the billing agency’s payment summary and not just on the bank statement.

Many medical treatments are exempt from VAT, but not every service a practice provides is a medical treatment. Your tax advisor determines which of your services are VAT-exempt and whether input VAT can be deducted. For the bookkeeping, this means that revenue from statutory and private treatments, self-pay services, and sales is recorded separately so that the tax advisor can make this assessment. You or your tax advisor set the categories, and we stick to them every month.

We do not need treatment data for the bookkeeping. Generally, fee notices, payment summaries, and receipts showing amounts are sufficient. Documents containing patient data remain at the practice, and everything we see is subject to confidentiality, even after the contract ends.

On the expense side, items include practice premises, medical equipment, practice software, laboratory services, supplies, and continuing education. Equipment is often leased or financed through loans; major purchases are classified as fixed assets. In group practices, shared costs are allocated according to a formula; in professional partnerships, the tax advisor distributes the profit in the financial statements in accordance with the partnership agreement. We post allocations according to your formula and keep costs separate by location or physician, if you wish.

Attention to detail

What we pay attention to

KV statements: advance payments and final payments allocated by quarter, deductions visible
Private billing agency: revenue, fees, and advance funding according to the payment summary
Revenue types: statutory insurance, private, self-pay, and sales kept separate
Card payments and cash: self-pay amounts at the front desk recorded in full
Equipment and fittings: purchases, leases, and maintenance tracked by device
Lab and supplies: complete invoices, split bulk orders
Group practice: cost allocations according to your formula
Medical chamber and professional pension fund: contributions recorded, private provision kept separate from practice costs
Final payments: outstanding quarters tracked as open items

Payroll

Payroll in your industry

Medical and dental assistants: salary based on the contract or on the collective agreement, if it applies to your practice
Part-time, mini-jobs, and temporary staff at the front desk
Trainees: training allowance and filings
Employed physicians and physicians in residency
On-call duties and premium pay based on your reported hours
Employment bans during pregnancy: maternity protection pay calculated, reimbursement claimed under the U2 levy

More about payroll

Receipts

Which receipts we need

Fee notices and advance payment notices from the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians or Dentists
Payment summaries from the private billing agency
Statements from health insurance funds or billing centers, for therapists
Daily reports from the card terminal and cash book for self-paying patients
Invoices for laboratory services, supplies, equipment, and practice software
Practice lease, rental, and loan agreements

Notices and payment summaries are usually sent as PDFs; you can upload them to the client portal or forward them via email. You also upload bank statements to the client portal.

Start

How we get started

To get started, we’ll work with you and your tax advisor to determine how the practice handles billing and how revenues are separated: through the association, a billing agency, directly with health insurance funds, or by the practice itself. We record any outstanding final payments and current lease and loan agreements, and use the tax advisor’s fixed asset register as a basis to ensure new acquisitions are allocated correctly. The tax advisor posts the opening balances and depreciation; we reconcile the open items with these figures before the first month begins. In a group practice, we adopt the allocation formula from your contract. After that, you upload notices and receipts monthly, and the report is available in the client portal.

With your tax advisor

We post the entries; the tax advisor decides the tax treatment

We set up the chart of accounts, record ongoing business transactions, run payroll, and prepare wage tax returns. Every month, we reconcile the accounts and pass the figures on to your tax advisor.

You hire the tax advisor directly, with your own contract and billing arrangement. If you don’t have one yet, we can put you in touch with our partner tax advisor, with whom we work closely.

Decisions on tax treatment are the tax advisor’s responsibility. We post entries so that they’re ready for the tax advisor to work with immediately.

How we work with tax advisors

The tax advisor handles the following on your behalf

VAT: which services are VAT-exempt and whether input VAT can be deducted
Cash-basis income statement or annual financial statements, for professional partnerships with a separate determination of profits
Profit distribution in professional partnerships
Separating practice and private expenses, for example for the professional pension fund and vehicles
Tax returns and assistance with tax audits
Tax issues related to the purchase or sale of a practice and the establishment of a medical care center

Questions

Frequently asked questions

Do you need patient data?

No. For the bookkeeping, fee notices, payment summaries, and receipts showing amounts are sufficient. Documents containing treatment data remain at the practice.

How do you post payments from the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians?

We allocate advance payments and final payments to the respective quarter and show deductions separately. We list outstanding final payments as open items.

Are our services exempt from VAT?

Your practice’s tax advisor will determine that. We record revenue separately by type so that they can do so, and we set up the bookkeeping according to their specifications.

Do you work with our billing agency?

We post entries based on their payment summaries. If the billing agency offers this and you agree, the summaries come directly to us.

Do you also handle payroll for our practice team?

Yes, also for trainees, mini-jobs, and employed physicians.

How much does bookkeeping cost for a medical practice?

We price it individually on request, after a short questionnaire.

Contact

Let’s talk about your bookkeeping.

During our initial consultation, we’ll determine what your business needs. Afterward, you’ll receive a binding quote via email.