Accounting For Healthcare: Streamlining Online Pharmacy Finances

Introduction

In today’s digital age, the healthcare industry is undergoing significant changes driven by digital transformation. Online pharmacies, a pivotal component of this change, simplify and enhance the patient experience of getting supplements. But with this convenience comes the challenge of managing complex financial transactions. Accounting for healthcare, especially in the online domain, requires meticulous attention to detail and expertise. Oak Business Consultant, renowned for its outsourced accounting and bookkeeping services, assisted a European online pharmacy in streamlining financial operations, ensuring accurate financial records and a smooth data flow. And ensure a smooth data flow. This case study explores how we tackled challenges and improved accounting and bookkeeping services for their healthcare business. 

Client Background

Our client, a leading healthcare organization, is a prominent online pharmacy based in Europe. They offer an online platform that delivers medicines and bridges the gap between patients and healthcare providers. Their commitment to enhancing the patient experience and ensuring quality of care has set them apart in the online pharmacy sector.

Operational Framework of Company

The company’s approach is distinctive. They’ve built strong partnerships with medical practices instead of operating like traditional retail pharmacies. These healthcare providers recommend their patients buy medicines from the company’s platform. In return, practitioners earn a commission for each purchase.

To incentivize purchases, practitioners offer multiple discount codes. Additionally, the company introduced e-wallets for practitioners, enhancing the healthcare cloud integration platform. This feature allows healthcare professionals to view commissions and decide on cashing out or making purchases.

However, this innovative model came with its set of challenges. The company faced difficulties managing commission rates, tracking discount codes, and updating e-wallet balances in real-time. Their existing system, WooCommerce, wasn’t equipped to handle these complexities, highlighting the need for a more tailored integration strategy.

Challenges

Transaction Recording

Different doctors had their own commission and discount rates. Maintaining accurate financial statements and financial records was challenging due to the varying commission and discount rates. The old system calculated commissions directly on the gross invoice, leading to overpayments. This affected all the financial statements, including balance sheets, income statements and cash flow statements. 

System Limitations:

Traditional accounting practices did not address their business model’s unique financial dynamics, necessitating a more specialized approach. The company relied on WooCommerce for its operations. While suitable for essential online sales, it struggled with the intricate financial reporting aspects of the business. It couldn’t manage varying rates, e-wallet updates, or the necessary VAT calculations. This also led to complications in managing accounts payable. 

E-Wallet Real-time Updates:

Doctors had e-wallets on the website to view their commissions. Not only was the system slow in updating, but it also failed to reflect changes when doctors used their e-wallet funds to make purchases on the site. This inconsistency made it challenging for doctors to trust and rely on their e-wallet balances. Furthermore, managing accounts receivable became a challenge due to the system’s inability to efficiently track pending payments from customers. 

Oak’s Innovative Solution

Integrated Approach:

Understanding the company’s unique needs and the intricacies of its accounting processes, Oak Business Consultant integrated WooCommerce, Google Sheets, and XERO, ensuring a seamless data flow. This integration strategy addressed the complexities of financial recording and healthcare data integration.

Setting the Foundation for Accounting and Bookkeeping:

We set up a straightforward way to record all sales, commissions, and discounts. We made a system that could handle all the different rates and calculations using Google Sheets and XERO. This made the financial recording accurate and fast. The platform was set up to fetch invoice amounts, calculate commissions after discounts, and prepare data for XERO billing. Our solution improved their financial management and cash flow management.

Continuous Support:

Change can be challenging. So, after setting up the new system, we didn’t just leave. We provided continuous accounting services, including bookkeeping, staying with the company for six months. This way, we could help with any issues and ensure everything worked perfectly. It also allowed the company to hire its dedicated bookkeeper to manage the new system.

Results Achieved

Introduction of a Streamlined Data Flow:

Integrating Healthcare Cloud WooCommerce, Google Sheets, and XERO created a streamlined workflow. The entire financial process was revamped:

• WooCommerce to Google Sheets: Transactions were continuously fetched from WooCommerce to Google Sheets. Using coupon and discount codes, commissions were calculated with multiple IF arguments, ensuring accurate commission rates for each doctor.

• Google Sheets to XERO: After the commission calculations, the details were prepared and fetched into XERO as bills.

• Automated Accounting in XERO: Orders with discounts were generated, and the previously calculated commissions were integrated. Bills were created, transactions were recorded, and direct payments to practitioners were made from the connected bank feed.

• E-Wallet Integration: The e-wallet system was enhanced to reflect real-time updates. When practitioners purchased using their e-wallet funds, the system instantly showed the updated balance, ensuring transparency and trust.

Enhanced Financial Efficiency and Transparency in the Accounting and Bookkeeping process

Integrating WooCommerce, Google Sheets, and XERO revolutionized the company’s financial operations and enhanced financial management. Transactions seamlessly flowed from WooCommerce to Google Sheets, where commissions were accurately calculated. These details then transitioned to XERO, streamlining the billing process. The e-wallet system, vital for healthcare data integration, was enhanced for real-time updates, fostering trust among practitioners.

The company adeptly applied varying VAT rates for multi-country sales with the new system. The overpayment issue was rectified, and commissions were now calculated post-discounts. Recognizing the system’s efficiency, the company onboarded an accountant to oversee the operations.

Conclusion

A robust and transparent financial recording system is crucial in the rapidly evolving world of online pharmacies. Accounting for healthcare is especially vital given the unique challenges and nuances of the industry. Our client faced unique challenges due to their innovative business model tailored for medical practices. Oak Business Consultant stepped in, leveraging modern tools and a deep understanding of the client’s needs. We streamlined their accounting and bookkeeping operations, bringing about a digital transformation in their processes. This case study underscores the importance of adapting to data integration in healthcare and showcases how tailored solutions can lead to significant operational improvements.

What Oak Business Consultant Offers?

We at Oak Business Consultants are committed to assisting you in your financial planning efforts as qualified and skilled financial and business analysts. We take pride in providing all business owners with top-notch financial services.

Our diverse services include Financial Modeling, Business Plans, Pitch Decks, Accounting and Bookkeeping Services and more. Additionally, we possess the expertise to assist you in fundraising and developing a comprehensive business plan. Our business plans incorporate strategies to target the right market and foster sustainable growth. You can anticipate future financials using our financial models and simply include them in your models.

Our expertise extends to various sectors, including healthcare organizations, ensuring we understand each industry’s unique needs and challenges. We have designed various financial models for the Health Care industry. Click here to view.

The following URLs can be used to view some of the templates:

• Online Pharmacy Excel Financial Model
• Pharmacy Store Business Plan
• SaaS E-Commerce Software Excel Financial Model
• Online Pharmacy Pitch Deck Template
• Smart Hospital Excel Financial Model

By utilizing our financial services, you may streamline your business processes. If you need complete help when you launch your firm, contact us. Discover why many Micro-Small and Mid-sized Businesses continuously favor our financial planning services by looking through our portfolio. We can tell you that the only way forward will be success once you set out on this adventure with us.