RBMA Chart of Accounts

To print the RBMA Chart of Accounts from PDF, click here.

The RBMA recommended Chart of Accounts is just that—a recommendation. As all practices are different, your practice may not be able to follow this recommended format completely. However, use of this chart should make it easier for you to complete the RBMA Accounts Receivable and Imaging Center Surveys because the expense categories listed here tie into the requested formats for the expense data collected in those surveys.

The Chart of Accounts includes the following cost centers:

• Operating expenses – non-imaging center: Expenses to operate the non-imaging center portions of the practice that are not physician expenses or general administrative expenses. Examples of these types of expenses are salary and benefits for a physician secretary, courier expense for outside reads and marketing/promotion for the marketing of the professional component portion of the practice.
• Physician expenses: Salaries, benefits and other expenses that relate to the individual physicians of the practice – whether partners or employees. Examples of these types of expenses are physician salaries and bonuses, continuing education, cell phone expense, professional liability insurance and meals and entertainment.
• Billing department expenses: Expenses relating to billing for the practice’s PC and TC services. Examples of these types of expenses are salaries and benefits for the employees who perform the billing functions, clearinghouse fees for transmittal of claims and fees for the bank lockbox charges, if applicable. Note that if an outside billing company’s services are contracted, that expense should be included in this cost center as “billing fees.”
• Imaging center and other site(s) of service expenses: Expenses for the operation of the imaging center(s) and any other clinical sites of service, by site. Examples of these types of expenses are salaries and benefits for the technologists, contrast, medical equipment lease, and marketing/promotion to market the imaging centers. Other sites of service may include vascular centers and pain management centers or other sites of service that would not fall under the traditional category of an imaging center.
• Administrative expenses: Expenses for the general administration of the practice that do not fit into the descriptions for the recommended cost centers above. Examples of these types of expenses are salaries and benefits for employees who perform general administrative functions such as accounting services, payroll service fees, and non-lockbox bank service charges.

The accounts themselves are generally applicable to multiple cost centers. The downloadable Chart of Accounts includes recommendations for the appropriate cost centers to which the revenue categories should be allocated.

Other notes:

• The recommended Chart of Accounts is for a cash basis reporting entity. If your practice reports on an accrual basis, modifications – such as the addition of an account for accounts receivable – will have to be made.
• In this recommended Chart of Accounts, meals and entertainment are separated from travel. Any meal expenses for travel should be included in meals and entertainment and not in the travel account category.
• If your practice uses an outside company to perform both billing and management services, we recommend that the fees paid be split into two expense categories, billing fees and management fees, in the Chart of Accounts.
• Outside reads expense (nighthawk services) is included in the Physician expenses category as these professional interpretations can be performed either internally or by an outside service.