Doctors with their own practices are finding banking help close to home.

Pueblo-based Legacy Bank continues its push into medical banking services, a specialty field that few community banks tackle given its complexity.

Legacy started adding the services several years ago as a way to support medical startups along with doctors and other health care providers who prefer to run their own practices rather than work for large health care companies, Legacy Bank lead medical practice advisor Chad Pfief said.

The decision proved a good one. Successful partnerships have been formed with medical providers in Pueblo, Colorado Springs, Denver and other cities. Going forward, the bank seeks to keep spreading the word about its services in hopes of reaching more doctors and medical providers, Pfief said.

"As the medical industry continues to change we are seeing more entrepreneurs seeking financing advice on how to be competitive in the market. Good cash flow is critical to success" said Pfief, who also serves as branch president at the bank's University Park branch.

Bankers understand the frustration some doctors feel toward the business side of health care, Pfief said. "They went to school to be doctors and they want to help patients. The don't really want to mess with the business side. And (the business side) is really important, especially with insurance and claims," he said.

For banks, they face similar challenges from the medical industry's complex financial and regulatory structure. Medical offices deal with delayed and reduced payments from patients and multiple insurers, heavy paperwork demands and unforeseen operating and regulatory costs.

It's a lot for banks to consider even given the medical industry's financial strengths.

Legacy decided to get educated. With Pfief as the point person, the bank studied up on Medicaid, Medicare and private insurer payment policies and procedures. The bank reached out to providers to hear directly from them about the intricacies of medical billing and cash flow.

"We are in the business of seeing people succeed and that means we need to be in the trenches learning alongside of them," Pfief said.

One of the bank's Pueblo clients, Dr. Rocky Khosla, who recently returned to private practice with the opening of his Pueblo Sports and Family Medicine clinic, said the emergence of such specialty services comes at a good time.

After years of consolidation in the health care industry, "My gut feeling is I think you will see more employed physicians go back into private practice," said Khosla, who previously worked in private practice before working in the Centura Health system.

Legacy provides his new clinic basic business banking services that includes marketing support, Khosla said.

The bank's familiarity with the business side of medical offices along with its history of supporting local companies also were important to him, he said. "They said we'd love to see you succeed," he said.

American Vein and Vascular Institute is another Legacy client.

"We knew we had the medical expertise to help thousands of patients in our area treat modern vein disease. What we needed was the financial know-how to smartly purchase technology and open cost-friendly facilities in multiple markets," AVVI owner Dr. Gordon Gibbs said in a statement.

Andrew Trainor, regional president of Legacy Bank, who also serves as the current chair of the Pueblo Economic Development Corp., said the services fall in line with Pueblo's overall community and economic development goals.

"Thriving communities have great health care. Finding ways to improve operations for medical professionals keeps our region competitive and attractive to top quality practitioners," Trainor said.

For the bank, the additional services also represent another product line to grow its customer base, he said.

Trainor praised Pfeif's leadership on the initiative. "Chad's leadership in investigating and learning the needs of the local medical community in conjunction with the bank's solid financial expertise has led us to be a leader ... in Southern Colorado," he said.

ddarrow@chieftain.com

Twitter: @PuebloBusiness