Blogs

2018 MGMA Cost and Revenue and Practice Operations Survey

By Greg Martinez posted 04-17-2018
Contribute to the industry and participate! The 2018 MGMA Cost and Revenue and 2018 MGMA Practice Operations surveys are now open! Benefits for completing the surveys include a free single-user license access to the report results and additional discounts. The deadline to complete these surveys is Friday, April 13. Visit data.mgma.com to start your survey today! For more information, check out the Participation Resources page or contact the Data Solutions Department at survey@mgma.org or 877.275.6462 ext. 1895.

2018 MGMA Cost and Revenue and Practice Operations Survey

By Greg Martinez posted 04-17-2018
Contribute to the industry and participate! The 2018 MGMA Cost and Revenue and 2018 MGMA Practice Operations surveys are now open! Benefits for completing the surveys include a free single-user license access to the report results and additional discounts. The deadline to complete these surveys is Friday, April 13. Visit data.mgma.com to start your survey today! For more information, check out the Participation Resources page or contact the Data Solutions Department at survey@mgma.org or 877.275.6462 ext. 1895.

2018 MGMA Cost and Revenue and Practice Operations Survey

By Greg Martinez posted 04-17-2018
The deadline for the 2018 MGMA Cost and Revenue Survey and the 2018 MGMA Practice Operations Survey has been extended! Fill out the extension request form and get until Friday, April 20 th to contribute to industry-leading benchmark data, and get access to the survey results in MGMA DataDive for free! Visit data.mgma.org to complete your survey today! For more information, please contact the Data Solutions Department at survey@mgma.org or 877.275.6462 ext. 1895.

2018 MGMA Cost and Revenue Survey

By Greg Martinez posted 03-22-2018
Contribute to the industry and participate! The 2018 MGMA Cost and Revenue and 2018 MGMA Practice Operations surveys are now open! Benefits for completing the surveys include a free single-user license access to the report results and additional discounts. The deadline to complete these surveys is Friday, April 13. Visit data.mgma.com to start your survey today! For more information, check out the Participation Resources page or contact the Data Solutions Department at survey@mgma.org or 877.275.6462 ext. 1895.

2018 MGMA Cost and Revenue Survey

By Greg Martinez posted 03-22-2018
Contribute to the industry and participate! The 2018 MGMA Cost and Revenue and 2018 MGMA Practice Operations surveys are now open! Benefits for completing the surveys include a free single-user license access to the report results and additional discounts. The deadline to complete these surveys is Friday, April 13. Visit data.mgma.com to start your survey today! For more information, check out the Participation Resources page or contact the Data Solutions Department at survey@mgma.org or 877.275.6462 ext. 1895.

PTO Policy

By Lisa Perry posted 01-26-2018
​We are in the process of revamping our PTO policy. I am interested in knowing how much PTO other practices provide for their employees. Do you allow them to carry-over any unused time (at the end of the year)? Does anybody "pay out" unused PTO? Thank you. Lisa A. Perry, BSN, RN Practice Administrator Hunterdon Otolaryngology & Allergy Associates Flemington, NJ 08822 (908)788-9131 ​

Standard Care Agreements for Ohio

By Pam Kadrovach posted 11-01-2017
I am working on updating our Standard Care Agreements for NP in Ohio. Does anyone have a template they would be willing to share? Thank you, Pam

check-in and check-out counters - sliding glass?

By Melissa Boyer posted 08-22-2017
​Hi all! I have a question in regards to office check-in and check-out patient areas. Do you have a sliding glass barrier at the desk? Thank you! Melissa

Hearing Screening/Test

By Jacqueline Hemmer posted 08-01-2017
We are looking at purchasing a Pure Tone Audiometer (hearing test) to screen our pediatric population at WCC and our older patients when they have an impaction or other issue. Does anyone else do this? Is the service bundled? Suggestions or any feedback welcome.

FTE Analysis

By Jaya Roy posted 04-03-2017
I am trying to an FTE analysis for a large Cancer and Radiation center. This is the first time I am doing it and would appreciate some assistance. Can anyone share some data with me on what is needed for this or does anyone have an analysis that they can share with me. Thank you very much, jaya

Shared Medical Visits

By Dorinda Bonnell posted 03-02-2017
Hello ~ I am reaching out to inquire if you have utilized Shared Medical Visits with your physician office. We have recently become IL Rural Health Clinic certified and wanted to make sure that we are appropriately documenting and charging for this service. Thank you Dori Bonnell Director of Physician Practices Peru, IL 815-780-3222

TRUMP Healthcare Proposals - Dispassionate Overview

By Peter Mertzanis posted 11-09-2016
The Trump healthcare proposals released this past weekend deserve some attention given this morning's result. Below I provide a few statements that capture my view of these. This is not intended to be exhaustive analysis, but rather the apparent barriers or hurdles that implementing these will incur and likely effect. As FYI, on Bloomberg TV last night a small panel of Uwe Reinhard, Zeke Emanuel and a Bloomberg analyst discussed a few of these. They were largely in agreement that Obamacare (PPACA/ACA) has a following under the GOP, including some governors, as well as insurers, hospitals and others, and would very likely not be repealed in toto. (My view ...

Clinic Overhead

By Judy Bolton posted 10-25-2016
Overhead is always a challenge to keep down. What is the average overhead in a clinic without the physician specific expense?

Discounts for Staff

By Lisa Perry posted 09-13-2016
Can anybody share their policy or protocol for professional courtesy discounts for staff members? Thank you. Lisa Perry

Survey: Providers, EHR Vendors Weigh-In on the Importance of Electronic Prior Authorization

By Nick Webber posted 06-02-2016
For providers, the term “prior authorization” (PA) often evokes feelings of extreme frustration. Prior authorization is used to determine if certain drugs, such as high cost medications used for cancer treatment, are covered by a patient’s health insurer and able to be prescribed. Although designed to control costs, providers have grown extremely aggravated with the process, spending five to eight hours per week handling these requests when manual processing is the only option. i Many EHR software systems have incorporated electronic prior authorization capabilities, but the functionality may not yet be a standard option, despite vendor acknowledgment that ...

Identifying Your Critical Processes

By Donald Bryant posted 10-10-2015
Last month’s edition of Making Good Healthcare Better focused upon Business Process Management and identified five key components of it. The first is identifying critical processes, the focus of this newsletter. Why is it necessary to actively manage key or critical processes? In order to thrive in a changing reimbursement and regulatory environment key processes need to be optimized and new ones implemented. In a recent speech, the CEO of Metro Health, Mike Faas, located in Wyoming, Michigan, stated that in order to succeed his organization needed to form new partnerships with regional providers. He stated that one goal was to keep patients out of the ...

Accountable Care Organizations and Patient-Centered Medical Homes

By Donald Bryant posted 09-07-2015
Most providers understand that payers are migrating from a fee-for-service model to pay for quality. For instance, on July 9, 2015 CMS proposed that hospitals receive bundled payments for knee and hip replacement surgery. Hospitals will be held accountable for the quality of care provided by the hospital from admission to 90 days after discharge and will either receive a bonus or be penalized in payment. Such rewards and punishments are also being faced by physicians. On April 16, 2015 President Obama signed the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA). This bill repealed the Sustainable Growth Rate Formula (SGR). For all physicians there ...

Business Process Management

By Donald Bryant posted 08-31-2015
Much of what we do, whether at work or in our personal lives, involves routine processes. For example, driving a car to shop at our favorite grocery is routine, not requiring much thought even though we focus on being careful. At work we may greet our customers or patients with routine greetings, although we try to be friendly. These routines do not require a lot of thought. Instead, our minds adopt patterns for these routines rather quickly as it saves a lot of energy, according to recent brain research. So, if most of what we do is routine, then we need to make sure that the patterns or processes involved in these routines are effective and customer- or ...

You say "tomato", I say "tomato": The difference between Mentoring and Coaching.

By Dea Robinson posted 08-31-2015
Mentoring, coaching...same thing? For those of us who have had both mentoring and coaching, in or outside of your professional life, may we start with a definition? The concept of a coach or mentor are indeed different. Indeed, as I was doing a little research for this blog, I found conflicting definitions from sources, so if you have a discussion with someone and hear different definitions, it's reflective of a few things. The first is this is a popular topic and the second is beware of what you agree to pay for when purchasing coaching services. Per Webster's online Dictionary: Mentor n. 1. A wise and faithful counselor or monitor. Coach ...

County Health Departments—A Great Resource for Physician Groups and Hospitals

By Donald Bryant posted 07-06-2015
As clinical providers seek ways to improve the health of their patients at the population level, one great resource that they should tap is their county health department. There are many resources and skills that health departments will share with physicians and other providers that will improve their ability to improve the health of their patients. In my work I have had numerous occasions to collaborate with the chief epidemiologist of the Kent County Health Department of Michigan—Mr. Brian Hartl. Through these contacts and through an introductory epidemiology course I have found that health departments are experts at providing population level health ...