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Coding Questions?

Dealing With Discounts

Make Your Accountant Count
Long accustomed to getting help filing their personal income tax statements or maybe handling payroll, more physicians are now tapping accountants for expanded services.

Making Changes in Charts?
Everyone makes occasional mistakes when documenting patient records. And the methods you use to correct those mistakes can make or break you in a legal challenge. Here are some key risk prevention criteria for medical records management.

Payer Settles, You Win
Is there any hope for improving the acrimonious relationship between you and your patients' insurers? The legal settlement between Aetna and a group of 20 physician medical associations looks like a positive sign.

Payment Posting
Don't assume everything's fine just because you see checks coming. You should still evaluate your payment posting process on a periodic basis. Here are some tips for a careful review.

Physician-Friendly States
If you're mulling a move or weighing options for a first job, don't book your flight before first finding out the best places to go. Physicians Practice researched the business, regulatory, and legal climates for doctors around the country as a way of identifying the friendliest U.S. states in which to hang a shingle. The results may surprise you.

Put Policies in Writing
These days, practices have to focus on physician productivity, not managing staff crises or worrying about violating some regulation. Having a complete, written, and well-thumbed policies and procedures manual can help. Word-of-mouth policymaking or holding onto an outdated manual that no one reads only hampers smooth operations. The new trend is to use written protocols as a tool for efficient practice management.

Saving for College — and More
If you aren't taking advantage of tax-sheltered programs for educational savings, you may be missing out on some incredible opportunities.

Super Doc?
Stepping back from a full-time role as a physician and taking on the role of CEO requires a steep learning curve for most physicians, including those who've done it successfully, like the doctors profiled here. But the result has been positive for them, their patients, and their communities.

Tap Into Your Potential
An interview with Francine Gaillour, MD