Medscape National Physician Burnout report

, a majority of physicians believe that excessive bureaucratic tasks such as paperwork contribute to the observed increase in physician burnout. Coupled with expectations of a 

 of up to 122,000 physicians by 2032, practices will likely find that staffing challenges of any kind can impact their ability to deliver effective care.

Many hurdles can impede the timely hiring of physicians, including inefficient provider credentialing processes, credentialing mistakes that increase costs, and lengthy onboarding procedures. However, healthcare organizations that streamline these processes can significantly improve their ability to attract and retain providers, as well as accelerate patients’ access to care.

Simplify credentialing for physicians and staff

Hiring physicians is a competitive endeavor with healthcare organizations across all markets vying to recruit top talent from the same candidate pool. As such, organizations that offer a unique benefit or an advantageous change in process can favorably distinguish themselves from the pack. One way to do so is by providing easier and faster credentialing and onboarding processes.

The sheer amount of information physicians need to submit for their credentialing can be daunting, especially when it must be supplied separately to different organizations or locations. The fatigue created by this “paperwork hassle” too often results in missing information, errors, and may even dissuade physicians from applying.

An automated credentialing system can substantially streamline the process for physicians by importing information directly from primary sources such as state licensing boards to create a physician profile that can be extended among health system locations. Instead of taking three or four hours to complete a lengthy document, for example, the physician might need to spend only 15-20 minutes verifying the pre-filled data and supplying any missing information. In addition to the initial time savings, once onboarded, physicians are saved the aggravation of refiling the same paperwork each time they move to a new practice within a health system.

Integrated solutions that enable primary source verification from state licensing boards, DEA sites, AMA sites, and other sources can also ease the burden on staff by automatically updating providers’ license and credentialing status. This allows the system to alert staff when licenses or insurance enrollments are about to expire, when disciplinary actions or sanctions have been levied, and other crucial details. By keeping provider information up-to-date and accurate, practices can also reduce their potential for billing errors and claim denials. And they can ensure that no physician is scheduled without the proper paperwork in place.

Using an integrated system to centralize and simplify what is usually a fragmented, time-consuming process gives practices greater transparency across the board. It saves time and lowers costs by limiting clerical errors while reducing the amount of paperwork that would otherwise inundate physicians’ inboxes.

While easing provider onboarding is a critical competitive differentiator for practices, credentialing also impacts patient flow. One of the biggest keys to improving patient care in the post-pandemic era is the ability to hasten access to credentialed providers. Forcing patients to accept appointments weeks or months down the road may very well cause them to look elsewhere for care.

Improving patient scheduling requires adding physicians to the docket as quickly as possible. Consequently, practices need credentialing systems that reduce the onboarding process from two months or longer to two weeks or less. Then, once physicians are onboarded, credentialing technology integrated with an enterprise scheduling system allows health systems to appropriately utilize staff across locations and shifts thereby maximizing productivity while simultaneously lessening provider burnout. 

Overall, reducing credentialing and onboarding time offers practices a competitive edge in their quest to attract and retain patients while increasing provider satisfaction and engagement.

As an industry, we must do better to ensure the well-being of physicians. Easing paperwork by automating the credentialing process grants them more time to see patients and maintain their work-life balance.

Credentialing is the first step toward making informed decisions to enhance provider satisfaction, increase their accessibility, and improve their ability to deliver superior patient care.

Articles

Many hurdles can impede the timely hiring of physicians, including inefficient provider credentialing processes, credentialing mistakes that increase costs, and lengthy onboarding procedures. 

Streamline credentialing to boost provider satisfaction and patient access

, the vice president of custom solutions at eLearning Brothers outlines what makes online learning modules a good fit for medical education.

Videos

Reproducing in-person course materials does not suffice.

The benefits of eLearning in medical education

HIPAA compliant email marketing can improve patient outcomes, set you up as a leader in your field, boost your brand, and grow your business. And as we’ve previously covered for Physicians Practice, 

But what good are your email marketing campaigns if patients never see them? Luckily there are some general tips you can follow to avoid the spam folder.

The first step is to obey the CAN SPAM Act which sets a national standard for the regulation of spam email. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Bureau of Consumer Protection has provided a 

In a nutshell, all email marketers including those in the healthcare field must:

Accurately identify the business that is sending the email in the email header

Include a subject line that briefly explains the email contents

If it’s an advertisement, identify the message as such

Doctor-patient communication’s role in mitigating medical malpractice claims

Ways that your email ends up in the spam folder

There are two ways that your email can end up going to the spam folder: either spam filters send it to the spam folder directly, or a recipient tags your email as spam themselves. Once enough people do this, your spam score will increase, and eventually your emails will start going to the spam folder before anyone has a chance to read them.

We’ll explain how you can avoid both scenarios below.

Hard email bounces are the result of an invalid, closed, or non-existent email address, and these emails will never be successfully delivered. Bounce rates are one of the key factors internet service providers (ISPs) use to determine an email sender’s reputation, so having too many hard bounces can cause your emails to no longer arrive in patients’ inboxes.

Ask subscribers to add you to their address book

Most spam filters allow recipients to whitelist a sender by adding it to their address book. You can recommend that your recipients do just that.

Certain ISPs, network spam filters, and patients’ personal email security settings are set up to send no-reply email addresses to the junk folder. Also, most ISPs do not allow email recipients to add no-reply emails to their address books.

Don’t use an overwhelming number of images, or huge images

Using one large image as your entire email, or too many images in general tends to send an email to the spam folder.

You’ll also want to make your image file sizes as small as possible without losing their visual integrity to prevent long email load times.

Some people consider all caps spammy. Instead of using annoying tactics to get people’s attention, try personalizing your emails, establishing relevancy, and using catchy language.

Another thing that can make your subject line or email look unprofessional is exclamation points. And since 

 report email as spam based solely on the subject line, you’ll want to stay away from red flags like this as much as you can.

A good rule of thumb is this: If it sounds like something a used car salesman would say, it’s probably a spam trigger word. Think “free,” “guarantee,” no obligation,” and so on.

Forms aren’t supported across common email clients due to security risks. Instead, include a link to a landing page with a HIPAA compliant contact form in the body of your email.

Using a red font or using invisible text (white font on top of a white background) is a common trick that spammers use. And besides, 

 when marketers use irregular fonts, font sizes, or font colors in emails.

Spelling mistakes aren’t just unprofessional, they’re also a trigger for spam filters and for people marking your email as spam.

Healthcare email marketing can take many different forms. An email campaign can provide educational messaging (i.e., summer skincare tips), promotional messaging (i.e., six Botox sessions for the price of five), seasonal greetings (i.e., Happy New Year!), or be in the form of a monthly newsletter.

Serving up different types of content will engage and inform patients, keeping them interested in your emails.

Every campaign you create won’t apply to every patient, so use email segmentation to tailor messages to the correct audience.

Too much copy is another red flag for spam filters. Not only that, but people generally prefer concise emails.

If you must write a lengthier email, break it up into multiple paragraphs. Giving visual breaks and composing the email with a clear introduction, middle, and conclusion will make it much easier for your reader.

Five Telephone Etiquette Tips for Medical Practice Staff

 prefer to communicate with brands by email. However, 45% say sending emails too often is the number one reason they unsubscribe from mailing lists.

You don’t want to overload inboxes but reaching out too infrequently can also hurt your cause. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all formula, so take the time to figure out what works for your healthcare practice.

 marketing can help you grow your business and improve patient outcomes. But crafting an email that avoids spam filters and that patients want to read takes time and practice.

Using the guidelines above to write effective email campaigns, the sky is the limit on what you can communicate to patients.

What good are your email marketing campaigns if patients never see them? Luckily there are some general tips you can follow to avoid the spam folder.

Avoid the spam folder when sending healthcare email marketing

Many practices really struggle with hiring and training a front-desk person (the person who will create that all-important first impression for your practice). The struggles are real; most offices budget near-minimum wage for this position and seem to have difficulty finding the right person to handle the huge responsibility of this position.

My go-to answer for this problem is to pay a little more in salary to recruit for this position. It's true; you often get better quality applicants if you can raise the hourly rate of pay for this vital position. It can be difficult to find a professional with the type of experience you are looking for if you only pay a low hourly rate.

But if you can't find the extra money to increase salary, what other options are available that won't necessarily cost more? Here are some options:

How to hire better front-desk staff

It doesn't have to cost you more money to find the perfect front-desk staff member. There are great candidates out there to meet every budget, who will help you create stellar front-desk first impressions.

Slideshows

Many practices struggle with hiring a front-desk person. If your recruitment lags, think about hiring for the "right" personality.

Dr. Ghannam is a patient-focused physician with a particular interest in creating ways for physicians and patients to interact and be cared for without geographical constraints. Dr. Ghannam is constantly seeking innovations in technology that can provide unparalleled care.]

Even though patients are starting to feel comfortable again with in-office visits, their desire for virtual visits will likely not diminish. But what do providers desire?

From my perspective, telehealth is not only the best option for access to care, but it’s the future of medicine. I strongly believe that even more integrated solutions will be the next frontier. Bringing multi-disciplinary specialties to rural locations through telehealth will address and minimize healthcare inequalities while leveraging value-based care practices.

Rural and critical access hospitals started using telehealth services long before the pandemic. Back then, the technology was used mostly for nighttime admission services. Today, though, as more providers have become comfortable with virtual care delivery, telehealth’s relevance has ingrained itself in an integrated approach.

Coping with grief: How physicians can heal after patient deaths

This is due in large part to providers. Learning to use virtual technology during the pandemic added yet another burden to already stressed providers and clinicians, yet they did it willingly. Their willingness to immerse themselves in an unfamiliar technology has borne significant increases in access, nurses’ and residents’ job satisfaction, and quality of care. Significantly, for chronic cases, telehealth has proven to reduce time-to-care in rural and acute facilities (from 10 minutes to fewer than five minutes) and faster access to specialists.

Telehealth services that make clinical providers available at any time contribute meaningfully to rural, critical care and post-acute hospitals’ daytime rounding, which help offset the serious provider shortage. For these hospitals, incorporating virtual specialty service lines allow for more robust service offerings to patients who would otherwise not have access to this kind of care. That, in turn, not only saves hospitals the cost of recruiting and staffing in-house providers but increases revenue through expanded services and fewer gaps in care. 

Another reason providers welcome telehealth is that it eases tension between nurses and providers. Nurses in rural and acute hospitals now carry the added burden of managing critically ill patients who cannot gain access to nearby at-capacity facilities. Nurses can put in a patient encounter request and the orders are generated in the patient’s electronic health record. This limits verbal orders which can be a cause of medical error. With virtual care, an on-call provider can quickly respond to this request to avoid delays in care, improving nurses’ productivity since they do not need to enter orders themselves.

In addition, nurses are getting little coverage support and are taking on a steady increase in patient ratios. Often these cases bring increased complexity. With a telehealth solution that includes 24/7/365 provider availability, virtual care can increase nurse productivity. Instead of trying to explain a patient story telephonically, the nurse (and patient and provider) benefit from a provider being in the room, virtually, to assess and manage the patient first-hand and enter orders remotely.

Results from a survey by the American Medical Association

 in late 2020 suggest that 60% of providers report telehealth has improved their patients’ health, and more than 80% think it has improved the timeliness of care. Providers are benefitting from telehealth, too. Provider experience has been shown to affect patient experience, and virtual care enables a seamless, convenient, and accessible channel from which both parties benefit.

We providers should welcome the new frontier. This new virtual world allows us to work from wherever we live or travel and still administer care to patients. We can serve our communities with greater impact by delivering care to a wider patient base. We can practice at the top of our licenses by delivering quality healthcare to patients who would otherwise go without it. For providers who have retired from private practice, virtual care offers a way to drive a continuous income stream.

Patient desire for virtual visits will likely not diminish. But when it comes to telehealth, what do providers desire?

Embrace telehealth and virtual visits to enhance the patient experience

, associate professor of clinical medical psychology at Columbia University discuss the rise of virtual medical education and how they used these tools to curate a publicly accessible course on eating disorders.

Even before the pandemic, online medical education tools were taking off in particular specialties.

Why online tools stood out for educating on eating disorders

Being successful and competitive as an independent medical practice means filling that appointment schedule. Here are tips from practice management experts to do just that.

Top five ways to increase patient visits

Patient visits have a direct impact on the success of your independent practice. Here are six tips from the experts to put into action.

Top six ways to increase patient visits

is the Educational Program Director and a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER

 at MEDIQUS Asset Advisors, Inc. He specializes in wealth management solutions

The most valuable asset a physician has is their ability to practice and earn a significant income in their specialty. Physicians can make millions of dollars during their career, and this income is often relied upon to save for important goals like retirement, funding their children’s college educations, and purchasing a new home. What would happen if a physician became sick or disabled and were unable to continue practicing? Without disability insurance, many of that physician’s life goals may need to be sacrificed. Disability insurance can be a significant expense, but it can also ensure many goals are still achieved. 

 Disability insurance typically covers up to 60-70% of a physician’s pre-disability income. If a physician were to suffer a long-term disability, the policy will pay out a monthly benefit amount. These funds can be used to pay for necessary expenses and save for important financial goals. Here are a few key terms to pay attention to when shopping for a disability insurance policy or reviewing an employer provided plan.

: This is the period of time the insured must be sick or disabled and not working 

 the policy will start paying out a benefit. Common elimination periods are 90, 180, and 360 days. Most people try to align their elimination period with the length of time their emergency fund will last.

 This is the maximum length of time a policy will pay out a monthly benefit. Benefit periods could be shorter, in the 3- to 5-year range, or up to retirement ages between 65 and 70 years. A physician should always consider a benefit period up to the age they expect to become financially independent.

: Definitions of disability can vary widely. For example, an Own Occupation definition of disability only pays out if the insured is unable to work and earn income in any type of work. An Own Occupation definition of disability will reduce or eliminate the benefit the policy pays out based on the income the insured is able to earn in any other line of work. A true Own Occupation definition of disability will pay out the full monthly benefit even if the insured is able to earn income in another line of work. A true Own Occupation is a specialty specific policy and provides the greatest level of protection. Physicians should prioritize getting true Own Occupation policies.

If a physician needs disability coverage, they should consider getting that coverage as soon as possible. The premiums are lower the younger you are when you get a policy. There is also less likely to be red flags in your medical history which could lead to not being approved for a policy. Additionally, if you are a medical resident or fellow, many insurance companies offer discounts as high as 20% if you get a policy while still in training.

The differences among records and what’s legally required to be in them

Most people don’t enjoy paying for insurance and some don’t see the importance of having coverage. However, disability insurance protects your most valuable asset—your ability to practice and earn an income in your specialty field. It can be the difference between accomplishing all or most of your goals or accomplishing none of them.

Jeff Witz, CFP® welcomes readers’ questions. He can be reached at 800-883-8555 or at 

200 North LaSalle Street - Suite 2300 - Chicago, Illinois 60601

312-419-3733 - Toll Free 800-883-8555 - Fax 312-332-4908 - www.mediqus.com

Investment advisory services offered through MEDIQUS Asset Advisors, Inc. Securities offered through Ausdal Financial Partners, Inc. Member FINRA/SIPC ∙ 5187 Utica Ridge Rd ∙ Davenport, IA 52807 ∙ 563-326-2064 ∙ MEDIQUS Asset Advisors and Ausdal Financial Partners, Inc. are independently owned and operated.

Disability insurance protects your most valuable asset—your ability to practice and earn an income in your specialty field.

Disability insurance is likely worth the added expense

Jon Luehrs is the Co-Founder of Data Driven Marketing Group. 

Based in Atlanta, GA, Data Driven Marketing Group specializes in growing patient volume for healthcare practices with data powered SEO and digital marketing strategies.

As a physician, you know that a large part of successfully marketing your practice is dependent on how easily new patients can find you when searching online for the best local doctors in your specialty. If your practice’s website does not rank in the top three results on search engines like Google, you are missing out on valuable leads and new patients.

Below are the three most important 2021 SEO tactics that you can implement on your website today to improve your patient acquisition rates.

How to make a great first impression at your medical practice

1. Optimize for Your Practice’s Specific Location

Most new patients search by the city when looking for healthcare providers in their area. Therefore, develop a location specific SEO strategy that optimizes your websites content to include geographical location by 

. For example, make sure your city is mentioned at least one time in all your blog posts, page titles, and URLs. You may also want to make sure your practice location and contact information is registered and up-to-date on Google Maps and other local directory websites, which will improve your visibility in local searches.

2. Research SEO Keywords for the Healthcare Industry at Least Every 3 Months

The most successful practices revisit and update their SEO strategies at least every three months. The healthcare industry is constantly changing—especially during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic—which means updating your website content is essential for staying relevant and attracting new patients.

Tailor and update your practice's website content as needed based on the latest healthcare 

 and your competition's keywords as well. For example, many people are now researching at-home telemedicine appointments for common, straightforward requests or illnesses which eliminates visits to your practice. To capitalize on this specific trend, write blog posts about the risks of telemedicine treatments and the benefits of in-office professional treatment. This ensures you capture traffic from both search variations about telemedicine appointments.

7 Financial Reports Your Practice Needs to Run

3. Focus on Low-Competition Keywords with High Search Volumes for your Practice's Specialty

This is one of the best ways to stay on top of SEO trends and rank above your competitors. Low-competition keywords are those that are not yet widely used on other doctors’ websites. Focusing on low-competition keywords that are just starting to gain traction can put your healthcare practice at the top of the search results and 

 as one of the leading industry experts for that specific trend.

Next, write and publish content featuring those keywords or topics before the competition has a chance to jump on them. Using low-competition keywords also results in a higher number of original, organic content on your website that is generally favored by Google’s algorithm.

A sound SEO strategy has been proven to significantly grow your online presence with increased organic traffic which in turn will grow your new patient appointments. With so many other medical practices vying for a spot on the first page of Google, it’s important to continually refine your SEO strategy. We know it can be difficult to rank in the top 3 spots on Google for certain keywords, but by implementing the three tactics outlined in this article (such as optimizing your website by including key words and phrases) you will see your page rise above your competition over time. Many physicians across all specialties use these same expert tips and achieve their goal of seeing new patients come through their door.

How you can get new patients by using Google and other search engines. 

Three easy ways to boost your practice’s search rankings

Ericka L. Adler, JD, LLM has practiced in the area of regulatory and transactional healthcare law for more than 20 years. She represents physicians and other healthcare providers across the country in their day-to-day legal needs, including contract negotiations, sale transactions, and complex joint ventures. She also works with providers on a wide variety of compliance issues such as Stark Law, Anti-Kickback Statute, and HIPAA. Ericka has been writing for Physicians Practice since 2011.

As the end of the year approaches, physician practices need to start planning for 2022. From a legal perspective, this planning should include a review of the practice’s compensation methodology to assure compliance with Stark regulation clarifications, which will take effect January 1, 2022.

The Stark law generally prohibits a physician from referring a Medicare patient for a designated health service (DHS) to an entity with which the physician has a financial relationship, unless there is an applicable exception. DHS includes many ancillaries which are used in physician practices, such as DME, laboratory, and radiology services. Referrals within the physician practice implicate the Stark law since physicians have a financial relationship with their own practice.

Physician practices that qualify as “group practice” under Stark’s definition can take advantage of an exception to Stark known as the in-office ancillary services (IOAS) exception. Under this exception, physician practices can self-refer Medicare patients for DHS by generally meeting certain location, billing, and supervision requirements.

Five questions to ask about wRVU compensation

A key component of being a “group practice” under Stark is making sure that the group practice is allocating revenue for DHS profit in a compliant manner. This means that a physician practice must have a methodology that at all times allocates the revenue from DHS in a manner that does not reward physicians directly for their referrals. Although Stark’s DHS allocation rules have been in place for years, CMS felt that clarification of the requirement was appropriate. Among the key points CMS clarified about the profit allocation rules were the following:

A group practice cannot distribute profits from DHS on a service-by-service basis (also known as "split pooling"). This means, for example, that dividing up MRI DHS equally, but dividing up lab DHS based on overall profits, is not acceptable. Instead, CMS wants group practices to aggregate all revenue and expenses from all DHS service lines and then distribute that revenue using the same methodology. Popular approaches to allocate revenue and expenses within a group practice included equal distribution, based on ownership percentage, or based on overall productivity (not including the DHS).

A group practice can also segregate and allocate DHS profits generated by "pods" of at least five physicians and within those pods, the group is permitted to use different profit allocation methodologies. However, within each pod, groups must use the same one methodology for all DHS.

To start the process of evaluating a practice’s compensation approach, consider the following:

Draw a diagram of the practice so you can clearly see which physicians are rendering services in the practice and how they are organized (i.e., location, specialty, etc.)

Identify any groupings of five (5) or more physicians.

Identify the DHS being offered by the practice. This should include Medicare ancillary services only. Confirm the current DHS codes at 

https://www.cms.gov/license/ama?file=/files/zip/list-codes-effective-january-1-2021-issued-december-1-2020.zip

. Note that some DHS are not listed based on CPT Code, but the category of the service is considered DHS, such as drugs, pathology and durable medical equipment.

Identify how revenue and expenses of the DHS are being allocated to physicians in the group practice. If all DHS is being allocated in a permissible manner among all physicians in the practice, the analysis is complete.

If DHS is being allocated in multiple different ways among the practice physician, the practice must choose a single methodology to put in place starting January 2022. If the group has identified pods of five or more physicians, a single methodology must be chosen to allocate the DHS generated by the pod. It need not be the same methodology as the remainder of the group practice as long as it is compliant. 

If the group determines that it has been allocating DHS in a manner that is based on physician referrals, the group should take steps to bring the practice compensation approach into compliance by January 2022. The practice should then talk with counsel for guidance about reporting any Stark non-compliance. CMS has a specific Self-Referral Self-Disclosure Protocol to report identified Stark compliance issues. 

Put in place a plan to review the group practice’s compensation approach annually. Because group “pods” can change in size over time as physicians join and leave a practice, and DHS covered by Stark changes annually, it is advisable to conduct an annual audit of the group practice’s compensation methodology.

Compliance with Stark is essential for physician practices that see Medicare patients and self-refer for DHS. The consequences of non-compliance are financially and legally significant. Talk to your health law counsel and financial advisors so that a plan can be in place before the end of the year.

, JD, LLM has practiced in the area of regulatory and transactional healthcare law

for more than 20 years. She represents physicians and other healthcare providers across the country in their day-to-day legal needs, including contract negotiations, sale transactions, and complex joint ventures. She also works with providers on a wide variety of compliance issues such as Stark Law, Anti-Kickback Statute, and HIPAA. Ericka has been writing for Physicians Practice since 2011.

Here’s how to make sure your practice is in compliance with Stark regulation clarifications taking effect January 1st, 2022.