J. Scott Litton, Jr, MD

When patients come with their own cyber-diagnosis, physicians can order tests to satisfy them or simply take the time to explain why it is not needed.

I am quick to remind my patients that gifts are not necessary …but I do appreciate the thought and that is the most important part.

From being a small business owner to ensuring patients are coming in for routine visits and following treatment plans, this trying economy is impacting all facets of medical practice.

The practice of medicine does bring with it patient encounters that do not always turn out the way we had expected or were trained for.

CPOE brings with it obvious advantages to the patient because it removes the possibility of a ward clerk incorrectly deciphering a physician's illegible writing. However, it also presents some challenges.

Being the busy physicians that we are, how do we best create an efficient process for message delivery without interrupting patient encounters in the office?

The evolution of the tablet has allowed me to be more efficient with data capture at the point of care.

Thanks in part to meeting "meaningful use," I've begun upgrading our practice technology to better serve patients and increase staff job satisfaction.

Radiologists sharing imaging results is likely to boost patient satisfaction, but there also needs to be proper follow-up by the ordering physician.

Adding ancillary services takes time and planning, but doing it correctly can also provide a small boost to your bottom line.

How do we motivate or encourage patients to contact our office electronically?

Many of my colleagues ask me why I stay in private practice. …For my practice, the pros still outweigh the cons.

It is very important for physicians to embrace the new technology as a tool for providing more efficient and timely care for their patients.

Encouraging good patient means better cash flow for your practice and better use of your patients’ medical dollars as well.

After all is said, the meaningful use attestation process was not as bad as I had originally suspected.

As a physician that cares for patients on a daily basis, I have felt the love and appreciation from my patients more so this week than any other time in my life.

Physicians now find themselves faced with the difficult choice of deciding whether or not to continue accepting the flat reimbursements from CMS or to withdraw from the program altogether.

As a busy primary-care physician, I can suggest several areas by which we can save tremendously.

Not only will medical practices see the addition of newly insured patients to be cared for, but we will also see changes for established patients.

For those of us in a busy medical practice, it can be difficult to motivate employees that are already very busy to help others out when in need.

The availability of medical applications that are assisting physicians in practice has exploded. Here are a few of my most trusted and frequently used applications.

At the end of the day, the best medicine is sometimes delivered by just a touch of the hand.

There are several ways that physicians can choose to keep themselves current regarding the literature, changing practice recommendations, etc.

The sweeping changes to be enacted from last year's Affordable Care Act will not fully go into effect until 2014. However, medical practices must put into place several work flow changes that cost us real money now and the investments that we have made and will make leave us asking ourselves at the end of the day: Will the change will be good for our patients and our practice?

Bartering is a concept that is generally not practiced in today's times. In years past when patients had no money to pay their physician, it was common for them to bring an object other than money for payment: a chicken, a barrel of vegetables, etc.

There are specific patient behaviors that can disrupt the harmonic workflow pattern in our practice - late arrivals, no shows, calling for medication refills to avoid a copayment, etc. I could go on and on. About a year ago, I posted practice guidelines regarding patient expectations.

For the most part, I have found the reporting process to be very easily accomplished and have very few complaints or concerns at this point.

We learn how to care for our patients properly and efficiently in residency. While I do not agree that residents should routinely work 36 hour shifts on a continuous basis, I would be in favor of placing time constraints that can more closely resemble what we can expect to see in our private practice.

Let's face it folks, if we cannot effectively communicate with our patients, the years and years of reading, studying, and residency training is all for nothing.

The time has finally come. My practice has adopted the latest software download for reporting meaningful use of our EHR software. I have been feverishly working with compiling the necessary requirements for the attestation process. The data has been collected for the 90-day time period and I was all set to go.