Physicians Practice Pearls®

There's nothing more disruptive than hiring someone who doesn't work out. Here are some tried-and-true tips to head off disaster.

It isn't easy for practices to become accredited as a patient centered medical home. To help you assess your readiness and make the transition, here are a few guidelines to get you started.

The Office of Inspector General included "identical notes" as an area of interest in its 2011 Work Plan. Make sure your patient notes reflect each unique encounter.

You might feel more justified than most in taking out your frustration on others, but be careful - the emotional hangovers you might create can often have a long-lasting effect on your practice.

Many physicians believe that they open themselves up to potential liability risks by engaging in social media. In practice, it is always prudent to be concerned with malpractice risk. That said, the key to effectively utilizing social media is twofold.

What yardstick should you use to measure your practice against those of your colleagues?

Electronic records require regular upgrades. Don't be fooled into thinking you can get by on the cheap.

Inflation can be both good and bad for a practice. Therefore, understanding the nature of inflation can save your practice money.

Corporations know exactly what their costs are and how much they need to charge to make a profit. Do you?

In-house referrals have the longest tenure and highest satisfaction of all newly hired employees.

Why spend hours on the phone with payers when you can check online in minutes?

Don't make unnecessary work for your office, think ahead.

Coding for observation services can be confounding. Currently, CPT and CMS disagree on which code to report on the second day of observation. In 2011, that is changing.

Consultant Greg Mertz feels there is a robust future for private practice, even though practice models will have to change.

The cost of staffing can consume as much as 30 percent of operating expenses for a medical practice. However, don't be tempted to cut staff. Instead, invest in your staff so you get and keep highly motivated, productive people on your team.

Medical practices face two significant deadlines that require planning and testing in 2011. The first is the new 5010 electronic claims transmission standard, the second ICD-10.

What can you do if your payer won't reimburse your practice for cleanly submitted claims?

Taking the time to develop accurate and current job descriptions, schedule annual performance reviews, and make yourself available to employees, will reap rewards for both you as a manager and your practice.

Expert Greg Mertz offers tips on how to navigate the process of EHR implementation through needs analysis, vendor selection, and training.

Seasoned practice owners and administrators know the importance of setting practice goals, both short and long term.

Maintaining a Web site is an important part of marketing your practice. Be assured that patients will judge your practice, in part, by the quality of your Web site. Don't be caught lacking.

Here are some simple things you can do to help boost your revenue.

With a growing shortage of primary-care physicians, NPs are fast becoming the resource of choice

The phones never seem to stop ringing in a medical practice. How does your practice manage incoming calls?

One of the thorniest coding questions is: Can a physician bill for family meetings when the patient is not present? If so, who gets the bill ?

Effectively controlling costs in a medical practice essentially means controlling personnel costs.

Today doctors are competing for patients in a radically changed marketplace. One of the most important emerging technologies in that space is Internet-based social networking.

EHR adoption doesn’t end when your system is installed; you have to continue to improve your use of the product.