Operations

No doubt salaries are important, but are you paying the right people today and will you have the right mix in the coming years? The experts weigh in.

Here's the data from our 2011 Staff Salary Survey.

Medical practices are often fraught with poor policies and time sucks that undermine staff performance. Here's what to look for - and what to do about it.

Whatever area of your practice needs improvement, consider lean thinking as a way to get the most out of your time - your patients, staff, and practice will be glad you did.

To stay safe and weed out the billing and collections problems stifling your practice's revenue stream, our experts recommend a "bottom-to-top" assessment of your entire billing operation.

Is staff mediocrity costing you money? Here's how to fix it.

While many industries are wringing even more efficiencies out of their IT systems investments, many in healthcare circles are still quarreling over whether healthcare IT is even a good idea.

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.

Are you ready to make social media platforms part of your practice? Make sure you put reasonable constraints in place.

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

We have - in healthcare - made the patient essentially a critical part of the process? In what other industry would we have the customer become a courier for his/her treatment or service?

Medical practices have been slow to embrace the "customer comes first" mentality that defines corporate America - an operational oversight they can no longer ignore.

Risks like security breaches, privacy violations, and misplaced patient information all need to be addressed when you adopt new technologies at your practice, say the co-authors of a book on "E-Health Hazards."

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?

Psychiatrist Doug Bey on how his staff helped him and his practice survive and thrive after his two heart attacks.

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

Today's practice managers must plan proactively for the new year - finding new ways to cut costs and improve efficiencies.

When patients demur over paying for care, don't be a soft touch - there are things you can do to collect

To err is human. To share it with the world is not, except in the case of surgeon David C. Ring.

Patient portals can offer better customer service and care, but only if you can get your patients to use it. We examine the pros and cons of jumping on the portal bandwagon.

Workplace negativity can drag down a practice and its staff, hurting both patient care and the bottom line. So what can you do to boost staff morale and encourage teamwork at your office?

Nearly every physician today is looking for ways to boost efficiency and productivity to stay profitable. So how do you achieve this goal without adding staff or compromising your patient satisfaction?

Do you have an emergency plan in place? You should. Our disaster-planning checklist gets you started.

Deborah C. Henry, MD, on how she managed her burnout