Category Archives: What We’re Reading

What We’re Reading – Effective Cost Management for Your Medical Practice

Given our country’s limping economy, having an effective cost management plan for your medical practice is crucial to keeping your doors open. This article offers guidance on how to accomplish this without sacrificing quality of care to your patients. A … Read Full Post

Tagged cost management, direct costs in a medical practice, effective cost management, fixed costs in a medical practice, medical practices, medical supplies, overhead costs in a medical practice, practice management, variable costs in a medical practice |

What We’re Reading – Medical practice action plan: Overcome regulation overload

When you think of all the changes coming down the pike, it gets a little overwhelming, but don’t panic…. this article will ease some of the pressure and give you an action plan to make these transitions more bearable and/or … Read Full Post

Tagged coversion to ICD-10, ehr, electronic health records, icd-10, incentive programs for medicaid, incentive programs for medicare, meaningful use, medical practice action plan, regulation overload |

What We’re Reading – How to Market Your Health Care Practice with an Email Newsletter

A great way to keep your patients up-to-date with the ever changing healthcare issues, trends & tips is by generating a newsletter. The fastest and least expensive method for circulating a newsletter is to send it via email; this saves … Read Full Post

Tagged brand awareness, changing technology, email listing, email newsletter, healthcare marketing, home health agencies, marketing plans, newsletter, patients, providers, referring providers |

What We’re Reading – Four things doctors actually like about ICD-10

As you may already know, the largest complaint about the ICD-10 is that it is “complex and highly specific” with almost three times the number of codes than ICD-9. Although the 10th edition was introduced in 1992 and most developed … Read Full Post

Tagged icd-10, icd-10 conversion, icd-10 implementation, icd-10-cm, icd-9, icd-9-cm, International Classification of Diseases 10th Edition Clinical Modification, International Classification of Diseases 9th Edition Clinical Modification, transition to ICD-10 |

What We’re Reading – GAO recommends ending CMS bonus payment demonstration

From the GAO.gov website and different healthcare news websites. The Government Accountability Office (GAO), a nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress, recommends that CMS should discontinue its quality bonus program demonstration. The reasons are the budgetary impact, lack of data to … Read Full Post

Tagged center for medicare and medicaid services, cms, government accountability office, hedis program, medicaid cahps, medicare advantage bonus payment system, medicare advantage plans, mra, risk adjustment, the patient protection and affordable care act |

What We’re Reading – CMS Creates New Tip Sheet to Help Specialists Meet Meaningful Use

Navigating through all the information and requirements to meet meaningful use, and to successfully complete the necessary attestation, can be confusing and – at times – complicated for many providers. This tip sheet gives a full introduction of the EHR … Read Full Post

Tagged attestation for meaningful use, center for medicare and medicaid services, ehr incentive program, meaningful use, meaningful use measures, medicaid, medicare |

What We’re Reading – Physician Meetups Connect with Community, Attract New Patients

Do you want to save time, interact with the community and simultaneously bring new patients to your practice? This article provides creative create “meetups” either in-person or online and how you can implement this in your office today. Meetups are … Read Full Post

Tagged attracting new patients, meetups, online meetups, physician meetups, physician practices, physicians connecting with community, webinars, wellness education |

What We’re Reading – CMS overpaid Medicare Advantage (MA) by as much as $5.1 billion, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO)

A report issued by GAO the week of March 7, indicates that CMS overpaid the MA program run by private companies by between $3.2 and $5.1 billion for the years 2010-2012. The overpayments were the results of CMS inadequately adjusting … Read Full Post

Tagged america's health insurance plans, center for medicare and medicaid services, cms, diagnostic coding, fee-for-service, gao, government accountability office, medicare advantage plans, overpayments, risk scores |

What We’re Reading – Getting prepared for ordering and referring denial edits

Are you aware that, effective May 1, 2013, CMS will deny claims if the ordering and/or referring providers are not enrolled in the Medicare system? This will affect all Medicare Part B covered services, durable medical equipment, orthotics, and supplies … Read Full Post

Tagged claim edits, medicare part a hha, medicare part a home health agency services, medicare part b, npi registry, ordering and referring denial edits, ordering provider, pecos, referring provider |

What We’re Reading – 7 Ways to Attract New Patients to Your Medical Practice

Virtually all providers are looking for ways to grow their patient base. The challenge in these economic times is to do it without spending a fortune on marketing and advertising services. This article explores less expensive and even free options … Read Full Post

Tagged attracting new patients, getting new business, growing your business, increase traffic to your practice, medical practice, new patients, physician practice, social media |