In this 20-minute podcast, Randy Bauman, Author of Time to Sell? Guide to Selling a Physician Practice: Value, Options, Alternatives, recently published by Greenbranch Publishing (www.mpmnetwork.com) discusses the current market forces at play in the wave of physician practice sales, the key things physicians should look for when they decide to sell their practice, what hospitals are looking for in medical practices, and Randy Bauman's expert assessment of the landscape for physicians selling their practices. Randy Bauman - 800 467-3310 www.deltahealthcare.com
In this second installment of a 3-part series, Bruce Lefco, CEO of Health Payment Systems, discusses their innovative financial transactions promising payment to healthcare providers in twenty days, on both the insurance and self-pay portions on a non-recourse basis. In this 20-minute podcast, Mr. Lefco explains HPS's creative ways to communicate charges to patients and he also describes the SuperEOB concept. http://www.hps.md
In this 20 minute podcast, Owen Dahl, MBA, FACHE, CHBC, author of Think Business! Medical Practice Quality, Efficiency, Profits, discusses how much it really costs a doctor (or a practice) to see a patient. No, the answer isn't what you charge for an office visit. A physician needs wise management of costs and an understanding of revenue enhancement to assure long term success for the practice. But how do you analyze costs in a practice? Mr. Dahl addresses fixed, variable, direct and indirect costs with practical examples of what costs you can control. You may think it is your office supplies – but analysis of your payroll may yield larger savings. Also hear his expert comments about patient satisfaction, your no-show rate, overtime costs, and what it means to the practice to see just one additional patient per day. http://www.thinkbusiness.md
In this 20 minute podcast, Betsy reviews details surrounding physicians getting paid for hospital services. Can physicians get paid if they have to see a sick patient more than once a day? What does group membership have to do with getting paid for hospital services? What is the difference between observation admission series of codes and the observation with discharge codes? What are the rules for critical care? What about the proper way to bill follow up visits after an initial inpatient consultation?
Betsy Nicoletti, betsy.nicoletti@gmail.com and her book at www.shopmpm.com
Judy Capko, President of Capko & Co., based in Thousand Oaks, California and the author of the best-seller, Secrets of the Best-Run Practices is interviewed by SoundPractice.net. In this 20 minute podcast, Judy reviews the concept of monthly strategy meetings in a medical practice, how to get doctors and others in the practice to buy-in to such meetings, how to best structure meetings to share performance data, and the most important issues and benchmark data to cover on a regular basis. She also discusses how to keep focus and momentum up for such strategy sessions.
Bruce Lefco discussed the state of healthcare reimbursements and the features of Health Payment Systems, Inc., a Financial Transactions Company based in Milwaukee, dedicated to simplifying the reimbursement process and lowering the cost-to-collect and bad debt expense.
Interview with Doral Davis-Jacobsen, Manager with Dixon Hughes, PLLC, based in Asheville, North Carolina. In this podcast Ms. Davis-Jacobsen describes steps that the "better performing" practices take in order to improve AR. She reviews the components of an effective AR monitoring system, describes statistics and useful benchmark comparisons that are available to medical practices and she summarizes the most important steps a practice can take to improve accounts receivable performance. For more about Ms. Davis-Jacobson, visit www.dixon-hughes.com.
David B. Mandell, J.D., M.B.A. is an attorney, author, and educator. He focuses his law practice on asset protection, tax, and estate planning matters. He also is a principal of Jarvis & Mandell, LLC, a financial planning firm focusing on tax, insurance, benefits, and retirement planning matters. Podcast interview covering these topics: financial obstacles facing physicians today; the benefits of non-qualified retirement plans; how physicians can shield their most important assets, like their home, from potential lawsuits; what the new bankruptcy laws mean for physicians; what "Asset Protection" is and why physicians should be concerned with it; physicians getting good advise from their advisors; the future of medicine.. economically.
When it comes to your annual coding compliance audits, you have two choices: grit your teeth and get them over with or use them as an opportunity to find lost revenue, discover and solve problems in your revenue cycle and fulfill your compliance obligations at the same time. I frequently find services that were provided and documented but not billed when I perform compliance audits for my clients. It's easy to dismiss these as single, one-time errors. But, I suspect that they represent recurring problems, not one-time errors. Repeatedly neglecting to bill for services done and documented results in lower cash collections to the practice. What's worse, you have incurred the expense to provide the service! Here are a few examples of lost revenue I find while doing compliance audits.
Roth IRAs have become an extremely popular option for those who prefer the unique advantage of being able to withdraw funds during their retirement years on a tax- free basis, as opposed to traditional IRAs where withdrawals are taxed as ordinary income. The only real downside to Roth IRAs is that contributions are made on an after- tax basis, and are not tax deductible like with a traditional IRA. Unfortunately, most urologists have not been able to utilize Roth IRAs due to their relatively high income levels. Roth IRA eligibility phases out between $95,000 and $110,000 for single filers and $150,000 to $160,000 for married taxpayers filing a joint tax return. Starting next year, however, highly compensated individuals who are currently not allowed to contribute to Roth IRAs, as well as younger workers expecting to be in higher tax brackets during their retirement years, will be able to take advantage of a new type of tax- advantaged savings plan called the "Roth 401(k)".
Time-of-service collection is a critical component of the financial success of your practice and its mission of customer service. In this podcast and posted article, Tom Hajny provides practical hints to encourage time-of-service collection and resulting improvements in customer service.
I have a theory about human behavior and productivity in the work place -- specifically concerning health care business offices. This theory -- my theory -- if rendered true (or even half-true) is troubling. Here it is: Sixty percent of all resources expended in health care business offices have nothing to do with optimum cash flow, cost, or customer service.
