Content about People

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and MOT is doing its part to shed some light on this important, but misunderstood topic. Mental health in the workplace is something that all medical practices should be on top of because Americans spend more of their waking hours at work than they do at home. It might surprise you to know that the Centers for Disease Control estimate that only 17% of U.S adults are considered to be in a state of optimal mental health. As an employer, you have the ability to improve this dismal statistic.

Patient complaints are never to be taken lightly or ignored. That said, there’s no need to overreact or become thrown off-track by patient complaints either. Knowing the right way to react – and following through with the correct procedures – will help your practice improve as it rolls smoothly along.

Since most medical practices depend on insurance reimbursements for a majority of their income, it’s important to view payors as key partners to help you grow your business. In fact, a solid relationship with your payors is essential to the smooth operation and profitability of your practice. While most practices are content with the relationships they have, there are times when it makes sense to add new payor partners to your practice. Below are three common times during the operation of your practice when you should consider adding new payors.

While the use of clinical interns is commonplace in medical practices, many may not be taking advantage of other, non-clinical, opportunities to use interns as a source of staffing to help drive productivity. Universities, technical colleges – and even high schools – can be good sources of energetic, enthusiastic and low-cost/no-cost assistance for medical practices. For medical practices, internships provide two key benefits: access to a pool of talent that can bring enthusiasm and fresh perspectives at low cost and on a temporary basis and a link to the academic community and the opportunity to support student learning.

One of the most important areas of your medical office is the nurse station. Whether you realize it or not, the nurse station is the physical “hub” of your practice, a place where staff members exchange communication about patients and move them on to the next stage of care. For such an important purpose, the design of your nurse station is critical to your practice’s flow. A well-designed nurse station can move you, your patients and your staff along smoothly throughout the day, while a poorly designed one can create chaos, opportunity for errors and poor communication.

How well do you understand Stark Law? The legislation was initially created to curb perceived unnecessary referrals and over-utilization of services by physicians within groups or at facilities to referral recipients with which they have ownership or financial interests. It can impact your practice in very specific ways. Here, MOT reviews three common scenarios in which Stark Law applies to your practice.

Medical practices spend a tremendous amount of time teaching and training employees on policies, procedures and detailed instruction of where everything goes and what to do to streamline the operation of the office. Where they fall down on the job is business etiquette and office professionalism. They take for granted the new staff member is well versed in compassion and professionalism.

Decades ago, it was reasonable to imagine that one could work for the same company from the start of one’s career to the end. Times are different now. Workers change jobs (and often careers) with far more regularity than they did in the years following World War II.  Each time an employee leaves – whether voluntarily or otherwise – he or she can depart with valuable information and patient relationships. The higher an employee’s perch in a practice, the more likely it is that he or she can go to a competitor and move patients in the process.

Consumers have many choices when it comes to healthcare providers. They can, of course, visit your practice or they can go somewhere else – to your competition. They might also choose to look for answers to their healthcare questions online through one of an increasingly growing number of sites designed for “do-it-yourself” care. That represents indirect competition. Or, they may decide to forgo care altogether, a growing choice especially for those without adequate health insurance coverage. In order to compete effectively, you need to know what your competition is doing. Here, MOT discusses the best ways to scope out the competition so you know what you’re up against.

Developing and maintaining a strong physician referral network can lead to more patients and more revenue for your medical practice. Your practice could spend months, maybe even years, getting a solid referral structure in place. But what happens when some of those relationships start to sour? When should you eliminate a weak referral from your network, and is there anything your practice can do to salvage that relationship? Below are the four factors that could signify that it’s time to start thinking about eliminating a provider.

Although rules governing medical malpractice liability vary from state to state, it continues to be an area of great concern for medical practices across the country. For many practices, medical malpractice insurance costs remain one of their largest expenses. Because of that, practitioners should pay close to attention to trends affecting laws, costs, claims, and even personal injury verdicts. Here, MOT highlights several medical malpractice trends for 2013.

As healthcare continues to evolve, so must your practice. The beginning of each new year is a great time to assess your services and determine how best to tweak them so you and your patients get the most out of what you can offer. Plus, adding new, needed services is the perfect way to boost your income and inject new life into your practice.