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FootZine,
Volume 12 |
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| "New Year, New Look?" What is
the dress code in your office? For many years, in a number of
offices, I wore pretty typical 1970s uniforms, then in a couple of
offices those came to include jumpsuits from the uniform shops.
In some offices we all had identical uniforms, which of course we
all wore on the same day (Tuesday=pink, Friday=purple). Later
on, as I spent lots of time assisting in surgery, scrubs were in,
especially the ones that didn't look like classic OR attire.
Through all that, it was pretty evident that I was part of the
doctors' staff, and the white lab coats clinched it. Moving to the Northwest eleven years ago, I encountered a lot of objection to the scrubs look, and even to "traditional" uniforms, as I interviewed in the area. For the last ten years, the "uniform" has been white khaki-weight pants with colorful turtleneck or henley-style shirts, topped by the usual white lab coat. A couple of years ago I made my case for shoes that aren't necessarily white, and have added black, mocha, and dark brown nubuck, which the patients have complimented. Finding it nearly impossible to locate white "khakis" lately, I appealed to my employer to look again at the latest scrubs, and he was surprised to discover some subtle and truly pretty designs right there with the flying cows, angel bears, and other kid-oriented patterns. I ordered a few coordinating sets, including warm-up jackets, and have had nothing but compliments from the patients. Listening to them, it seems that they found my old look professional, but maybe a little bland. They have declared the new look "very professional-looking", but also "updated" and "so much more colorful" and just "so pretty". Now I wonder why I waited so long! When we look at the appearance of our offices, and think about new paint, new carpets, or even just new seat cushions for the chairs, maybe we should look in the mirror as well. What do you think? What works in your area? ~ Gayle *_* Letters
*_* From: RJBre: SAS Shoes Where can I purchase SAS shoes in the Detroit Michigan area? RJB *_* FootZine
Feeture Article *_* Whenever you bring together independent
committees of bureaucrats to write rules and regulations to cover an
industry as diverse as the medical field and have one set of rules
apply to all, you end up with laws that are shades of grey at best,
and everything is open to interpretation.HIPAA in all of its shades of grey Raymond F. Posa, MBA By its very nature, in order to apply to all fields of medicine, HIPAA is very general. There are very few items in the regulation that state specifics and that is causing so much confusion and frustration for doctors. One item that comes up time and again is that of the patient sign-in sheet. Can we use it, should we use it, is it banned by HIPAA? I had opportunity to speak to Kevin West, Esq. (Kevin West wrote the HIPAA Privacy Manual for the APMA) about sign-in sheets. He agreed that HIPAA does not say you cannot have a sign in sheet; he suggests that if you do use a sign-in sheet you only have minimal information on it (name and time). The other thing that you have to take into consideration is the nature of your practice. If you are a Podiatrist and you have Mrs. Jones sign in and then call her in for treatment from the waiting room, do you really divulge any sensitive patient information? Of course the answer is no. Now take the same set of circumstances and instead of a Podiatrist, say you are a drug rehab center. That same innocuous information can now cause huge problems for the patient. The key thing to remember about HIPAA is that there is no “one solution fits all”. The APMA contracted with Kevin West’s law firm to put together a HIPAA Privacy Manual for its members. It is an excellent reference source, but as Kevin points out in his lectures, it is only a starting point. There is no HIPAA “compliance in a can”. You will be inundated with HIPAA solutions from companies offering HIPAA products. The most important thing to remember is that there is nothing you can purchase by mail or over the Internet that will make you HIPAA compliant. The best you can do is buy pieces of the HIPAA compliance puzzles and assemble them into a coordinated compliance effort for your practice. The key in any compliance effort is that it has to be specifically tailored to your practice. Buying an off-the-shelf solution can actually do more harm then good, by lulling you into a false sense of security. Your compliance manual and your policy and procedures manuals must be written for your practice. Off- the-shelf manuals can be used as a starting point but you still have to tailor it for your practice. One of the best ways to get a good start on your compliance effort is to use an outside consulting firm. They can set up all of your base-year manuals and establish a good foundation for you to work from, help train your compliance officer, and get you started on the road to HIPAA self- sufficiency. Once the first year compliance manual and policy and procedures are set up, then it’s just a matter of maintenance thereafter. By: Raymond F. Posa, MBA Technology Advisor to the American Academy of Podiatric Practice Management President, R. Francis Associates Any questions or comments can be addressed to Mr. Posa by E-mail: Rposa@Rfrancis.com You can review previous installments from Mr. Posa at http://www.footzine.com/FZ_5.htm *_* Gems
of Practice Management
*_* Life oftentimes deals us an interesting hand of
cards to play. It is “our hand” to play, with control over
the decisions and consequences. Wake up and see rain, will it
be cloudy or sunny? Below is a message sent to friends about a
recent fire, something that we never believe will happen in our
offices. The point of sharing this is to put our days into
perspective. by Hal Ornstein DPM, FACFAS and Lynn Homisak, PRT Our wish is for the New Year to bring you and your family all the happiness, success and joy there is. ****************** Happy Holidays,Last night around 7:00 pm I had a structural fire in my office. Thank G-d there was no one in the office and the surrounding medical offices were not damaged. The smoke alarm went off and the chiropractor a few offices down called 911. They believe it started from my sign on the front of my office. The area above the ceiling and roof was badly damaged. The inside of the office, windows and equipment appear fine. No water was used, they put it out with foam (or possibly Biofreeze). Even though there is little damage inside the office, the adjuster I hired right away estimates at least three months before I'm back in the office because the entire roof and ceiling structure must be removed and rebuilt. I have very good insurance that will cover lost income, damage, etc. I will continue to pay my full-time staff as though we were open as normal. I have an office about 20 minutes from my Howell office and will try to get patients to go there. Since the four of us who see patients in this office will now have free time, we will visit the homes of our Medicare patients who typically come to the office to debride their nails. I have wanted to move to a larger office for a while and this may be my opportunity or I may move to a temporary location. The adjuster will work at light speed with the insurance company to get us seeing patients in Howell ASAP because that's less the insurance company must give us in lost income. I will notify referring physicians of the situation and put an announcement in the local paper. I know we will fully recover from this but the frustration is in slowing my typical crazy pace, and also that our office is kicking butt with DME, in-office dispensing, etc., and finally adapting to our new computer system. I am so impressed with the concern, passion and unity of my staff and the doctors in our group that I experienced late last night and today. Life lessons learned! The good news....EVERYONE IS SAFE, LIFE IS GOOD, I AM BLESSED IN MANY WAYS AND I HAVE SO MUCH SUPPORT FROM MANY AWESOME PEOPLE (including myself). It's going to be a great new year...Hal Previous "Gems" can be found on their own pages of the FootZine.com web site, at http://www.footzine.com/FZ_90.htm *_* *_*
*_* Like most other people, I find myself thinking
back over the past twelve months as the year winds to a close.
2002 brought many things I would not have expected, some good and
some not-so-good. As I reflect on some of those good things,
let me say thank you to the FootZine subscribers and
contributors for your continued interest and support which has
brought us this far. As I look forward to all the good things that I expect from 2003, I hope it brings only the very best to your personal and professional lives. And I hope you'll take time to write! Best wishes for the New Year, ~ Gayle
DISCLAIMER: Acceptance and publication of any letter, article, news item
or advertisement does not necessarily constitute or imply approval or
endorsement by myself of the product, idea, or content therein. I reserve
the right to edit or to not publish any material received. Any health- or
legal-related information is for educational purposes only and should not
be construed as medical or legal advice or a substitute for the advice of a health
care professional or attorney. Information pertaining to legal matters should not Gayle S. Johnson, PMAC |
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