Here's a happy situation -
There have been so many letters already this week that I couldn't let them
languish in the inbox any longer!
My plan was to just let you start reading what all of our friends had to say
about the earlier questions, but now I need to tell you about yet another tricky
worm/virus that we learned about today. I received an email this morning
that was supposedly from "support" at footzine.com, and was signed by
"the Footzine.com team". This email claimed there were
complaints about spam from my account, and that I was probably the victim of a
"proxy-relay trojan server", and that I should follow instructions in
the attachment to that email. The kicker was that they added my real FootZine
home page address!
Of course, the real FootZine.com team lives at my house, so I knew that was
bogus, and my Norton anti-virus nabbed the attachment as it tried to download,
so we were saved from that. And once again we were glad that we keep
the anti-virus program current and make a point of getting the updates.
And what is my point in sharing this little tale? Just to let you know how
very creative the worm and virus perpetrators are becoming, and to urge you
again to keep your anti-virus software current, get the "Live Updates"
every day, and be very cautious about opening attachments.
Thanks to Adrienne Nisski of R Francis Associates for finding out the details
for us. She says it is a very new virus, only a few days old, called
Win32.Bagle.J.
Adrienne offers this link to Computer Associates' Virus Information Center: http://www3.ca.com/virusinfo/virus.aspx?ID=38471
And our good ol' standby is Symantec's Security Response page at:
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/
~ Gayle
*_* Letters
*_*
From: Douglas Rutan, DPM
re: Practice Management Software
Hi Gayle,
I am in the process of trying to find a new practice management software. I was
wondering if anyone has any recommendations and what they do and don't like
about particular programs.
Thanks!
Doug Rutan, DPM
*_* *_* *_*
From: Jenny Gilliland
re: Superbills (Volume 65)
Hi Gayle,
Regarding the question about superbills. What I did for our office was
this. Medisoft came with a "superbill" in the program but it was
too busy. I deleted everything but the top portion which is the patients
information ( I rearranged this to suit). I then created a superbill
template in Microsoft word. Now we can enter the patients into the
scheduling program and print the superbill we created. The way it is set
up it prints the patient's name, address, phone, chart/account number, insurance
information and an account balance (we can't get the balance to separate patient
balance from what is pending insurance), the rest of the paper is blank then we
copy these superbills onto the pre-printed templates. Hey it works for us.
If anyone has any questions please feel free to contact me.
Jenny Gilliland
Union City, TN
*_* *_* *_*
From: Verna Calderon, PMAC
re: Superbills
I use Medisoft which also comes with a basic generic Superbill. It also
has a feature to Design and Create Reports. I opened the generic Superbill
and saved it as Barnes Foot & Ankle Center Superbill [our practice name] and
proceeded to change the procedure codes to the ones we most frequently use.
I did the same with the diagnosis codes. Doctor just writes in the unusual
ones that pop up now and then. The result was a Superbill which gives us
not only the patient's name address phone number, but also the current balance,
the co-payment, and date referral expires. I'm not familiar with Lytec,
but it must be as adaptable. I'd be happy to fax Dr. Taylor a copy of the
one I designed and he is welcome to use it. He can then adapt it to his
own practice with the codes he most frequently uses.
Verna Calderon, PMAC
Howell, New Jersey
vcalder@bellatlantic.net
*_* *_* *_*
From: Stacy Davis
re: Proxymed/Medisoft (Volume 65)
I started electronic filing through Proxymed in Sept. So far so good.
Very simple. I was afraid to make the change to electronic but we haven't
had a problem.
S. Davis
*_* *_* *_*
From: Jenny Gilliland
re: Brochures (Volume 67)
We get our brochures from Krames and from Medical Arts Press.
Jenny Gilliland
*_* *_* *_*
From: Gail Bennett, PMAC
re: Brochures
Regarding brochures we get many of ours from Krames and the APMA also has quite
a selection, or at least they did have at one time. I would like to see
AAPPM do a really attractive brochure on what a podiatrist is and why you should
consider a podiatrist for your foot care needs. It seems that we are
getting more and more orthopedic physicians specializing in foot and ankle and
because of the MD behind their name and the general lack of education to
the public people are likely to choose the MD, not realizing just what a
podiatrist is. It amazes me that even today many do not realize just what a
podiatric physician is and what their education is. They say well
podiatrists are not real doctors. That still make me uncomfortable to
hear.
Gail Bennett, PMAC
Spokane, WA
*_* *_* *_*
From: Pat Timmons, PMAC
re: Brochures
Hopefully this info will help Susan at Universal Healthcare with her quest for
podiatric brochures.....
Krames Communications, 800-333-3032, has 40 podiatric brochures/tear sheets
available for purchase by phone or from their website, www.krames.com,
ranging from "Ankle Sprains" to "Your Child's Feet".
We have found them very useful.
We have also obtained brochures from Syntex Laboratories in the past that have
been very helpful. However, I do not know how to contact them now.
Pat Timmons, PMAC
Practice Manager
Dr. Alan W. Hopson, P.A.
*_* *_* *_*
From: Heather Schafer
re: Berkoplast (Volume 67)
Tell Dr. Zimmerman that we use PediPlast (Universal Foot Care sells it) and it
works like Berkoplast. :-) no complaints!
Heather Schafer
Anacortes, WA
*_* *_* *_*
From: Jenny Gilliland
re: DME Numbers
Hi again Gayle,
I have a question. In Tennessee the BCBS has changed in that the providers
have to have a DME contract in order to charge for DME. It is my
understanding from our rep that we must set up a separate business with its own
tax ID number in order to do this. This is not the same DME number as
Medicare. Has anyone else run across this? Can anyone help me?
Our orthotics and body armor boots are getting denied (we get the patient to
sign a waiver to cover ourselves prior to casting). HELP!!!
Jenny Gilliland
Union City, TN
*_* *_* *_*
Thanks to everyone who wrote to share their information - we all appreciate you.
Keep up the good work!
~ Gayle
Copyright 2004 Gayle S. Johnson. All Rights Reserved.
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