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FootZine,
Volume 82 |
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Some months ago FootZine
Advisory Board member Ray Posa sent me a link to
subscribe to a daily electronic publication called
"Today's Tidbits from DBC". Compiled
by Dan Puleio of Doctors Billing Clerk, it a free
service provided by that billing company. Mr.
Puleio says their goal is "to provide our
Clients and friends with one, perhaps two, useful
news items of the day (usually about the business
side of health care)." The Tidbits of the
day range from news about healthcare legislation to
insurance to practice management issues. The
June 23, 2004, Tidbit opened with this headline:
"Hate staying late? Do scut work throughout
the day" from the June 28, 2004, issue of
amednews.com, the electronic version of the AMA's
newspaper, American Medical News.
Writer Mike Norbut of the AMNews staff goes
on to write about how practices fall behind schedule
during the day, and offers input from a practice
management consultant and an on-time physician about
how to stay on track. "Round-table" discussions with podiatric assistants frequently turn to how to keep the office on time, so I was sure this article would be of great interest to my peers. Below I am including the link to the article, at the amednews.com web site, and below that, the link to Doctors Billing Clerk's web page with the opportunity to subscribe to "Today's Tidbits" for yourself. amednews.com: http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/06/28/bica0628.htm Today's Tidbits: http://www.doctorsbillingclerk.com/todays_tidbits.html Thanks to Ray Posa for bringing this resource to my attention, and to Dan Puleio for rounding up such good material! ~ Gayle
*_* Letters
*_*
From: Larry Aronberg,
DPM
*_* Networking
*_*
Position Available: Seeking
a special front office assistant who is especially
intelligent, experienced, self-starter, bilingual in
Spanish/English, with excellent phone & people
skills for podiatric practice in Sherman Oaks, CA.
Front office and marketing duties with some billing.
Solo private practice. Medical building is
hospital-adjacent. Current front office assistant,
leaving for nursing school after 7 years, will help
train.
*_* Gems
of Practice Management *_*
This is another in the
series of “Mini-Gems”, taken from the extensive
DME and IOD writings by the late Rich Levin, DPM.
Thanks to Dr. Ornstein for making them available for
us to share with you.by Hal Ornstein DPM, FACFAS and Lynn Homisak, PRT Orthotic Pearls Orthotics and HMOs: Many practitioners become dismayed that some HMOs will cover orthotics if they are made by local orthotists who are under contract to the HMO to provide these services. The HMO will not reimburse the podiatric physician to provide these services. In these cases I have tried to obtain a “carve out” contract to provide orthotic services to these HMO patients. When I write an orthotic prescription for a patient to take to their contracted orthotist, I specify the casting technique I want utilized (I always write for plaster casting with neutral suspension casting technique), I specify the orthotic I want fabricated (Lab and model i.e. JSB Eliminator II) the exact top cover material I want and any accommodations or modifications. Invariably when the patient returns from the orthotist’s office with their new devices, they are not what I prescribed. This triggers an immediate call to the orthotist, questioning why they did not follow my prescription. They usually give a song and dance why they cannot fill it and they substituted their orthotic for the one I prescribed. We would never stand for a pharmacist acting like this, why should we stand for an orthotist to do this? I then call provider relations at the HMO and voice my concerns that their contracted orthotists are not filling my prescriptions accurately and are putting my treatment plans for my patients at risk. I also have the patients call their customer service representatives and complain. This usually will produce a phone call from some one at the HMO trying to resolve the issue. This is where I make my pitch to provide orthotic services to my patients, enrolled in their HMO, in my office. I explain to the representative that this will accomplish three things; 1) Reduce the inconvenience to the patient, as they do not have to travel all over town to get the services they require (2) Assure that my medical treatment plan is followed accurately (3) Assure that the patent receives high quality orthotic devices made from custom casting performed by me. I then inform them of our office policy of “100% money back guarantee”. I then inquire what fee they are paying the orthotist for these services, and if they are comparable to my fee structure in the office, I tell them I would accept this fee as an addendum to my contract. I have been able to obtain “carve out” orthotic contracts from several HMOs over the past few years. Previous "Gems" can be found on their own pages of the FootZine.com web site, at http://www.footzine.com/FZ_90.htm
*_*
*_* *_*
I have written here before
about The Walk at the SAS Ranch that is held every
fall. SAS is not a company that likes to boast
about its good works, but I have learned that some
of the people at SAS participate in another walk,
too. Bill Armwood, who is well known to the
podiatry community from his participation at
seminars around the country, is also involved with
the March of Dimes in San Antonio. For the
March of Dimes Walk America event on May 15, 2004,
at San Antonio's Brackenridge Park, there were over
200 SAS employees among the 4000+ participants.
Bill and his Marketing co-worker, Carrie Medina, had
a personal challenge to see who could raise the most
dimes. Bill collected $892.00 in dimes, but
Carrie prevailed with 10,530 dimes ($1053) - that's
a LOT of dimes! Good work, y'all! ~ Gayle *_* *_*
*_*
Copyright 2004 Gayle S. Johnson. All Rights Reserved. Gayle S. Johnson |