Dissecting the business of a private pediatric practice for the purpose of examining its parts & discourse
We often forget about improving things in our medical practices. We get comfortable and complacent. We often assume, we do a good job, no need to fix what isn't broken. But time and time again, I'm reminded that there is always areas of improvement. I'm also reminded that on occasion, we don't do things as good as I see them in my mind. The problem for many is that because we are so used to doing things the way we've always done them, it is … [Read more...]
Simply put, measuring wellness-to-sick ratio estimates the focus a practice has on preventive care. And how can this info help your practice? Data shows that practices that have fewer sick visits to well visits tend to be practices with better financial outcomes. But there are other reasons why measuring sick to well ratios are beneficial to your practice. Practice Management extraodinaire Chip Hart from PCC has some really good reasons as to … [Read more...]
Today, I have another guest post. This time it's from Dr. Suzanne Berman MD, FAAP. Dr. Berman is also a contributor to Survivor Pediatrics. In this post, she gives insight into the real benefit of having a EMR. For example, many docs believe that a EMR will help them chart faster. But as Dr. Berman points out, that is not always true. The real benefit of an EMR isn’t being able to put data in/chart faster – this is great if you can do it … [Read more...]
In the past few months I’ve been asked a couple of times what advice I would give to someone that is opening a practice from scratch. And in the same conversation I’m asked, do you think, considering everything that is going on now, if it is a good idea to open a medical practice. My short answer is, go for it! My long answer is, well, more complicated. First, I think it is important to assess one’s priorities and determine the true … [Read more...]
In case you missed them, here are the top 10 post for 2011. Is Your Front Desk a Command Center? Top 11 Pediatric Facebook Pages Patient Collection Letters, What is Your Approach? Medical Practice Advertisement Tip #3, How To Save $80,000 How Social Media Can Transform Your Medical Practice Can Costco and Your Medical Practice Have Something in Common? Does Your Medical Practice Have a Problem with Bad Debt? Here is a … [Read more...]
There is a very common phrase in the business world that says, you can’t improve what you don’t measure. As with any business, there are many different things one can measure at our pediatric practices. So how does one know where to begin? Some things are easy to identify. For example, we tend to measure accounts receivables, productivity by provider, expenses, maybe even accounts receivables by insurance company. I also like to … [Read more...]
This past summer, I had the opportunity to give a talk at PCC’s Practice Management Conference. The topic we choose to discuss was, 101 ways to transform your practice. The talk received good feedback and I hope to do it again some time. But for now, I wanted to share with you what were the 101 ways different ways to transform your practice. Enjoy! (By the way, for the talk, I didn't actually go through every single one of these. I create … [Read more...]
From a practice management perspective, I find my visits with the reps very valuable. Besides the obvious, which is they bring info about their product, here are my 5 reasons why I think pharma reps are valuable to a practice. Many reps have a pulse on the market, so to speak. I always ask the Prevnar guy, how’s business going? If he tells me sales have dropped in his area, I know not too many newborns have been born lately. If he tells me … [Read more...]
Written By Chip Hart I will never forget the scene. I was the lonely consultant in the dark and shag-carpeted basement “conference room” of a large pediatric practice and was giving them a stern lecture about their pricing. The practice hadn't updated its prices in years and was undoubtedly losing money. Lots of it. After my explanation of RVUs and why 105% of Medicare wouldn't cut it, the senior partner – well, the loudest one, … [Read more...]
This summer, PCC will have their annual pediatric practice management & coding conference. This year, the conference is extra special for me because I’ve been asked to be a speaker. PCC usually has the top speakers give classes at their event. So I’m so excited and pleased to have been chosen to speak at this year’s event. My talk is titled 101 ways to transform your medical practice. I’ll be talking about some of the changes we … [Read more...]
