The funny thing is that you can teach people most any skill, but you can’t teach them to smile. And for people in the service industry, smiling is probably the most important skill of all.

While researching a talk, I came across this little story that Tom Peters told in one of his presentations.

I once said to a Starbucks regional manager, “I’m stunned that almost all of your store people, from the U.S. to Saudi Arabia, always sport a smile. What’s your secret?”

She smiled as she answered: “We hire people who smile!”

And to keep them smiling?

“We promote the ones who smile the most.”

Could it be that simple?

I can see some people saying, yeah, but Starbucks is different than a medical office.

Oh yeah, how so?

Whether we want to admit it or not, those of us that work in private practices, we are in the service industry just as much as Starbucks is. If anything, we ought to be more emotionally connected with patients, than Starbucks is with their customers, yet we are probably the industry that hires less on smiles and more on skills.

Smiling is the only expression I can think of that is understood by everyone despite culture, race or religion. It’s a sign of pleasure, joy, happiness, or amusement. It is also an inviting expression; one of welcoming or politeness and friendliness. In fact, research shows that smiling correlates with greater trust, greater financial earnings, and increased interpersonal cooperation.

We are not hiring right now, but when we do, I’m going to make sure I look for that smile before I evaluate their skills. Because we can always teach them how to do things in our office, but we can’t teach people to smile spontaneously. That comes from within.

Brandon Betancourt is a managing partner at Salud Pediatrics.  He also blogs, speaks  and consults on practice management issues. You can follow Brandon on Twitter @PediatricInc.

You can contact him at his website here.

We hope you enjoy looking ahead with us, and share your ideas, reactions and comments below!

Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Releases Privacy and Security Guide

In the wake of the HIPAA breach incident settlement at Phoenix Cardiac Surgeons, the ONC has released a 47-page guideline document to ensure providers can stay compliant. The guide offers overview information about the information security issues facing all practices and organizations today, and what they can do to stay compliant while working with vendors and adapting to change. With all providers needing to stay on top of compliance issues to not only achieve incentive goals but to avoid rate reductions, this free guide is a great place for all concerned managers to start.

(via Healthcare Info Security)

7 Ways “BYOD” Could Boost Business in Your Practice

One of the buzzwords making its way into the conversation of managers and administrators in charge of IT decisions these days is “BYOD”, an acronym for “Bring Your Own Device”. As more and more employees own their own smartphones with fast cellular connections and widely-used mobile application platforms, more and more organizations are considering the possibility of having their employees provide their phones for work, while employers provide software applications that run on popular operating systems like Android, iOS, Blackberry and Windows Mobile. With high mobile device adoption rates in Healthcare workers, conditions seem right for BYOD initiatives to flourish. At the blog VentureBeat Jack Newton, the CEO of Clio, a Practice Management Software System for Lawyers argues for 7 ways that the BYOD trend could boost your business.

(via VentureBeat)

CEO Predicts “Shazam App for Heartbeats.

Have you heard of the popular audio recognition app Shazam? The mobile phone program allows you to use the mic on your cell phone to identify songs, tv shows and movies you haven’t heard of before by letting the program “hear” them. Pretty handy when you hear that song you can’t get out of your head, but can’t seem to find out the title or name of the artist. Speaking last week at the HIMSS mHealth Symposium in Copenhagen, Denmark, Steinar Pedersen, Founder of Tromsø Telemedicine Labs predicted that the market would one day see a “Shazam App for Heartbeats”, in essence, a ECG that would use an internet connection and database access to give a rough evaluation of a heartbeat uploaded by the user. Similar in ambition to projects hoping to use telemedicine to remotely diagnose skin rashes, or coughing sounds, Mr. Pedersen’s speech has reminded us once again what bright future could be in store for the intersection of technology and Healthcare.

(via MobiHealthNews)

Be sure to check back soon for another 2.0 Tuesday!

“In the meantime, I would argue, patients are clamoring for improved access to their physicians’ offices. I would recommend taking this momentum that we have related to meaningful use – where we’ve seen patient engagement, and the new proposed rules that are really focused on patient action – and we use this momentum to turn this challenge into an opportunity for the practice. Self-service technology, like a portal, can be the key to turning your challenge into this opportunity.”

The program is an excellent listen, and is a great way to get you thinking about Stage 2 for those who have not yet started!

Listen to the recording here.

• Medicare Enrollment/Revalidation: Requests for the IRS Form CP 575 (jump to story)

• Were You Sent a Request to Revalidate Your Medicare Enrollment? (jump to story)

• Submit Your Medicare Enrollment Application Up to 60 Days Before the Effective Date (jump to story)

• National Provider Call: Current Status of Medicare FFS Implementation of HIPAA Version 5010 and D.0 – Register Now (jump to story)

• Updates from the Medicare Learning Network (jump to story)

• Medicare Electronic Prescribing Payment Adjustment Hardship Exemption (jump to story)

• New Data Provides Info on EPs who Participated in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program in 2011 (jump to story)

• National Provider Call – Physician Quality Reporting System & Electronic Prescribing (jump to story)

• Additional Information on Home Health Face-to-Face Encounter Requirements (jump to story)

• Providers who Receive Error Codes H20203 and H45255 Need to Balance Bill (jump to story)

• Major Improvements to Medicare Online Enrollment System (jump to story)

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Medicare Enrollment/Revalidation: Requests for the IRS Form CP 575

The IRS Form CP 575 is an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) generated letter you receive from the IRS granting your Employer Identification Number (EIN). A copy of your CP 575 may be required by the Medicare contractor to verify the provider or supplier’s legal business name and EIN.

When is the CP 575 is required to be submitted to the Medicare contractor?

• If the applicant is enrolling as a professional corporation, professional association, or limited liability corporation
• If the applicant is enrolling as a sole proprietor using an EIN
• If the Medicare contractor determines a discrepancy between the provider or supplier’s legal business name and EIN provided in Section 2 of the CMS-855 form
• The CP 575 May be requested by the CMS External User Services (EUS) Help Desk, for verification, when the Authorized Official (AO) of the provider or supplier organization registers for Internet-based PECOS access.

If you do not have a form CP 575: contact the IRS on 1-800-829-4933 from 7am to 7pm.
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Were You Sent a Request to Revalidate Your Medicare Enrollment?

At this time, the quickest way to see if a revalidation letter was mailed to you is to check the “Downloads” on the Revalidation page on the cms.gov website. You can now view:

•  Medicare Part A/B Revalidation Letters Mailed February – March 2012
•  Medicare Part A/B Revalidation Letters Mailed January 2012
•  Medicare Part A/B Revalidation Letters Mailed November – December 2011
•  Medicare Part A/B Revalidation Letters Mailed September – October 2011
• NSC Revalidation Letters Mailed

Later this year, CMS plans to implement a faster process for allowing users to see the date the revalidation notice was sent directly on the “My Enrollments” page within PECOS.
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Submit Your Medicare Enrollment Application Up to 60 Days Before the Effective Date

Providers and suppliers can now submit their enrollment applications 30 days sooner. CMS-855 enrollment applications and Internet-based PECOS applications may now be submitted 60 days prior to the effective date.

NOTE:  This does not apply to providers and suppliers submitting a Form CMS-855A application, Ambulatory Surgical Centers (ASCs), or Portable X-ray Suppliers (PXRSs).
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National Provider Call: Current Status of Medicare FFS Implementation of HIPAA Version 5010 and D.0 – Register Now

Wednesday, May 16; 2-3:30pm ET

CMS is hosting a National Provider Call regarding the current status of Medicare FFS implementation of HIPAA Version 5010 and D.0. This National Provider Call will address the current 5010/D.0 metrics, and discuss recommendations made by Medicare FFS, and possible outstanding fixes impacting the Part A and Part B Version 5010 transition.

Target Audience:  Vendors, clearinghouses, and providers who need to make Medicare FFS specific changes in compliance with HIPAA Version 5010 requirements.

Presentation:  The presentation for this call will be posted at least one day in advance on the FFS National Provider Calls webpage. In addition, a link to the slide presentation will be emailed to all registrants on the day of the call.
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Updates from the Medicare Learning Network

From the MLN:  Acute Inpatient Prospective Payment System Hospital Web-Based Training Course Now Available - This web-based training (WBT) course is designed to provide an overview of acute care hospital coverage and payment under the acute Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS). It is designed to present a basic explanation of inpatient hospital coverage, billing, and payment for beneficiaries enrolled in Original Medicare.

To access a web-based training course please go to the MLN Products webpage, and in the “Related Links” section at the bottom of the page, click on web-based training courses.

From the MLN: “Quick Reference Information: Preventive Services”  Revised - Quick Reference Information: Preventive Services (ICN 006559) has been revised and is now available in downloadable format. This educational tool is designed to provide education on the Medicare-covered preventive services. It includes coverage, coding, and payment information.

From the MLN:  “Quick Reference Information: The ABCs of Providing the Annual Wellness Visit” Revised - Quick Reference Information: The ABCs of Providing the Annual Wellness Visit (ICN 905706) has been revised and is now available in downloadable format. This educational tool is designed to provide education on the Annual Wellness Visit (AWV). It includes a list of the required elements in the initial and subsequent AWVs, as well as coverage and coding information.

From the MLN: “Quick Reference Information: The ABCs of Providing the Initial Preventive Physical Examination” Revised - Quick Reference Information: The ABCs of Providing the Initial Preventive Physical Examination (ICN 006904) has been revised and is now available in downloadable format. This educational tool is designed to provide education on the Initial Preventive Physical Examination, also known as the IPPE. It includes a list of elements that must be included in the IPPE, as well as coverage and coding information.

From the MLN:  “Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) Physician Bonus, HPSA Surgical Incentive Payment, and Primary Care Incentive Payment Programs” Fact Sheet Revised - The “Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) Physician Bonus, HPSA Surgical Incentive Payment, and Primary Care Incentive Payment Programs” fact sheet (previously titled Health Professional Shortage Area) (ICN 903196) has been revised and is now available in downloadable format. It includes an overview of the HPSA Physician Bonus, HPSA Surgical Incentive Payment, and Primary Care Incentive Payment Programs.

From the MLN : “Quick Reference Information: Medicare Immunization Billing” Revised - “Quick Reference Information: Medicare Immunization Billing” (ICN 006799) has been revised and is now available in downloadable format. This educational tool is designed to provide education on Medicare-covered preventive immunizations. It includes coverage, coding and billing information on the influenza, pneumococcal and Hepatitis B vaccines and their administration.

From the MLN: “Medicare Quarterly Provider Compliance Newsletter [Volume 2, Issue 3]” Released - The “Medicare Quarterly Provider Compliance Newsletter [Volume 2, Issue 3]”, Educational Tool (ICN 907927) has been released and is now available in downloadable format. This educational tool is designed to provide education on how to avoid common billing errors and other erroneous activities when dealing with the Medicare Program. It highlights the top issues of the particular Quarter. Please visit the Medicare Quarterly Provider Compliance Newsletter Archive to download, print, and search an archive of previously-issued newsletters.

From the MLN: “Correction to Processing of Hospice Discharge Claims” MLN Matters® Article Revised - MLN Matters® Article #MM7473, “Correction to Processing of Hospice Discharge Claims” has been revised and is now available in downloadable format. This article is designed to provide education on Medicare’s hospice discharge claims processing policy, as outlined in Change Request (CR) 7473. It includes information about changes to chapter 11 of the Medicare Claims Processing Manual, which provides detailed instructions for hospices to use in coding claims.  The article was revised to emphasize that the implementation of this policy is effective for claims on or after January 1, 2012.
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Medicare Electronic Prescribing Payment Adjustment Hardship Exemption

In 2009, CMS implemented the Electronic Prescribing (eRx) Incentive Program, which is a program that uses incentive payments and payment adjustments to encourage the use of qualified electronic prescribing systems.

From calendar year (CY) 2012 through 2014, a payment adjustment that increases each calendar year will be applied to an eligible professional’s Medicare Part B Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) covered professional services for not becoming a successful electronic prescriber. The payment adjustment of 1.0% in 2012, 1.5% in 2013, and 2.0% in 2014 will result in an eligible professional or group practice participating in the eRx Group Practice Reporting Option (eRx GPRO) receiving 99.0%, 98.5%, and 98.0% respectively of their Medicare Part B PFS amount for covered professional services.

Exclusion Criteria

The 2013 eRx payment adjustment only applies to certain individual eligible professionals. CMS will automatically exclude those individual eligible professionals who meet the following criteria:

§  The eligible professional is a successful electronic prescriber during the 2011 eRx 12- month reporting period (January 1, 2011 through December 31, 2011).

§  The eligible professional is not an MD, DO, podiatrist, Nurse Practitioner, or Physician Assistant by June 30, 2012, based on primary taxonomy code in the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES).

§  The eligible professional does not have at least 100 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) cases containing an encounter code in the measure’s denominator for dates of service from January 1, 2012 through June 30, 2012.

§  The eligible professional does not have 10% or more of their MPFS allowable charges (per TIN) for encounter codes in the measure’s denominator for dates of service from January 1, 2012 through June 30, 2012.

§  The eligible professional does not have prescribing privileges and reported G8644 on a billable Medicare Part B service at least once on a claim between January 1, 2012 and June 30, 2012.

Avoiding the 2013 eRx Payment Adjustment

Individual eligible professionals and CMS-selected group practices participating in eRx GPRO who were not successful electronic prescribers in 2011 can avoid the 2013 eRx payment adjustment by meeting the specified reporting requirements between January 1 and June 30, 2012.

 6-month Reporting Requirements to Avoid the 2013 Payment Adjustment:

§  Individual Eligible Professionals – 10 eRx events via claims

§  Small eRx GPRO – 625 eRx events via claims

§  Large eRx GPRO – 2,500 eRx events via claims

For more information on individual and eRx GPRO reporting requirements, please see the MLN Article SE1206 – 2012 Electronic Prescribing (eRx) Incentive Program: Future Payment Adjustments.

CMS may exempt individual eligible professionals and group practices participating in eRx GPRO from the 2013 eRx payment adjustment if it is determined that compliance with the requirements for becoming a successful electronic prescriber would result in a significant hardship.

Significant Hardships

The significant hardship categories are as follows:

• The eligible professional is unable to electronically prescribe due to local, state, or federal law, or regulation
• The eligible professional has or will prescribe fewer than 100 prescriptions during a 6-month reporting period (January 1 through June 30, 2012)
• The eligible professional practices in a rural area without sufficient high-speed Internet access (G8642)
• The eligible professional practices in an area without sufficient available pharmacies for electronic prescribing (G8643)

Submitting a Significant Hardship Code or Request

To request a significant hardship, individual eligible professionals and group practices participating in eRx GPRO must submit their significant hardship exemption requests through the Quality Reporting Communication Support Page (Communication Support Page) on or between March 1 and June 30, 2012. Please remember that CMS will review these requests on a case-by-case basis. All decisions on significant hardship exemption requests will be final.

Significant hardships associated with a G-code may be submitted via the Communication Support Page or on at least one claim during the 2013 eRx payment adjustment reporting period (January 1 through June 30, 2012). If submitting a significant hardship G-code via claims, it is not necessary to request the same hardship through the Communication Support Page.

For more information on how to navigate the Communication Support Page, please reference the following documents:

§  Quality Reporting Communication Support Page User Guide

§  Tips for Using the Quality Reporting Communication Support Page

For additional information and resources, please visit the E-Prescribing Incentive Program webpage.

If you have questions regarding the eRx Incentive Program, eRx payment adjustments, or need assistance submitting a hardship exemption request, please contact the QualityNet Help Desk at 866-288-8912 (TTY 877-715-6222) or via qnetsupport@sdps.org. They are available Monday through Friday from 7am to 7pm CST.
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New Data Provides Info on EPs who Participated in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program in 2011

CMS has posted the 2011 Medicare Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program Eligible Professionals Public Use File (PUF) to the EHR website. This new file contains data on Eligible Professionals (EPs) who participated in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program in 2011.

The CMS 2011 Medicare EHR Incentive Program Eligible Professionals PUF provides detailed information about EPs who attested as of December 22, 2011, including each provider’s type, specialty, and his/her responses to the meaningful use core and menu measures. The PUF excludes data from hospitals in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program, which will be posted at a later date. There is no 2011 data available for participants in the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, who received incentive payments in 2011 only for adopting, implementing, or upgrading to certified EHR technology.

Additional information on the PUF can be found on the Data and Reports page of the EHR website.
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National Provider Call – Physician Quality Reporting System & Electronic Prescribing (eRx) – Register Now

National Provider Call — Physician Quality Reporting System & Electronic Prescribing  (eRx) – Register Now

Tuesday, May 22; 1:30-3pm ET

CMS will host a National Provider Call with question and answer session. CMS subject matter experts will provide an overview of the 2013 Electronic Prescribing Payment Adjustment and an overview of the 2012 Physician Quality Reporting System Medicare EHR Incentive Pilot.

Target Audience:  All Medicare Fee-For-Service Providers, Medical Coders, Physician Office Staff, Provider Billing Staff, Electronic Health Records Staff, and Vendors

Agenda:

• Opening Remarks
• Program Announcements
• Overview of the 2013 Electronic Prescribing Payment Adjustment
• Overview of the 2012 Physician Quality Reporting System Medicare EHR Incentive Pilot
• Question & Answer Session

Registration Information:  In order to receive call-in information, you must register for the call on the CMS Upcoming National Provider Calls webpage. Registration will close at 12pm on the day of the call or when available space has been filled; no exceptions will be made, so please register early.

Presentation:  The presentation for this call will be posted at least one day in advance on the FFS National Provider Calls webpage. In addition, a link to the slide presentation will be emailed to all registrants on the day of the call.
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Additional Information on Home Health Face-to-Face Encounter Requirements

On May 7, CMS released an MLN article designed to provide education on the contents of the home health certification, including homebound criteria and requirements for the face-to-face encounter and documentation. It includes guidance that physicians, non-physician practitioners, physician support personnel, and home health agencies can use to ensure that all certification requirements are understood and met. In addition, on May 4, updated face-to-face encounter Questions & Answers were posted and are available through the CMS Home Health Agency (HHA) spotlight page.
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Providers who Receive Error Codes H20203 and H45255 Need to Balance Bill

Providers who receive rejection codes H20203 and/or H45255 will need to balance bill their patients’ supplemental payers for any balances left after Medicare. CMS deeply regrets that these error conditions have arisen.

On February 29, 2012, CMS alerted Medicare physicians/practitioners, providers, and suppliers to three (3) edits that they may be seeing reflected on special provider notification letters that they receive from their local Fiscal Intermediary (FI), Carrier, A/B Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC), or Durable Medical Equipment MAC (DME MAC). These edits had resulted, or are still resulting, from defects within our coordination of benefits (COB) HIPAA 837 compliance editing. The defects associated with the firing of edits H51108 and H20203 at the Coordination of Benefits Contractor (COBC) were resolved on January 16 and February 27, respectively. CMS has the following additional information updates to offer regarding edits H20203 and H45255:

• H20203:  Element CLM16 is present though marked ‘Not Used’

• Update:  Medicare was able to repair all affected 837 professional claims right after February 27, 2012.  Unfortunately, due to more highly critical HIPAA 5010 fixes that were needed to the version 5010 837 institutional COB/crossover claims process, the Fiscal Intermediary Shared System (FISS) was unable to resend 837 institutional claims that incorrectly rejected with error code H20203. Fortunately, the overall volume of affected claims was determined to be very low. Providers that received rejection code H20203 on their provider notification letters issued from their FI or A/B MAC will need to balance bill their patients’ supplemental payers for any balances left after Medicare.

H45255:  The Other Subscriber Primary Identifier (2330A NM109) Cannot be the same as the group or policy number (2320 SBR03)

• Resolution:  COBC’s translation routine will scrub the duplicate identifier that is present in 2320 SBR03.
• Updated confirmed fix date:  May 18, 2012
• Scope of Impact:  The current problem seems to only be impacting HIPAA 5010A1 837 professional claims billed to Medicare by physicians/practitioners and DMEPOS suppliers. The error is principally impacting crossover claims that would have been transferred to North Dakota Medicaid. (Note:  This is due to its reporting of the Medicare Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN) as the policy number for crossover claim purposes).
• Update:  Because certain Carriers, A/B MACs, and DME MACs have been holding generation of their provider notification letters tied to rejection code H45255 since February 2012, CMS has determined that a future claim repair action after May 18, 2012, would not be viable. Therefore, physicians/practitioners and suppliers may be seeing error H45255 on their provider notification letters. If physicians/practitioner and supplier offices see this rejection code, they will need to balance bill their patients’ supplemental payer for any balances remaining after Medicare.

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Major Improvements to Medicare Online Enrollment System

Over the last year, CMS has listened to your feedback about the Medicare online enrollment system (PECOS) and made improvements to:

• Incorporate search capabilities on the My Enrollments page
• Increase access to information, and
• Allow electronic signature of the Certification Statement and Electronic Funds Transfer Agreement.

The following upgrades are now available:

Overall Usability

Users will now have a search and filter feature that will allow the user to filter enrollments on the My Enrollments Page. Users will be able to filter the enrollments shown on the My Enrollments Page based on: Medicare ID, National Provider Identifier (NPI), or by selecting an Enrollment Type, Enrollment Status, or State. Additional data has been added to the enrollment data on the My Enrollments Page, i.e. Enrollment Type, Medicare ID, and Practice Location.

Access to More Information

Users will also be able to see if a request for revalidation has been sent by the Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC).  A “Revalidation Notice Sent” date will be displayed on the My Enrollments page. This will reflect the date in which the Revalidation Letter was mailed by the MAC to the provider/supplier. The date will be displayed on the My Enrollments page for 120 days.

In addition, users will be able to identify those enrollments that are accredited for Advanced Diagnostic Imaging (ADI) Services. An ADI Services indicator will be visible on the My Enrollments page as either a “Yes” or “No”.

Electronic Submission and Signature of Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) Agreement

Users can now complete and submit EFT Agreements electronically with the option to e-sign the document. If the provider/supplier submits the EFT agreement electronically and chooses not to e-sign, they shall include a hardcopy form of the completed and signed EFT agreement with its supporting documentation to the contractor.  Providers/suppliers are still required to physically mail confirmation of account information on bank letterhead, or a voided check whether the EFT is submitted electronically or via the paper version. Along with the documentation, it is also important that the provider/supplier print and mail the enrollment submission confirmation page containing the web tracking ID. This will ensure that the supporting documents mailed to your MAC get associated with your electronic application submission.

Did you know?

All FFS providers, including Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Facilities, and Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) can take advantage of Internet-Based PECOS to check and update Medicare enrollment information.
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Anyone who has read my writing for any period of time knows that I am a big proponent of No Statements!

Patient statements are a waste of time and resources. Think of what your life might be like without statements:

No monthly expense to generate or send statements via electronic service or printing and stuffing.

1. No need to sort them out of the mail, open them, post them, copy or scan them, and deposit them.
2. No returned checks.
3. When three or more statements don’t zero-balance the account, no need to prepare the accounts to be sent to third-party collections and write them off.
4. No need to dismiss the patient from the practice.
5. No need to post any collections payments and adjustment to the accounts.
6. No need to deal with the patient when they want to return to the practice and you have to deal with it.

But what takes the place of statements?

Credit Cards.

Having a credit-card-on-file program in your practice has the potential to simplify patient collections, as well as improving your cash flow. Let’s take it a step at a time:

• Evaluate your patient base to determine if a credit-card on file program will work for you. As of the end of 2011, creditcard.com says there was a total of more than 1 billion credit and debit cards (Visa, M/C and A/E only) in circulation in the U.S., and the average person has 2.7 cards. Almost everyone has a credit or debit card and they routinely use them to pay bills.
• Once you decide you want a credit-card-on-file program, decide on a time-frame to implement it.
• Start communicating to patients that you are going to a credit-card-on-file program.
• Shop for an online credit card processor that allows you to set up payment plans and process refunds.
• Develop your workflow for collecting at time of service, and for using the credit card on file to charge balances and make refunds after the EOBs arrive.
• Role play and practice with the staff to make sure they feel confident explaining the credit-card-on-file program to patients.
• Go Live!

Want more information on how to create your Credit-Card-On-File program? Manage My Practice is giving a webinar on the topic on May 29th – look for the announcement and registration information next week.

Photo credit: 401K

In my experience working with leaders at all levels within an organization, many people do not want the truth.  They would like others to tell them what either makes them feel comfortable, or shows that others agree with their thinking.  Unfortunately, these leaders are playing a potentially dangerous game. If you are on the road and about to be hit by a truck, wouldn’t you want someone to point this out to you? Of course you would.  In business, the unwillingness to be open to feedback is similar to being hit by a truck, it could be fatal.  Your insistence that others not bring you the truth (even if it’s painful) could keep the issue alive with potential negative consequences.

 The following are a few suggestions relative to feedback:

 See Feedback as a Gift

 Thank Others for Their Feedback

Accept the Feedback & Commit to Change

As you review the feedback, commit to a development plan to achieve positive results.  If you need to modify your behavior in some way, make the commitment to do so and accept ongoing feedback.  This will improve your overall effectiveness and build stronger business relationships.

 Promote Feedback Within Your Team

Encourage team members to give feedback to each other.  During staff meetings you could ask individuals to acknowledge others for support they had given to them. You should have them discuss ways in which they can support each other in the future.  The key here is to promote an environment where every team member is encouraged to help colleagues enhance their performance (i.e. everyone wins).

Commit to Giving Feedback

 Demonstrate that you are a person willing to give feedback with the purpose of sincerely trying to assist others to reach their full potential. When others recognize your sincerity, and know that you are trying to be helpful, the feedback will usually be appreciated.  The more you model what it means to provide timely and valuable feedback (where you specifically describe the situation observed and the impact on others) and offer others advice or guidance as needed, you become a trusted mentor.

 Many years ago a colleague said the following – “Your friends are those who after lunch tell you that spinach is stuck between your teeth.” Wouldn’t you want to know this before you leave the restaurant? Who can you trust to tell you this? Your job is to create the want. When others trust that you are open to feedback, grateful for feedback, and willing to help them – you will receive feedback. If others believe that you will judge or get upset by their feedback – you will leave restaurants with spinach in your teeth.

Leadership is all about the desire of others to want to follow. When you treat others with respect (which includes providing timely feedback aimed at helping others to succeed), the desire will be there.

 Great leaders model what it means to give and receive valuable feedback. They openly share with others, and are grateful to those who point things out to them that can be quite beneficial.

The next time someone provides valuable feedback – genuinely thank them. It may very well be the difference between success and failure.

We hope you enjoy looking ahead with us, and share your ideas, reactions and comments below!

Startup Medigram Delivers HIPAA-Compliant Provider-to-Provider Text Messaging

Care Coordination and team-based approaches get lot of air-time while discussing reducing healthcare costs, but few new solutions focus on one of our system’s most basic challenges: how doctors communicate with one another. Three Stanford alums are hoping to change that with Medigram, a new software solution that allows HIPAA-compliant group messaging between doctors. This will undoubtedly disrupt the world of traditional paging systems, but will ease almost global risk-management fears of sending PHI (Protected Health Information) over unsecured networks such as traditional SMS text messaging. Replacing pagers, Medigram allows groups to move their communication systems to a “BYOD” or “Bring Your Own Device” approach that would cut down on hardware costs and training time while increasing physician engagement. Medigram is currently in private Beta at three California Hospitals.

(via iMedicalApps)

Healthcare Pricing Tool Castlight gets $100 Million in Funding to Inform the Consumer Patient

Another big front in the fight against healthcare costs is transparency in pricing – or the lack thereof. With prices for procedures that can vary widely, it is often very difficult for the patient to make an informed decision as a consumer or even do basic comparison shopping. San Francisco-based startup Castlight hopes to change that with a web application which offers quality and price information about medical procedures to self-insured employers and their workers who could use this information to save themselves and their companies money. Castlight already has about 40 clients, and recently made headlines when it announced it had raised a cool $100M in capital to expand its efforts. According to TechCrunch, it is “one of the largest venture rounds for a healthcare IT company on record”, with many speculating an IPO is in the works next. Clearly, the problem in Healthcare spending is big enough that those who can find ways to solve it should expect big financial opportunities.

(via TechCrunch)

PricewaterhouseCoopers Advises Hospitals to Connect Their Social Media Efforts to Their Business Plans

According to a new survey and report issued by PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Health Research Institute, hospitals and hospital systems that neglect to engage in social media, or fully “connect” their social media plans to their business plans will risk missing out on opportunities to engage with their patients. Social media is more and more a place that patients are not only hanging out and talking to friends, but also looking for and sharing information. For now, the groups that have strong footholds in the social media arena are a little ahead of the curve, but as the demographics of our country shift older, their children are more and more accustomed to getting and distributing health information through these channels. So companies that ignore the space entirely are at risk of finding themselves with an antiquated marketing approach almost overnight.

(via CMIO)

Be sure to check back soon for another 2.0 Tuesday!

Learning “mindful meditation and communication” skills may sound to some doctors like a luxury for which they don’t have time, but new research from the University of Rochester confirms it may be well worth the investment for physicians and their patients.

The study, published in Academic Medicine, is a follow-up to a paper the researchers published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2009. For the initial study, Howard Beckman, M.D., clinical professor of Medicine and Family Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center, and colleagues enrolled 70 physicians in a mindfulness training program that involved eight weekly sessions, followed by 10 monthly sessions. They found that participants were better equipped to handle psychological distress, fend off burnout and improve their well-being. For the follow-up, the team interviewed 20 of the physicians about their experience with the training.

Highlights from their feedback and the rest of the article can be read at FiercePracticeManagement here.

Photo credit: Wikipedia

Three technology trends are creating big opportunities for healthcare providers and managers to improve their bottom line, drive savings, and empower a mobile workforce with “The Cloud”:

1. Improved cellular and network access to the Internet at all times, from all devices.

1. More powerful, less expensive smartphones and mobile devices to harness this improved access.

1. The move to deliver computing services to these mobile devices, as well as traditional personal computers through these ubiquitous, powerful Internet connections, so that most of the work is actually done “In the Cloud”- saving a lot of resources.

The Cloud is more than just a fashionable concept – this is a real change in the way people work- and leading organizations are looking past the buzz into the substantive improvements that technology can offer in work flow and cash flow.

NOTE: For those who have not heard the term before, you can always substitute “the internet” for the cloud. Do you get your email in a web browser? Cloud-based email! Do you like to stream your movies to your TV? Media in the cloud! Do you have anywhere you save important stuff online for either security or posterity? Yep – this is cloud-based storage!

By relying on offsite computing power and a constant high-speed Internet connection, the Cloud has all sorts of advantages over a traditional, on-premise model.

How can the Cloud change your practice today?

The cloud can actually protect things better than you can. For less money.

If you have your valuable documents stored in on-site servers, or on personal desktops, you are at risk. Cloud services offer auditability, encryption, and redundancy, and with strong end-user security practices in place, can provide healthcare organizations with absolute top of the line data security AND put the replacement and maintenance back on the vendor. You pay for access, and pay only for what you need.

Moving documents to the cloud not only protects them physically, but keeps them  at your fingertips and the fingertips of permissioned users. Separated data facilities, redundant storage, and professional grade encryption are all more secure than the traditional, “server in the closet” model.

 The cloud can mobilize your practice, but keep everyone on the same page.

The modern medical practice employs providers and administrative and clinical staff that bring powerful mobile devices to work everyday – and take them home too. By giving your key decision makers access to their work files outside of the office, you give them the tools of a work computer anywhere they go. Physicians can handle office tasks on their own schedule, and in their own setting. Administrators can access critical documents from a phone, or a home laptop as easily as they would their desktop. The access you pay for is everywhere: if you have a web or wireless connection, you can access your files.

Tedious, in-house FTP setups, or VPN’ing into the network can be complex and costly solutions; work-arounds like emailing yourself the work files you need, or loading USB flash drives can introduce security risks. And, how can you be sure you remembered to send the latest version? If your work data is hosted in the Cloud, the availability of what you are working on is as much of an afterthought as the lights and water at your office. Updates to files are pushed to everyone immediately too, so you know your team always has the latest. With mobile applications and network access, employees can not only work from home – they can work from anywhere they have a mobile device and service.

The Cloud turns computing power into a utility.

In terms of your practice cash flow, cloud computing enables you to flatten IT spending into a much more predictable outlay. If you own your server, you are very familiar with the “update cycle”.  Determining the right time for updates, upgrades, replacements and expansion to keep up with your needs, comply with new regulations, ease pain points for the staff, or improve security can be an endless loop of spending lots of time and money.

In effect, a practice is never out of the upgrade cycle, they are only on the easier end of one for a while. The cloud allows you to simply pay your monthly access and storage fees to your providers, and change plans as soon as you need more or less. Upgrades are pushed automatically, and built into monthly fees. You “pay as you go” for what you use – and only that. Scaling your IT resources up and down as you need them lets you fine tune your budget to your needs, and lets you turn your upgrade cycle into a predictable fixed expense. Employees can “B.Y.O.D.” or “Bring Your Own Device”- to give them a familiar hardware and software interface, and to give employers lower hardware costs.

How many of the things on this list are taking up space in your office, and are at risk of being misplaced? How many can you locate and share with your employees, physicians and stakeholders right now?

• Physician Credentials, Privileges, Re-appointments, CME
• Monthly and Quarterly financials
• Daily work – Deposit slips, EOBs, Checks, Superbills
• Practice Management reports
• Accounts Payable invoices
• Contracts
• Partial or full paper charts that will not be included in the EMR
• Personnel files
• Personnel policies and employee handbook
• PTO requests
• Board agendas and minutes
• Applicant resumes and paperwork
• Benefit plan books
• Retirement plan documents
• Tax documents
• Agendas and Minutes of Staff and Board Meetings
• Policy changes and reviews
• Templates and forms
• Equipment user manuals
• Referring physician holiday card or gift list
• Anything else stored offsite or in your office that doesn’t need to be taking space and costing $$$

Where do I start?

Manage My Practice thinks leveraging the cloud is an important way for medical offices to achieve efficiency and reduce costs. In fact, we think it is so important that we have partnered with cloud leader Box to bring you MMP Fileconnect – a product specific to healthcare that allows you to manage your practice documents from anywhere. Box has installations in more than 70% of the Fortune 500 companies, and we think it’s the right product for you. Contact us to learn how Fileconnect can start helping your practice today!

“Physicians are reaching the tipping point on their business models, particularly in primary care,” Tom Blue, executive director of the American Academy of Private Physicians, recently told the San Antonio News-Express in an article about concierge and direct-pay practices. “They just can’t make ends meet. They’re being forced to make decisions about changing their revenue models.”

And while no one knows exactly how fast the retainer trend is growing, a 2005 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office found there are 146 retainer physicians nationwide, noted USA Today. The article also cited a 2009 report commissioned by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission that compiled a list of 756 retainer physicians. And according to a 2010 survey of members of the American Academy of Family Physicians, 3 percent of respondents said they ran some form of retainer practice, up from 1.2 percent in 2009. Finally, the San Antonio News reported that the American Academy of Private Physicians estimates 1,100 primary care physicians don’t accept insurance, double the number of five years ago.

Click here to read the rest of the article at FiercePracticeManagement.

Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife