Posted on November 13, 2008 by pookiemd
Ah, yes, ICD-10 is coming! Yes, the new coding system with 10 times more codes than the previous is slated to go live in 2011. Much of the world now uses ICD-10 because it has more codes, as apparently, we are running out of codes. You, my beloved provider, will be shouldering the burden of [...]
Filed under: Efficiency, Health Care Delivery, Increasing Revenues | Tagged: AMA, billing, CMS, coding, doctors, family practice, health insurance, ICD-10, ICD-9, medicaid, medicare, physicians, primary care, small practices, software, Starbucks | 1 Comment »
Posted on November 10, 2008 by pookiemd
My trusty health insurance, for which I pay handsomely, (yes, I am self-insured) sent me an email titled, “Calls could cost you.” It states that calling your physician may cost you. I quote:
“Many times people call their doctor to ask a question, resolve a concern, or ask about a referral. Traditionally, doctors haven’t charged to [...]
Filed under: Efficiency, Health Care Delivery, Increasing Revenues, coding, health insurance | Tagged: billing, coding, ethics, family practice, Humana, internal medicine, lawyer, malpractice, phone calls, physician, primary care, triage guidelines | Leave a Comment »
Posted on November 4, 2008 by pookiemd
All right, pencils out, notebooks at the ready! Quiz to follow! Here is Part II of Resuscitating Primary Care. At our last session, we noted the primary care was indeed a “code-blue/COR-0″. As promised, I will apply my laser sharp focus to “fixing” this problem.
Buckle up!
You are a shrink. This is another unavoidable issue. [...]
Filed under: Career track, Health Care Delivery, Increasing Revenues | Tagged: billing, black tuesday, coding, diabetes, doctor, medical coaching, pheo, physician, primary care, psychiatry, reimbursement | 1 Comment »
Posted on November 3, 2008 by pookiemd
As promised, I will turn my laser like focus to the task of “fixing” primary care. I will examine both micro and macro ways of doing this, coming up with to do lists that physicians can implement in their practices as well as global suggestions that will take shifts in health care policy. (Which only we [...]
Filed under: Health Care Delivery, Increasing Revenues | Tagged: billing, black tuesday, coding, doctors, health care, MBA, MD, physicians, primary care, reimbursement, revenues | 1 Comment »
Posted on November 1, 2008 by pookiemd
I have been in practice for 15 years, and most of my colleagues hate primary care. (Remember, I come from a cohort of internists, the ones that should be the defenders primary care!) In my rovings as the ExtraMD I still do some primary care, to keep me honest, and to remind me how hard [...]
Filed under: Health Care Delivery, health insurance | Tagged: black tuesday, coding, doctors, health care, health insurance, nurse anesthetist, overhead, pay, physicians, primary care, reimbursement | 2 Comments »
Posted on October 15, 2008 by pookiemd
Continuing on the primary care waste theme (no, primary care is NOT a waste!), I would like to give you my 10 top ways that primary care physicians waste money.
10 TOP WAYS TO WASTE MONEY IN PRIMARY CARE:
1) Open the office at 9:00, close at 5:00 and have 90 minute lunch.
This practice started back in [...]
Filed under: Increasing Revenues | Tagged: coding, HMO, money, physicians, primary care, waste | 1 Comment »
