Medina, Ohio, dermatologist Helen M. Torok, M.D., says her busy practice could spend $3,000 to $5,000 every quarter on a printed and snail-mailed patient newsletter. Instead, creating a business page on Facebook eliminated that expense and allows her to offer patients more timely information.
There's no better time than now to take a fresh look at opportunities to boost your bottom line. Whether it's saving money or earning more, these missed opportunities may be right under your nose. Regardless of the size of your dermatology practice or its position in the local healthcare market, you are likely finding the margin between revenues and expenses is getting narrower and narrower.
As the sluggish economy continues to pinch both patients and practices, dermatologists are working harder to collect what's owed them - and to spend smarter on business expenses.
Few can say that they have served their professions by presiding over not just one or two - but rather, many - regional, national and international societies. C. William Hanke, M.D., M.P.H., can. The Carmel, Ind., dermatologist has been president of 11 professional societies, the largest of which was the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) from 2008 to 2009.
The Inga Ellzey Practice Group (IEPG), the leading expert on dermatology coding, documentation and reimbursement and a Dermatology Times contributor, has spun off a new company, Ellzey Coding Solutions (ECS).
Even with the latest technology and the best-trained and experienced staff, efficiency isn't a given - you have to work at ensuring well-oiled work flows in your dermatology practice. Using your time wisely is important to your practice's revenue because, unlike those supplies on the shelf, your time can't be stored.
When Amy Derick, M.D., mentors dermatology residents and others who are just breaking into dermatology practice, she comes across not only as a peer, but also as an icon. She's young - 34. She only started practice about five years ago, so the challenges of a startup are fresh in her mind.
Patricia K. Farris, M.D., never thought she'd experience a natural disaster that would wipe out her practice, a city and an entire infrastructure. Then came Hurricane Katrina. "You couldn't call a patient who had a melanoma. It was so beyond, beyond," says Dr. Farris, who practices in Metairie, La. After the 2005 storm, she says, "I was out of business for seven months."
In planning for disaster, physicians should first analyze their specific risks. That's the advice of Italo Subbarao, D.O., deputy editor of Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness and director of the Public Health Readiness Office in the American Medical Association's Center for Public Health Preparedness and Disaster Response.
Before investing in aesthetic devices, physicians need to do their homework and carefully weigh the pros and cons of each device and attend lectures focused on various aesthetic devices and technologies. This approach may help them ultimately choose an aesthetic device that is right for them and their patients.
I am a total proponent of the use of technology. As the owner of two single-specialty billing services, I know the value of using the latest technology to save time, optimize the use of human resources, increase efficiency, reduce errors and redundancy and keep the planet "green." But I want providers to have realistic expectations of what an EMR can offer with respect to billing for services rendered and getting paid by insurance carriers.
One benefit of adding cosmetic dermatology to a practice is that procedures are usually performed on a fee-for-service basis, rather than relying on ever-diminishing insurance reimbursements for medical dermatology. It all sounds good, but what happens when a patient doesn't plan on paying in the first place?
As patients take on more financial responsibility for their healthcare, dermatologists are finding themselves in a challenging new role - being a commodity in a marketplace where patients shop for services. Success in this new environment requires your dermatology practice to retain its current patients, and attract new ones.
The EHR Incentive Program offers bonus payments for eligible professionals who make meaningful use of a certified system. Although the government's initiative is labeled under a single moniker, there are really two distinct programs for eligible professionals: Medicare and Medicaid. When you register for the EHR Incentive Program, you must choose one or the other.
Succeeding in social media requires focusing on high-impact outlets, investing time and conveying a personal touch. Unlike word-of-mouth, today's social media allow people to connect with others outside of their traditional social circle without constraints of time or space.
The economic downturn has certainly affected your dermatology practice, decreasing patient volume and employee morale while increasing your overhead. The most significant challenge, however, may lie in the impact of the recession on your patients.
The number of older physicians who are practicing is giving rise to questions from groups such as the National Patient Safety Foundation. On Call asked dermatologists whether there was any process in their area for handling doctors whose mental and physical abilities might be diminishing, but who were unaware their ability to practice effectively was being hampered by slowing cognitive abilities.
Businesses have found sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to be effective ways to keep their name in the public, and physicians continue to sign on as they explore ways to keep in touch with patients.
From IT costs to insurance contracts, economic pressures are pushing solo practitioners and small private practices to join larger groups, sources say. But despite many physicians' belief that small dermatology practices are a threatened species, some predict that viable niches for well-run small practices will persist into the foreseeable future. Still, the numbers show a downward trend.
The movement toward quality EMRs for dermatologists is great. It will help providers have better notes and legible accounts of the patient-physician encounter, and it will also help with ICD-9 and CPT coding. In the end, however, providers still have to know what they did in the exam room, realize whether it is a chargeable event, and if it is, choose from an array of codes.
The anticipation is over: Registration for the government's incentive program for electronic health records (EHR) opened Jan. 3. Revealed in February 2009 as part of the then-new stimulus package, the legislation promoting EHRs was aptly named the HITECH Act - the acronym for Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health.
Looming reimbursement cuts from government and commercial payers worry many dermatologists, all of whom fear a decline in practice profitability. Before you take dramatic cost-cutting measures, make a careful review of your practice's efficiency.
Defending one's online honor begins long before someone posts a cyber-slam, according to several experts who spoke at Cosmetic Surgery Forum 2010 in Las Vegas in December.
The 2011 Medicare physician fee schedule published Nov. 29 by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) offers valuable insight into reimbursement for 2011. The final rule adjusts work relative value units downward for many services, but dermatology emerges as one of winners, getting a 4 percent increase overall.
One part of the healthcare reform package mandated under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act includes a measure to give physicians a financial incentive for developing "meaningful use" of their certified electronic health record technology. As I learn more and more about the meaningful use provision, I realize it involves a great deal more than just digitalizing patients' medical records.
