John Shufeldt, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP My kids might offer a dissenting opinion, but I think I am pretty hip. And, although I have no idea what these lyrics mean … I want your ugly I want your disease I want your everything As long as it’s free I want your love Love-love-love I want your love … I still have Lady Gaga on in my iTunes. In fact, I kind of like these lyrics; …
Read MoreTurning Rejection Into Opportunity
A quarter of a century ago, a former colleague of mine who specialized in stress management told me that everyone experiences stress; what matters is how one manages it. Analogous advice would seem to apply to sales: “Every sales professional experiences rejection. What matters is how they manage that rejection.” This month’s column features a plan for learning how to live with rejection, and turning it to your advantage.
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Beyond Vital Signs: Managing by Metrics for Optimal Health of Your Practice
Urgent message: Establishing a system of metrics and ‘dashboards’ allows the urgent care operator to quantify key success factors and company values that may otherwise be impossible to measure. Laurel Stoimenoff Metric – Function: noun \’me-trik\ Def: A standard of measurement – Merriam Webster Online Dictionary. “What gets measured gets managed.” This pearl applies not only to the behemoths like General Electric, but also to a single-site urgent care center. A 2008 survey by the …
Read MoreDeveloping Data: May, 2010
In early 2008, UCA revamped its annual survey in conjunction with researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University with the goal of assuring that the UCA Benchmarking Committee’s efforts produced a scientifically valid report. Here, we present some of the data from this landmark survey. In this issue: How common is it for urgent care centers to process lab tests onsite – and what tests are they, typically? The question regarding lab tests was …
Read MoreExceptional Relationships Lead to Exceptional Sales
Writing Off Patient Responsibility, Modifier-51, and More on New vs. Established E/M Codes
DAVID STERN, MD (Practice Velocity) Q. I listened to your UCA coding webinar, and it raised a question. You mentioned that if we bill insurance for a 99051 and the payor denies payment as “patient responsibility,” then we should bill the patient and not write it off. Does that hold true to the S9088, as well? I often see this code either denied or applied to the patient’s coinsurance/deductible. Question submitted by Megan Fontenot, Integrity …
Read MoreA Slip of the Lip Can Sink a Practice
When I was 11, attending Our Lady of the Wayside, I was on the wrong side of this exchange during a Marriage and the Catholic Family class, taught by a “largess nun” named Sister Marie Magdalena, whom the entire seventh grade called “MooMoo.” MooMoo: “Sexual relations are a very beautiful thing and can only occur between a husband and a wife.” JS after being called upon: “How would you know how beautiful it is?” Now, …
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The Case for Relationship based Clerical Care
Urgent message: Embedding a clerical component within a relationship-based care approach has been shown to improve both financial outcomes and patient satisfaction. Noel Clinton, BS Introduction When we hear the term “relationship-based care,” we tend to think first about the relationship between the clinical staff and the patient. However, a prospective program as Bassett Healthcare in Cooperstown, NY has shown that positive patient care and improved financial outcomes are also a result of developing a …
Read MoreDeveloping Data: April, 2010
In early 2008, UCA revamped its annual survey in conjunction with researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University with the goal of assuring that the UCA Benchmarking Committee’s efforts produced a scientifically valid report. Here, we present some of the data from this landmark survey. In this issue: What orthopedic-related services do urgent care centers tend to offer? * “Fracture care” includes splinting and casting. The question regarding orthopedic-related services was just one segment …
Read MoreCoding X-Rays Ordered by Outside Docs, G-code for Drug Testing, and 99051 for Scheduled Visits
DAVID STERN, MD (Practice Velocity) Q. We have quite a few primary care physicians who regularly send patients to our urgent care center for x-rays. These patients have a prescription for the x-ray service, and they don’t want to be seen by the urgent care doctor. I have several questions related to this service: Should we collect the urgent care copay (or) radiology imaging services copay (which is usually $0)? Should we code S9083 to …
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