Extending Credit in the Medical Office

Rising deductibles and co-payments among most health insurance plans demand that doctors' offices recognize that collecting patient balances will become more important. Not only will it become a greater part of your accounts receivable - that is, collectible revenue - but the amounts due from each patient will grow to unmanageable size. Full payment at the time of service will be impossible for many patients.

Rather than wait for debt to go bad and writing it off to an expensive collection agency, take control of the situation early in the process by providing payment plans that actually help honest, hardworking patients satisfy their medical debt.

Happy Patients Less Likely to Pursue Lawsuits

Physicians with low patient satisfaction survey scores are sued more often than those receiving top scores. Other studies suggest that no more than 17% of malpractice claims really involve medical negligence resulting in injuries - the rest come from other motivations like overall dissatisfaction.

Patients who believe their physicians really care about them almost never give serious consideration to suing - even in the face of a bad medical outcome. Communicating to patients that they truly are your highest priority requires top-notch customer service.

Quality Care, Affordable Care. Book Offers Keys to Putting Doctors in Control

The topic of healthcare coverage is white-hot right now, but the real job of reducing healthcare costs needs to begin now as well. Reducing healthcare costs is an extremely difficult job, one which requires out-of-the-box thinking to succeed.

Fortunately, reducing variation in healthcare delivery offers a great deal of promise. In his new book, "Quality Care, Affordable Care: How Physicians Can Reduce Variation and Lower Healthcare Costs," Dr. Lawrence Shapiro explains how by using the simple but potent variation-reduction process, physicians can take charge of healthcare reform to improve health and reduce the cost of care.

The Scientific and Objective Call Schedule

Excessive Call continues to be a top reason that doctors seek other employment. It’s simply one of the biggest bones of contention in group practices of every size.

The arguments revolve around a call schedule’s fairness and the resulting volume for each physician. Even a plan perceived as “fair” by all participants won’t suppress physician turnover rates if the group’s size forces everyone to take call more often than desired for their individual lifestyle expectations.

Your call schedule must be as “scientific” and objective as possible, clearly communicated to all concerned, and managed by someone with authority supported by all participants.

Having Informed Patients Turns Out to Be a Positive Thing

Taking the time to encourage patients to study or “read up” on a health topic before the office visit can made the visit pay off in more dividends according to a recent study.  The study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, Decision Making in Prostate Cancer Screening Using Decision Aids vs Usual Care: A Randomized Clinical Trial, shows that informed patient have more productive office visits.