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Going paperless: Saving your practice from its medical record nightmare
Jessica Taylor Healthcare AdministrationStop me if this sounds familiar: A medical practice with about 50,000 patients has a paper chart for each. Like many small practices, a majority of the patients have had the same doctor for almost their entire lives — equating to a rather large paper trail. Each day, the employees of this practice put away about 200 charts, but frequently aren't able to finish due to volume.Paper charts and filing are what they consider their worst enemy. Can you relate? Do you feel their pain? Digitizing may be your new best friend.
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Just another day at the office?
Dr. Howard Koseff Medical & Allied HealthcareYou know the usual morning drill: alarm, haul yourself out of bed, coffee, exercise, breakfast, news, and then it's the carbon-burning commute to work. The order in which we get the list done may vary, but this is essentially what the start of an average day looks like not only for family doctors but for most of the working public, too. Well, not for me.
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Why company culture is so important
Erica Cohen Healthcare AdministrationUnless you've spent the last decade or so living under a rock, you've definitely heard the phrase "company culture" being bandied about. And while it's become the center of attention in many discussions about how to build a successful company, I have to wonder if everyone who talks about company culture actually understands what it means and how to create and maintain an authentic one. Let's consider the definition of company or organizational culture and why it matters.
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Patient-generated data likely to grow as meaningful use moves forward
Pamela Lewis Dolan Healthcare AdministrationStage 3 of the meaningful use incentive program will almost certainly expand the collection and use of patient-generated data, which could give a boost to technology such as home-monitoring devices and patient portals.
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Health spending growth low for 4th consecutive year
Pamela Lewis Dolan Healthcare AdministrationFor the fourth consecutive year, growth in healthcare spending remained historically low. But the likelihood this trend will continue, and how the Affordable Care Act will impact it, is still in question. From 2009 to 2012, the U.S. saw the slowest growth in healthcare spending since the government started tracking these trends in the 1960s, according to data released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
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Medical school education challenges
Rosemary Sparacio Medical & Allied HealthcareIt is no secret that the cost of medical school education has skyrocketed, and enrolling in a medical school in the U.S. is difficult. Along with that, or perhaps as a reaction to that, students turn to schools out of the country and look for other ways to pay for this education. In August, the U.S. government proposed tying students' financial aid to its ratings of colleges using graduation rates, postgraduation employment and income, and affordability as parameters for the ratings. This has proven disastrous for medical schools in the past.
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Food for thought: Exercise your optimism muscle
Karen Childress Healthcare AdministrationIf you routinely hear phrases like "Why are you so negative?" coming from people who know you well — your spouse, practice partner, office manager or even your children — it may be time to work on building up your optimism muscle. The dictionary definition of optimism is, "a feeling or belief that good things will happen in the future," but deep-seated optimism goes beyond simply the ability to maintain a sunny, hopeful outlook on life.
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Health app certification program halted
Pamela Lewis Dolan Medical & Allied HealthcareJust days after the first class of certified mobile apps was announced by an organization that promised to take the guesswork out of app recommendations for physicians, the certification program was halted after it was found to be significantly flawed.
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Corporate asset protection: Shielding your practice from lawsuits, threats
David B. Mandell, JD, MBA, and Jason M. O'Dell, MS, CWM Healthcare AdministrationIn attempting to protect a medical practice or healthcare business against lawsuits and potential creditor threats, most such businesses leave much to be desired. They may rely too heavily on insurance, have suboptimal corporate structures in place and even unknowingly miss out on significant tax advantages.
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Meaningful use shows promise in cutting adverse drug events
Pamela Lewis Dolan Healthcare AdministrationThe launch of the meaningful use incentive program was accompanied by many promises of improved patient safety and reduced costs. A new study finds one way in which those promises are holding true. Hospitals that adopted electronic health record systems featuring all five of the meaningful use program's stage 1 medication management functions had fewer adverse drug events compared with hospitals that have not yet implemented those features, according to a study published online Nov. 22 by the American Journal of Managed Care.
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