You only have to go back about ten years to the “good old days” of being able to surf the internet without fear of your data being breached or corrupted in some manner as to make you take extra safeguards to protect it. Since 2010, when the first major ransomware threat was noted, we’ve steadily seen an increase of attacks on nearly every industry that regularly utilizes electronic data in their daily operations. In 2018, the rate of ransomware attacks totaled in excess of 850 million as reported by PhishMe, Inc and even more startling is the fact that 75% of the companies infected with…

About 3% of all purchased medications expire before their use. Like most medical practices, at some point, you must manage these expired medications. Whether your practice offers sample medications, in-office prepackaged dispensing, or merely administers medication to patients as part of their treatment, it’s inevitable that some of your on-hand stock may get damaged or expire and become unsuitable for patient use. While this medication is certainly of no further value to your practice—and you don’t want to risk it remaining in inventory where it may be inadvertently administered to a…

The use of technology has increased rapidly within the past decade, and the delivery of urgent care medicine has adapted along with it to keep up with demands. Though, often the desire to provide competent but quick care has come at the sacrifice of providing compassionate, patient-centric care. When a practice’s mantra is focused on meeting a “door-to-door” transit time, it’s not easy to develop a lasting or meaningful relationship with the ailing or injured patients at any point of the person’s interaction with your organization. While we surely emphasize friendly customer service, it’s not…

It’s not a surprise to many—practice owners, patients, and providers—that the cost of healthcare has increased drastically in the past several years. While the actual rates for specific services billed might not have changed significantly, the out of pocket cost to patients (deductibles and after-insurance responsibility) has increased by over 30% since 2015. According to a Black BookTM RCM study in 2018, less than 5% of families had a deductible of $500 or less in 2015, while greater than 50% of families now have deductibles in excess of $3000-5000, and over 30% have deductibles higher than…

If your practice is like many others you are likely staffing with a majority of mid-level providers. The reason for doing so may encompass several scenarios, such as difficulties in finding and attracting physicians to lowering staffing costs of operations. One thing is certain, electing to staff with nurse practitioners or physician assistants brings certain challenges when it comes to submitting claims for patient care. Many practices that employ mid-levels to provide patient care believe “incorrectly” that since they have a physician providing oversight AND since that same physician is…

This year has been a big year for Medical Practice Success! We received the amazing Stacy Calvaruso as our new CEO and co-owner, and we’re pleased to announce another industry expert is joining the team: Patrice Pash! She has been named the Director of Client Operations here at MPS. In this role, Patrice brings a wealth of healthcare consulting experience with over 200 successful engagements, which include facilities in the U.S and abroad. Prior to joining Medical Practice Success, she was the Director of Consulting Services for DocuTap and prior to this, she led the consulting team of NMN…

This month we will be providing you with a series of posts related to your top KPIs that will assist you with monitoring the financial health of your organization. In this post, we will be discussing average revenue per visit, front desk collection average, ancillary revenue per visit, and E/M code distribution and how all of these affect your practice. Average Revenue Per Visit – This is the total amount received from both the patient and payor on a single date of service. Shows you the cash that you put in the bank and is used to help forecast upcoming cash flow. • It is usually best to…

Are you having trouble with getting Hydration services paid? Are you billing for each increment correctly? Well, no worries, you are not a dummy you are just a part of a much larger group of folks who are very smart but don’t really know how to bill for Hydration service in their clinic. So, I have asked DeInda Castellano, our Supervisor of Coding (aka Coding Rockstar), to explain this to us in simple terms. Below are the guidelines that she shared with us. Please remember that you should always confirm with your specific payors regarding any additional instructions and/or special processes…

Like many aspects of modern life, the healthcare industry depends upon the ability of the organization to obtain and process information at a very fast pace. In an environment with such a tight-margin, the ability to acquire necessary data quickly and efficiently can mean the difference between success and financial failure. Many believe the long-standing business rule of profit being made of pennies is even more accurate in healthcare. Therefore, the continued push to look for ways to come up with new technologies and/or processing methods, however small, exists prominently in the industry.

It all starts at the beginning! When 20% of the services of a typical medical practice are considered self-pay and should be collected at the time of service, why do you have so much debt? It just doesn’t make sense… It’s often difficult for your front desk team members to know how much to collect. There’s a difference in a co-payment and co-insurance, as we have discussed before. When you’re looking at your cash flow this is often the one area where you can make a quick impact. However, be careful you don’t scare away or alienate your patients by being…