Practice Management

Research has shown that follow-up text messages are more effective than telephone calls at reducing hospital readmissions or emergency department visits following hospital discharge.

“In medicine, we're not taught the business of medicine, but the day that you become faculty at an institution or private practice, you learn that it is a business, but yet nowhere in our training are we taught that,” says Michelle Pearlman, MD.

Researchers compared survey responses from patients who had in-person visits and those who used telehealth consultations at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

"When you plan to retire determines how long you must save for and how long investment returns can compound," writes Jeff Witz, CFP.

“Although people will look back and say, how in the world do urology and gastroenterology fit in with each other? They have everything to do with each other because we focus on the foundation,” says Michelle Pearlman, MD.

"I think it's important to realize we're not one-dimensional, that even if we have our day job as urologists, a lot of these things affect us," says Diana Londoño, MD.

Industry expert provides in-depth advice.

“Effective January 1, 2023, anyone who performs a laparoscopic simple prostatectomy should be using CPT code 55867 to report that procedure,” says Jonathan Rubenstein, MD.

“What's more concerning is we're seeing an increase in advanced or late-stage diagnosis, which I've seen in my practice as well,” says Derek J. Lomas, MD, PharmD.

"What came out of that meeting was looking at wellness and burnout as a preventative thing," says Diana Londoño, MD.

The study considered 4 dimensions of the workplace: equal access, work-life balance, freedom from gender bias, and supportive leadership.

"Last year was a year of many changes socially within the United States. Some of those changes stirred up a lot of interest, enthusiasm, and energy for trying to direct our community toward positive change," said Manoj Monga, MD, FACS.

Patient data is so valuable — and smaller providers are more vulnerable — that hackers are increasingly targeting physician groups.

"The first takeaway I would say is that there is not only a lot of passion for each of these different areas in our society, but also there's a lot of expertise and experience within our urologic community from which we can all draw upon," says Manoj Monga, MD, FACS.

"Digital engagement technology, which can be seamlessly integrated into a health system or hospital's existing processes," writes Chelsea King Arthur.

“These are codes that had not been updated in decades—since they were originally written,” says Jonathan Rubenstein, MD.

If you’re a doctor, your job is to take care of others. But too often, that comes at the expense of taking care of yourself.

“Now, we only have 1 code set that we have to worry about instead of 2 code sets,” says Jonathan Rubenstein, MD.

Section 179 of the IRS Tax Code allows businesses to deduct up to the full purchase price of qualified equipment, technology, software, and other qualifying purchases from their taxes within the same tax year.

“Practices need to be aware that they need to be able to budget for those who perform in-office services that have very little clinical labor, but may have a high practice expense overall,” Jonathan Rubenstein, MD, says.

“Every year, we see our reimbursements go down. Every year, there seem to be some sort of patch,” says Jonathan Rubenstein, MD.

Established patients with chronic problems may push back against charges.

Staffing has emerged as a top issue for physicians, and heading into 2023 the situation may be going from bad to worse.

"What I hope to see next year is continuing improvement in standards of care when we’re talking about [prostate-specific antigen] screening and prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment," says urologist Michael Cox, MD.

“We found many factors in urology that were associated with the inability to follow through with a video visit,” says Kevin Shee, MD, PhD.

Jeremy D. Sherer, JD, explains everything physicians need to know about using telemedicine in their practice in 2023.

Although that solution doesn’t exist yet and physicians can’t change the prior authorization demands from payers, here are steps to minimize the burden.

"Unfortunately, there is no 'one size fits all' answer to when you should start receiving Social Security benefits," writes Jeff Witz, CFP.

The new payment rate goes into effect January 2023 and will expand access to care for Medicare beneficiaries.

Bill reduces but does not prevent cut to physician reimbursement for Medicare in 2023.