Practice Management

This article helps you identify the signs of poor scheduling and offers helpful tips to keep you on time.

For the first time in several years, revenue in medical practices declined in 2008, according to data from the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA). Urology, however, was one of a handful of specialties reporting increases in total medical revenue after operating costs.

Here are some tips for developing an incentive plan that will keep your medical staff motivated.

Adding physician videos to a Web site is a unique and easy way to not only make your practice stand out, but also provide another avenue for patient education.

Because, as one urologist observed, "we spend more time with our partners than with our families," the importance of finding qualified urologists whose professional and personal styles are compatible with the colleagues in the practice is paramount.

Because, as one urologist observed, "we spend more time with our partners than with our families," the importance of finding qualified urologists whose professional and personal styles are compatible with the colleagues in the practice is paramount.

Studies show that employee theft robs small business owners, which includes physicians, of $20 to $40 billion annually.

Urologists plan on complying with new rules, but some see it as 'overkill.'

With a tight economy making patients more reluctant to seek medical care, marketing becomes appealing for even stable practices to have a good foothold in the community.

While some urology practices are adding physician extenders, others are having as much difficulty finding them as finding urologists.

Urologists around the country lament the difficulty in finding and keeping good employees, and even gripe about the deteriorating performance and attitudes found in some of the more demanding positions. My advice: They're your employees, so it's time to take ownership of the problem.

In an earlier article, we examined the reasons why an early EMR adopter might need to migrate to an entirely new clinical information system and some of the important issues that need to be addressed in managing that migration. In this article, we show how one practice overcame these challenges.

The controversial concept of medical home calls for a team led by a physician, usually a primary care physician, to be paid extra to handle personalized coordination of a patient's care across the health care system, including acting as liaison with other providers.

With the current physician shortage, if you plan to bring another physician into the practice, you'd better do it right.

The traditional prescribing process can be inefficient. We help you understand the definition of e-prescribing, the case for e-prescribing, and how to get started.

Prostate cancer research deserves the same level of government commitment that other forms of cancer receive, even those that affect young children.

It is important to be aware of the general arrangements (often referred to as "platforms") available for investment management and the alternative methods of compensation for those who are involved in retirement plan accounts.

Although payment is a nice incentive, it is not the main reason to participate in the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative.

President Obama's 2010 budget proposal, with its $630 billion down payment on health care reform over the next decade, appears to contain significant good news for urologists, but never has it been more true: the devil is in the details.

For this article, we interviewed Sundie Hallen, a senior trainer at McGrath Communications Group (www.mcgrathcg.com), who provides 10 tips for giving an effective Internet presentation.

Some urology practices have become complacent about managed care contracts, assuming there's not much they can do about them. But if it's costing more money to see a patient than you are getting paid, it's time to renegotiate or consider unloading the payer.

In reviewing the data for multiple urology practices, the PRS Urology Data Initiative has shown that correctly billing for urodynamics has provided an immediate increase in income without adding new patients.

"I don't subscribe to the theory that reps who come to our office have a tremendous impact on what we do anyway."

AUA lobbyists face huge challenges on Capitol Hill involving four issues important to urologists.

While urology program directors are impressed with this year's group of residency interviewees, some flaws and some generational differences are evident.

The Worker, Retiree, and Employer Recovery Act of 2008, which was signed into law at the end of last year, has a dramatic positive impact on those who are subject to minimum distributions from their individual retirement accounts.

Most practicing physicians will have to deal with the medical malpractice industry at least once in their career despite their best efforts to employ standards of care and reasonable risk management.

Medicare will pay for services provided in the postoperative period if the services fall under these rules: "Treatment for postoperative complications that requires a return trip to the operating room (OR)."

I've never used them. I didn't even know they existed.

Inger Saphire-Bernstein has been named manager of regulation at AUA. Her duties will include monitoring, identifying, and analyzing proposed regulations relevant to urology.