Practice Management

In an attempt to remedy the pressures associated with insurance claims reimbursement for physician services, the American Medical Association has launched the Cure for Claims campaign simultaneously with its first National Health Insurer Report Card on claims processing.

The American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities (AAAASF) has developed new procedural standards intended for ambulatory facilities performing procedures under sedation, which includes those performed by urologists.

Baby boomer urologists are reaching retirement age. This issue raises a number of questions and practical concerns about retirement, especially in group practices.

The first rule to implementing effective practice-building strategies is to carefully examine different approaches and do what you believe in and feel confident about doing. Most urology practices find their greatest success in building from the inside out. That means looking at what is working and taking it to the next level.

A new Medicare audit program set for national rollout will require you to learn the details of current rules, be aggressive in charging for all services according to the rules, and be prepared to pay back some money in the future for any overpayment.

Improving efficiency in the medical office is a major challenge because it often involves spending less time on individual tasks or learning to multitask.

The typical medical practice knows it is important to keep an eye on the accounts receivable, yet physicians are sometimes not sure how to analyze them.

With all the changes you face, it's easy to forget that focusing on the basics just might provide the results you want.

Poor communication skills are a frequently cited factor in a patient's decision to leave a practice or even pursue a malpractice claim against a physician.

Evaluate your existing contracts, re-negotiate them from a position of strength, decide which contracts to drop, and collect the out-of-network fee from your patients for those dropped contracts.

You know it's important to keep a pulse on the business performance of your practice, but how do you do it when time is never on your side?

Understanding the value of a new patient is your first step to building a stellar urology practice.

Currently there are several code choices when using the da Vinci system to perform a robotic radical prostatectomy.

These 30 best practices incorporate compelling evidence that, if implemented, effectively reduce the risk of harming a patient.

Urologists who own or who have an interest in ambulatory surgical centers perform more than three times as many stone surgeries as non-owners do.

Retention of staff in the medical office is emerging as a difficult challenge, and urology practices are no exception.

Safety is an unspoken yet fundamental expectation of almost all personal and business relationships.

As discussed in recent articles, conducting clinical research provides an opportunity to offer additional treatment options to patients and to add income to your bottom line.

Almost any medical practice is prone to ebbs and floods in cash flow. But when the decline in revenue becomes a downward spiral and you're strapped for cash, there is cause for major concern.

Given current Medicare policy, we do not recommend billing either 64450 or 64430 in conjunction with prostate biopsy.

A patient's first impression of his doctor is formed, in large part, when he walks through the door of the practice.

There are 12 sources for patient recruitment that will help drive patients to your study and that are available to almost all private practices.

Audits of hundreds of urologic encounters show that work, documentation, and charges do not match in most cases, for most urologists.

More of our colleagues are turning to clinical research to offer additional treatment options to patients and add income to the bottom line.

A failure to delegate is the silent culprit that steals your time and quickly erodes your practice's profitability.

Busy urologists seeking relief from the demands and responsibilities of running a practice are likely to entertain the possibility of bringing in a partner. But a rush to judgment can lead to mistakes that might otherwise be avoided.

Unless Congress steps in again, physicians participating in the Medicare program will see their fees reduced by an average of 9.9% for 2008, a move that already has prompted a call for action from the American Medical Association.

Many challenges face the group urology practice, but one issue that doesn't get much attention is the cultural challenge of mixing physicians from different generations.

The shift of surgical procedures from the hospital to physician-owned outpatient facilities has been the prevailing trend over the past 2 decades and will continue into the foreseeable future.

Positive sum competition can be a solution for the current system's ills.