Everything smart that I ever share is a shameless ripoff of someone else's idea.  Here are two examples from this week alone.

First, I lamented to Dr. Brandy McCray that I'd run into some practices who hadn't tracked their partnered vendors' contract renewal dates and, as a result, had evergreened a series of contracts.  Getting out of those contracts will be expensive and will interfere with everything from insurance negotiations to employee terminations to EHR installations.  I see it all the time.  Dr. McCray had a simple, easy, basic solution.

She just maintains a spreadsheet with a list of all of her contracts - of any kind - and their details, including their renewal terms.  This makes it easy for her to figure out every month which contracts she has to consider.  Awesome.  And then she added, "It also makes it easy to see who needs a BAA."  Genius!

Sue Wunderer then gave me a good tip - wrote to me looking for advice about performing background checks on potential employees.  I mentioned to her that each state usually has a methodology but wasn't helpful beyond that.  She dug a little more and came back with this - apparently, in most states, your Department of Public Safety (or the equivalent) will perform free background checks for "qualified agencies."  And, in most places, "qualified agencies" include pediatric practices.  Her suggestion is to apply for it well in advance of what you need it, as the application can take 3+ weeks to process (at least in her state).

Thanks to Dr. McCray and Sue!