This may be long overdue, but worth the wait. A few months back, Dr. Suzanne Berman (star of SOAPM list and stage) emailed me with a question about her practice. That question led to a quick back and forth exchange of "all the things a practice should do on a periodic basis." We brainstormed a long list and then sat down to talk about it for almost an hour.
Below, I provide a written copy of the list for you to cut and paste into whatever tools you need to make sure they appear on your to-do lists and work calendars. Please email or call me with items we didn't name, I'll gladly add them below! The podcast adds a lot of color and advice related to each section below, so don't skip Dr. Berman's insight - listen to the podcast.
You can play the podcast below, download it in iTunes (subscribe! it's free!), or go to the podcast site itself.
I reference this amazing service from the Verden Group during our conversation.
The list!
User Management and IT
- Lock out former users from:
- EHR and PM systems
- Quickbooks (or other accounting software), time clock software, etc.
- On-line accounts
- clearinghouse and payor WWW sites
- lab and hospital portals
- Update the Administrator security
- Office security system
- Computer system
- Update your office inventory for insurance purposes.
- You can use a video camera (like the one on your cell phone!) to
document each room and closet.
- Perform a security audit (per MU guidelines)
Cleaning and Supplies
- Clean out cabinets and drawers
- Purge old equipment
Policies and Procedures
- Review your policy and procedure manuals to make sure that your
actual process reflects what's documented. Have everyone review it
annually
- Review the payor policy manuals. Most are available on line or
are searchable with friends like the Verden Group
- Review all of your patient policies and handouts
- Check the handouts you distribute at your office, including your
practice brochure
- Check all of your on-line materials
- Use "version control" (i.e., put date or version numbers on each
handout so you know if what you are holding is up to date)
- make sure any list of your staff and clinicians is up to date (letter
head, sign on your door, WWW site)
EHR and PM
- Make sure that you are taking advantage of every electronic transaction
opportunity your clearinghouse/PM vendor offers. If you are not doing
eligibility or electronic claims for every payer, check again
- Perform all vendor-specific cleanup functions
- Software updates
- Perform optional updates
- Review update training and materials to take advantage of new features
Practice Management
- Update your pricing for every single procedure listed in your system
- Review your coding patterns.
- How is your E&M distribution?
- Did you bill any odd procedures last year?
- Check your vaccine product combinations
- Are the combination vaccines you use the most cost and price efficient?
- Are there any new coverage rules from your payors?
- Check for new procedure codes introduced this year
- 2015: 99188, 90651, 96127
- Make an periodic report of KPIs.
- If your PM doesn't make it easy to re-run reports for previous time frames,
get your periodic sample.
- Review your measures for comparative and discussion purposes.
- Check your third party vendor costs
- Credit card
- Cable/Phone/Internet
- WWW Site hosting
- Pull all of your insurance contracts and confirm any "evergreen" dates
- Check your third party vendor costs
- Credit card
- Cable/Phone/Internet
- WWW Site hosting
- Clean up Quickbooks/account categories
- Patient cleanup
- Practice Education
- Research Seminar Opportunities