Practice Management

Pfizer will disclose publicly its compensation of U.S. health-care professionals for consulting, speaking engagements, and clinical trials by early next year on the company’s Web site, according to a prepared statement from the company.

Contact lens practices are probably feeling the effects of more and more patients simply taking their prescriptions and buying their lenses on the Internet. But, if contact lens fitting is a valuable service that you offer and you want to improve your productivity and profitability, then you might want to make a few changes. Using the Internet to send email updates to patients, ordering supplies online, and giving patients the option to purchase on your Web store will make a big difference in your practice.

Ophthalmologists are well acquainted with the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT), but many ophthalmologists are only familiar with CPT's "Category I" codes. It is important for ophthalmologists to understand code Category III, since many eye-care services have appeared or will appear in this category.

Everyone is given a special talent, which, if developed, can allow them to perform their talent really well. This explains why there are great singers, superb artists or musicians, and gifted mechanics, to name a few professions. Those talents often are limited to that particular setting, however; they are not always transferable into another area.

After 2 years, the federal government's voluntary Competitive Acquisition Program has been put on hold as of January.

This is the time of year that my administrator asks me: "So, where are we going in the new year? What I have finally come to learn is that instead of asking, "Where are we going?" it is more valuable to ask, "Where have we been?"

Amid adding partners, opening new offices, and managing unprecedented growth, Mid Atlantic Retina turned to a consulting firm (Advantage Administration Inc.) to develop a strategic plan for the ensuing years.

Most physicians micromanage when a problem occurs in the office, instantly analyzing the issue and announcing the changes they want colleagues and staff to make. However, employees on the front line in factories, doctors' offices, etc., have more information, and often can come up with better solutions than the "all-knowing" manager. Delegation helps employees learn from the problem-solving experience, and that makes them more valuable.

The recent developments in 2008 have left many of us with less wealth than we had just a year ago. The purpose of this article is to highlight a few tactics for regaining some of your lost wealth.

Skillful physician-patient communication is paramount to successful prevention and management of dissatisfied LASIK patients.

A national prospective study is being planned to evaluate post-LASIK quality of life outcomes in a clinical setting. The trial is being coordinated by representatives from the FDA, the National Eye Institute (NEI), the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery, and the American Academy of Ophthalmology, and it will be executed in accordance with the rules governing FDA and NEI clinical trials.

Some speculate that the current economic crisis is a result of financial institutions' misplaced optimism and trust in their companies. Ophthalmologists, who run practices, departments, divisions, etc., have to strike the right balance between sharing and recognizing the realities of whatever problems organizations face, and express the confidence that they can be overcome if the right things are done.

Vision Research Center (VRC), an online research site where experts in the ophthalmic community and patients can share their experiences and opinions concerning technology and therapies, has launched, according to a prepared statement.

Alcon Inc. has launched an online educational resource for people who have cataracts, and their caregivers.

Open enrollment for Medicare Part D drug plans began Nov. 15 and will continue through Dec. 31.

In the workplace, employee relations can be improved by giving and receiving positive strokes, having adult-to-adult transactions more often, and getting rid of unproductive competitiveness.

We're to the point that medical care for our children is a discretionary item, less of a priority than digital cable. Blurry vision from a cataract is something that can be dealt with next year or whenever the economy sorts itself out. While it may be impossible to peer into the future, it increasingly appears that accessing medical care may not be the recession-proof priority for Americans that it has been in the past.

Once you get employees to realize that their success or failure ultimately is up to them, the pressure is off you as a manager. The pressure is squarely in the place it needs to be: on the employees. Your only job then becomes augmenting their growth with the tools they need to be the hardest-working technicians you ever will have.

Determining the optimal size for an optical dispensary will allow the practice to obtain the highest return on investment and return on assets. The optimal size can be calculated in one of two ways. The first is to determine the number of dollars each square foot of space can generate. The second method is to calculate the percentage of total practice revenues the dispensary represents. Whichever method is used, remember the general rule for dispensary size: "bigger is better."

Visual merchandising is the art of displaying merchandise to encourage sales. Dispensing ophthalmology practices can create eye-catching displays by following some simple rules. Grouping frames by price point and brand helps to organize options for the customer. Displays can highlight individual brands through repetition, a pyramid design, using odd, rather than even numbers of items, considering the texture of background materials, and more.

At the American Academy of Ophthalmic Executives (AAOE) meeting, Derek A. Preece, MBA, from the BSM Consulting Group, Orem, UT, talked about the importance of understanding exactly what benchmarks are and how to use them effectively during his presentation, "Using benchmarks to improve your practice."

A new incentive is being offered under Medicare for physicians who choose to prescribe electronically, or e-prescribe. At the American Academy of Ophthalmic Executives (AAOE) meeting, a panel of academy representatives and members presented, "Introduction to e-prescribing: Improving the safety and efficiency of medication management."

Ophthalmic practice administrators know that keeping physicians happy is crucial to the practice's overall success. And the best way to do that is by making sure their incomes are continually growing.

Depending on your location, your specialty, and the size of your practice, insurers may actually want to keep you happy, especially if you threaten to walk away from a bad deal. If nothing else, negotiations may reveal that lowball reimbursement for a particular code is nothing more than an inadvertent mistake that most insurers are willing to correct.

Physician groups are adopting tougher collection tactics, largely in response to tough times. What compounds their problem of skimpy third-party reimbursements and rising overhead is having to depend on patients for a bigger portion of their revenue stream-a result of the rising number of uninsured and the growth of high-deductible health plans.

Losing even one patient to another local practice is one too many. To achieve and maintain an edge in the LASIK market, you've got to stay on top of your competitors with research and analysis, and regularly evaluate where you fit in terms of image and consumer perception.

Organized medicine's "victory" resulted in postponing harsh reductions in payments to physicians for Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Updating your Web site-not just once, but frequently-offers an excellent opportunity to boost your practice's business by developing new patient relationships using the Internet.

Ophthalmic practice administrators often find heavy demands on their time and attention and so, like many managers, risk losing sight of what's important in the rest of their lives. But while it isn't possible to avoid the stresses and strains that accompany the job, there are ways administrators can maintain or restore a sense of balance in their lives.

An office manager should be interested in implementing change and improvements within a practice, but that should not be done without an operational assessment.