Practice Management

Chapel Hill,NC-The time is right for incorporating an electronic medical record (EMR) system into your practice, according to Maurice B. Landers III, MD, who has used them for the past 4 years.

Washington, DC-Though the 1.6% increase to the 2003 Medicare fee schedule may not be statistically significant in and of itself, it does mark a first step to remedy an ailing reimbursement formula.

Washington, DC-The federal government is requiring health-care insurers, providers, and clearinghouses to establish new ways to protect the confidentiality of electronic health information under a new set of security standards.

Padua, Italy-The Safilo Group will produce and distribute Giorgio Armani and Emporio Armani collections of eyewear under a multiyear, worldwide license.

Baltimore-Physician groups, such as the American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), are advocating tort reform as the solution for the medical liability crisis that doctors are now facing.

Baltimore-Digital imaging techniques in medicine have been promoted since the 1980s, but recent technological advances have made it far better than before, saidRajendra S. Apte, MD, PhD, who spoke during the Current Concepts in Ophthalmology Meeting here.

Here's some good news regarding Medicare reimbursement. American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) member William L. Rich III, MD, has been appointed to an influential American Medical Association (AMA) committee on physician reimbursement.

Baltimore-The American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) has embraced a unified strategy with the hope that the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and Congress may sign off on a 2003 budget that guarantees no budget cuts and corrects projection errors, according to William L. Rich, MD, AAO's secretary for federal affairs (See related article this issue, "AAO member named to AMA reimbursement committee," Page 14).

Ophthalmologists are always looking to broaden their procedure offerings to increase their revenue stream.

Before the November elections, a political ad on the radio really caught my attention. An elderly patient was talking about a candidate who was running for a state office. The candidate was an ophthalmologist. The patient explained that he had asked this physician's receptionist if the doctor would accept assignment for his eyeglasses after his cataract surgery. The answer was no. The patient commented, "I guess the doctor doesn't really care about seniors. He gets his money from us first and we have to wait for ours (reimbursement from Medicare)."

Orlando-Ophthalmologists need to develop a vision and work together to fulfill that vision in order to succeed, according to Michael R. Redmond, MD,

New York-Safilo Group will offer Liz Claiborne Inc.'s collection of metal and plastic eyewear through a licensing deal announced in December.

New year begins with ophthalmic resolution to halt 4.4% cut in Medicare reimbursement

Orlando-Protecting patients' privacy has always been a top priority for physicians and staff alike, but now it is mandatory. By April 14, your practice must have taken the necessary steps to comply with Title II of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996, which pertains to privacy of health data, according to a panel of experts who spoke during the American Academy of Ophthalmology annual meeting.

Washington, DC-The Sixth National Congress on Health Care Compliance being held Feb. 5 to 7 in Washington, DC, will focus on new areas of special interest for the compliance professional, including corporate responsibility and governance; patient safety and quality of care; and privacy, data security, and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance.

San Francisco-The Academy Network (TAN), the largest national membership organization of administrators, office managers, and managing physicians of ophthalmology practices, is changing its name to the American Academy of Ophthalmic Executives (AAOE).

Washington, DC-As Congress resumes its post-election session, doctors frustrated by continued cuts in the Medicare physician fees are lobbying for change.

Like an old car, our office practice management system ran well for about 10 years and then gave up the ghost. Actually, it wasn't so much the system that failed as the company that sold us the system and helped maintain it.

Parsippany, NJ-Physicians who purchase at least 50 frames from Safilo USA collections before Sept. 30 will be eligible for gifts as part of the company's third-quarter incentive program.

New York-Achieving success in an optical dispensary requires a continued, innovative marketing effort by the entire office staff, according to two experts who spoke on the subject at the American Association of Dispensing Ophthalmologists (AADO) 6th Dispensing Ophthalmology Conference held during this year's International Vision Expo East.

If you want to maximize your dispensary sales, great merchandising is the answer. Patients respond well to dispensary merchandising. It can mean the difference between mediocre eyewear sales and a very profitable bottom line.

Some ophthalmic patients of Charley Andrews, MD, cannot find family physicians who still take Medicare patients because of the recent, devastating Medicare pay cuts.

Business-like conduct of a medical practice is a necessity in the 21st century. Defensive medicine is being replaced by cost-benefit analysis.

If your practice does any appreciable amount of cataract surgery, it is important to make sure that both your optical and billing staff are well trained in the proper paperwork procedures should patients require eyewear after surgery. This means providing eyewear that satisfies and enhances both their vision needs and their personal preferences.

Alameda, CA-Early indications are that the Ocugene glaucoma genetic test (InSite Vision, Alameda, CA) has the potential of becoming a useful tool in determining the likelihood of glaucoma development or progression in certain patients.

Physicians are faced with the need to document clinical examinations for ongoing clinical care in addition to increasing requirements for billing, as a deterrent against claims of fraud and abuse and for malpractice protection. With the typical medical encounter often less than 10 minutes, only a small fraction of this time can be dedicated for documentation purposes.

Everything has changed since Sept. 11, as we've so often heard. But some things have remained the same.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), enacted in 1996, included provisions for simplifying the transaction involved with Medicare claims submission. In August of last year, the first provision was published regarding the standardization of claims via electronic filing.

Ophthalmologists continue to be concerned about decreasing reimbursement for cataract surgery and the increasing nonreimbursed costs of utilizing new technology. I believe, however, that the future for lens and implant surgery is rosy.

Today, when patients come for a visit, ophthalmologists have the discretionof using either the eye codes (92002 to 92014) or the E/M codes in billing.But, when is it truly appropriate to use a certain set of codes for a givenvisit? Unfortunately, there's no one standard. It all depends on the rulesset by the carriers in your state.