Your Data and Practice Management Metrics
Big Data? Can Dr. Ben get the benefits of data-informed decision making in his Practice Management? Carmen stomped around the kitchen, slamming cabinet doors, and mixing ingredients furiously. Ben wondered how dinner would taste with this level of irritation mixed in. “I am so mad,” Carmen informed him, as though he could have missed that. “You know a restaurant like mine is always just on the edge of profitability.” “I thought the pizzeria was doing well,” Ben objected. “We are! But doing well for a pizza place can be an 8% margin. I believe in giving good value, treating my workers well, and using fresh ingredients. And every time I turn around there’s another expense!” Carmen slammed the oven. “Hey, come sit down and let me get you a glass of water.” “I know I’m making a big deal over this, but seriously, Ben, this just makes me mad. We’ve had Wifi in the restaurant since we opened, and now all of a sudden we’re supposed to pay an extra fee and buy a special router and — I don’t know. I’m going to have to sell five more pizzas a day just to keep the same level of service I have now.” “So don’t have Wifi,” suggested Ben. “In a pizza place? You’re kidding, right?” Carmen shook her head. “Hospitality industry surveys say that over 70% of my regular customers could go elsewhere if I didn’t have free Wifi for them.” “Does it have to be free?” Carmen’s pitying expression answered the question. Ben persevered. “Okay, what if you raise the price of the pizza to cover the extra cost of the Wifi?” Carmen stared off into the distance and her eyes narrowed. “That’s not impossible,” she said. “I’d only have to raise prices by about 26 cents per item… if I went from $12.79 to $12.99 and made up the difference on the drinks, probably no one would notice.” “How can you do that?” Ben asked his wife. “It took you less than a minute to figure that out.” “In business, you have to know your numbers,” Carmen said firmly. “How can anyone know all those numbers?” Ben objected. “We have so many numbers in our practice, I don’t even know what I should be keeping track of, let alone what to do with them.” “Then how do you know when you need to hire another staff member, which products to stock, or which services are most profitable?” Ben considered the question. “I guess I don’t. We’re tied into all kinds of information systems, but they don’t seem to connect with decisions about the practice. As long as we’re doing pretty well and have enough money to pay everybody, I don’t really think about those things. If we’re falling behind, I cut out the free coffee in the break room…” “And stay up nights worrying,” Carmen’s voice was soft. “Wouldn’t it make sense to have control of that information for your Practice Management?” “I guess,” Ben frowned. “I don’t see how I can add any more to my work day, though, or to Pam’s.” Ben thought about his office manager. Pam was great, but he felt fairly sure that she didn’t have control of the numbers the way Carmen did. Carmen stood up and went more calmly to check the oven. “Can you help Jonathan wash up for dinner? And thanks for helping me sort out my problem.” “I’m always happy to help,” said Ben. He thought he might be the one who needed help, though. Can Dr. Ben get the benefits of data-informed decision making in his practice? Disclaimer: For HIPAA compliance, all characters appearing in this post are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons or actual events is purely coincidental.
Chiropractic Software Dream Practice Analysis Happiness
Happiness is a Dream Practice resulting from a Dream Practice Analysis and a map to get there. Has Dr. Ben considered all the possible returns on his investment? “Honey, I’m home!” Ben sang out theatrically as he opened the door. His son came running, with his wife not far behind. “How’d the Dream Practice Analysis go?” Carmen asked. Her beaming face showed the answer she was anticipating. Ben swept her into an embrace and gave her the answer she expected. “It was great. Really useful.” They settled onto the sofa and Carmen pulled their little boy onto her lap. “We went over the distinction between return on investment and expenses,” Ben went on. “Did everybody get the concept?” Carmen asked. “I really think they did,” Ben said. “It’s completely clear to me now, too. And then we looked at our practice stats compared with general industry and product information. That was really eye opening.” “It can be so hard to get the information!” Carmen remarked. “It’s great to set benchmarks, though.” “I don’t think we’ve ever heard that data before,” Ben agreed, “and I think everyone felt that sharing our information was worth it — the value of the information we got was excellent, and I don’t think we could have gotten so many highly relevant insights without sharing.” “That makes sense. However much expertise people have, they can’t really speak to your needs if they’re just talking in the abstract. “We had a good talk about the most useful metrics to follow, too, and how we can capture and use the data we need to be able to examine the different dimensions of the practice metrics that make the most sense for us.” “Sometimes figuring out what to measure is the hard part,” Carmen observed. “It sounds like the process was very useful. What about the product?” “They shared some opportunities and even some guarantees. We have to thrash it out, of course, but I think we’re ready to make an informed decision, with the Dream Practice Analysis.” “That’s wonderful!” “I’m feeling very optimistic. It seems like things are really looking up at the practice, and this could be a turning point for us.” “Disney World for our vacation this year?” Carmen asked slyly. Their son perked up. “Could be!” Ben smiled. “How about mini golf tonight?” Jonathan jumped down and ran to the door. Carmen hugged Ben. “I think that’s a great idea, but you know what? The best part is seeing you happy.” Ben smiled down at his wife. That was a kind of ROI he hadn’t thought about. Has Dr. Ben considered all the possible returns on his investment? Disclaimer: For HIPAA compliance, all characters appearing in this post are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons or actual events is purely coincidental.
Chiropractic Software | New Network Members | June 2014
Ninety-seven new members across fifty-four practices joined Genesis Chiropractic Software and Billing Network in June 2014! Congratulations! There is strength in numbers due to the shared knowledge – we call it the “Billing Network Effect,” as the billing performance of each member practice improves in step with the total volume of processed claims. Please welcome our new Genesis network members: Christin Zills of Abundant Life Chiropractic, The Woodlands, TX. Michelle Besemann of Adjust To Health Chiropractic, PA, Buffalo, MN. T. Jacques and Jacquii Schulz of Advanced Chiropractic, Yuba City, CA. John Douglas of Aligned Chiropractic Corporation, Kelowna, BC, Canada. Shayla Moyer Arc Of Life Chiropractic LLC, Madison, WI. Chitra Kanani and Leah Kleiner of Backsmart Wellness Center, Edison, NJ. Jillian Amort, Dr. Roger Barnick, Tara Hays and Andrea Kocer of Barnick Chiropractic, PS, Vancouver, WA. Becci Smith of Benchmark Medical Group, Inc., Windsor, CO. Dave Aitken, Ruth Bruderer, Maryann Burga, Ana Garcia, Edgar Hurtado, Glori Lopez, Dr. Calvin Smith, Dr. Sean Smith and Leonardo Soto all of Dr. Calvin’s Clinic, West Valley City, UT. Holly Manuel of Cascade Family Chiropractic, Colorado Springs, CO. Dr. Suzanne Demmers of Carrollwood Family Chiropractic, Tampa, FL. Aracelis Falcon of Central Jersey Spine & Wellness, LLC, Freehold, NJ. Dr. Gregg and Amanda Pigeon of of Chiropractic First, Mukwonago, WI. Vincent Cavallaro of Chiropractic Works, Oakland, NJ. Dr. Ryan Nickens of City Of Palms Chiropractic, Fort Myers, FL. Cheryl Upton of Dr. Brian D. Class, Mt. Pleasant SC. Dawn Clay, Vanity Darty and Kaitlyn Scott of Divine Family Chiropractic, Tyler, TX. Laura Kelleher of Doctor’s Choice, Rahway, NJ. Kayla Harbour and Martha Rodriguez of Extraordinary Health And Wellness Center, Plano, TX. David Cunic and Samantha Rehrig of Family Chiropractic Center Of East Rutherford, East Rutherford, NJ. Justin Federman of Dr. Justin J Favreau PLLC DBA Stability Spine & Wellness, Seattle, WA. Dr. Monika Luto Ferguson Life Chiropractic Centers, LLC, Whippany, NJ. Princely Ebwe of Focused On You Chiropractic, PLLC, Round Rock, TX. Katie Barnhart of Gateway City Chiropractic, St. Louis, MO. Michelle Hobbs of Giles Family Chiropractic, Napa, CA. Brian Banman of Ideal Spine Health Center PLLC, Eagle, ID. Shannon Kirsch and Molly Wegner of Indy Family Chiropractic, Indianapolis, IN. Candace Cline of Integrative Body Health, PC, Carrollton, GA. Chessa Budai of Jubilee Family Chiropractic, Naples, FL. Heather Hoffman of Kratz Family Chiropractic, Stoughton, WI. Ruth Madrid of Law Of Life Chiropractic, Eden Prairie, MN. Ross Perry, Allison Walden and Stephanie Yim all of Levin and Miller Chiropractic Corp DBA Postureworks, San Francisco, CA. Amber Ivey of Liberation Chiropractic & Wellness PC, Mobile, AL. Miranda Lucero and Brianne Salazar of Longmont Spine and Physical Medicine, Longmont, CO. Colleen Birdsall of Lyons Health, LLC, Green Bay, WI. Victoria Nishida and Dr. April Smith of Maximized Living Foundation, Inc., Los Angeles, CA. Joanna Gatell, Dr. John Gatell, Ashli Noriega, Dr. Oscar Noriega and Dr. Krysta O’Neill of Maximized Living Health Center, Celebration, FL. Kelly Griffin of Miles Chiropractic, Glasgow, KY. Vanessa Osborn of Missoula Family Chiropractic, Missoula, MT. Dr. Paul Thebeau and Kasha Williams of Natural State Health Center, LLC, Little Rock, AR. Kelly Holman and Casey O’Connor of O’Dell Family Chiropractic PC, Webster, NY. Amanda Cartwright and Zac Grant of Oxford Chiropractic, LLC, Oxford, MS. Leah Browning of Ozanne Family Chiropractic, LLC, Fayetteville, AR. Cinthia Ro of Pacific Spine & Joint Medical Group, Inc., Daly City, CA. Rebecca Hayes of Premier Chiropractic, Stockton, IL. Sarah Peters and V. Zedella of Pure Life Chiropractic, LLC, Eugene, OR. Kelsey Oskey of Rivertown Family Chiropractic, LLC, Grandville, MI. Emma Motok of Rock Springs Family Chiropractic, Smyrna, TN. Deborah Zdenek of Rohe Chiropractic Prof, LLC DBA Inspired Chiropractic, Sioux Falls, SD. Jackie Bernal of Texas Sunset Family Chiropractic, LLC, Denton, TX. Marques Tyron of Scott D. Watier, LLC DBA Lone Star Family Chiropractic, Katy, TX. Alisha Garlin, Jessica Nguyen, Blake Taylor, Dr. Dustin Taylor and Donna Rae Willingham of James Dustin Taylor, DC, Batesville, AR. Ginger Martin of Wickiser Clinic Of Chiropractic, Anderson, SC. Nichole Balfour, Dr. Richard Kouefati, Jin Ho Lee, Rolando Lopez, Sabata Marroquin, Michael Moore, Dr. Darren Porcaro, Karina Silva and Dr. Anthony Wolke of Wolke Chiropractic and Rehabilitation PC, North Haledon, NJ. Learn More About the Chiropractic Software Network Effect. Dr. Troy Dreiling speaks about the Billing Network Effect.
Chiropractic Software Practice Analysis
Why Do a Dream Practice Analysis (DPA)? Can Dr. Ben help his partners see why he wants to do a DPA when they only see why not? Ben shut his office door quietly behind him and gave a deep sigh. He had a meeting coming up with his partners. He was hoping they’d join him in going through a Dream Practice Analysis. His wife had suggested that he prepare a PowerPoint presentation with the objections he had been hearing in the casual discussions they’d had so far. “That way,” Carmen had said, “you’ll be prepared. You won’t get defensive or go off track or decide to go along with the majority even though you know they’re wrong. You’ll be giving your ideas a fair chance.” Ben wasn’t sure he showed up as well as he’d have liked in Carmen’s imaginary picture of the meeting, and he wasn’t sure how his partners would react if he showed up with a slide presentation, but he figured it was worth trying. So he had put together his slides and now it was time for a final run-through before the meeting. “We don’t need to waste time on dreaming. We’re an established practice,” said the first one. Ben ran through his thoughts on that: how easy it was to get mired in the day to day details and to lose sight of the big picture and how important it was to reset goals sometimes. He found himself speaking eloquently — under his breath, of course — about the value of having an objective outsider helping them to see where they were and how they could step up to the next place they wanted to be. Deciding to try a Dream Practice Analysis wasn’t a criticism of their current practice, he realized, and he wasn’t sure that he had ever made that point in their discussions. The next slide said, “Reducing costs is the key to ROI.” His talks with Carmen had really helped him understand this one. He knew his partners couldn’t see how spending money on software could provide a good return on investment, because they didn’t see it as an investment. They thought of it as overhead, and figured that increasing overhead couldn’t be a good thing. Carmen, with her business school background, could see how the right practice management software could increase revenue and reduce costs, so the investment in the software would pay off. Ben also realized that the practice might need a expert to help them figure out the potential ROI. That brought him up to his next slide: “We don’t want to share sensitive information.” Of course, being careful with information was second nature for any medical practice, but it was clear to Ben that they really didn’t know what to do with their numbers. They had tried to figure out the potential ROI for themselves, but they hadn’t been successful. In fact, if he was honest with himself, he thought they had mostly been confused. Ben decided not to share that observation with his partners. Instead, he figured he’d emphasize the value of having expert insight and help the group determine some parameters that would help them feel comfortable sharing the information that needed to be shared. Finally, Ben turned to a slide that just said, “Opportunity.” He knew that the kind of insights the practice could get from the Dream Practice Analysis with experts who had worked with plenty of other practices would be worth paying for — and they weren’t having to pay. This was an opportunity to get some valuable consultation that would give them important knowledge, no matter what decision they made. Ben saved his presentation to a thumb drive and headed for the conference room. He felt lighter than he had in a while. Can Dr. Ben help his partners see why he wants to do a DPA when they only see why not? Disclaimer: For HIPAA compliance, all characters appearing in this post are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons or actual events is purely coincidental.
Chiropractic Software Dream Practice Analysis
Dreaming of a Healthy Practice Dr. Ben goes shopping for a picture of efficiency What’s the ROI of a Dream Practice Analysis (DPA)? “Do you think about the ROI of your spending in the grocery store?” Ben was teasing his wife, but he was also still trying to decide how to approach the issue of ROI in his practice. He wanted to get his partners on board with the idea of completing a Dream Practice Analysis, but he was facing some resistance. “I guess in a way I do,” Carmen answered thoughtfully. “I consider fresh produce an investment in our family’s health and well-being, even if it costs more than chips. But groceries are usually an expense, not an investment. We have to buy food. That’s not the same as — what were you thinking about? Software?” “Practice management software. We’ve been asked to take part in a Dream Practice Analysis. The object is to figure out how what kind of return on investment we’d get from practice management software.” “Now, that’s a perfect example for ROI,” said Carmen, reaching for a jar of mustard. “Whatever the software can do, you could probably do yourselves with paper and pencil if you had the time and the skill. But automating some of those tasks can pay off big time by reducing current costs and helping you identify areas of opportunity. Software can be a very important investment and the ROI can be significant.” “I guess that’s the key to the problem,” said Ben. He quickly compared the nutrition labels of two loaves of bread before tossing one into the basket. “It’s like these labels. You can’t tell which loaf has more fiber just by looking — taking the time to check the labels makes a difference. The partners feel like we can just look at the cost of the software and say yes or no. But I think the DPA might give us more accurate information.” “Obviously,” Carmen agreed. “You know I looked at franchise opportunities before I decided to open my own pizzeria. A lot of them pointed to their management software as a big part of the value they provided for the franchise fees. The right software can replace a lot of worker hours, reduce errors that cost money, and keep your practice running smoothly. If you don’t have a handle on your finances, though, you can end up making bad investments.” “I guess that’s why they’re worrying about. It’s not like we haven’t tried different software solutions. Some have been great and some have not.” “If you make random choices about the investments you make in your company, you can expect random results,” Carmen said flatly. “I don’t mean to be harsh, but I can’t see why your partners can’t grasp that. You should never make an investment without running the numbers. If you have someone who will help you sort it out, it’s just common sense to let them help.” What’s the ROI of a DPA? Disclaimer: For HIPAA compliance, all characters appearing in this post are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons or actual events is purely coincidental.
Client Invoice Lookup – New Feature | Chiropractic Software
With Genesis’ new Client Invoice Lookup feature, you can get a preview of your monthly invoice For everyone who works on the finance side of our client practices, it can provide peace of mind to know where their money is going… and that the right amount is going to work for them. With Genesis’ new Client Invoice Lookup feature, you can get a preview of your monthly invoice, so you can see what you’re going to be billed — before the charges are actually issued. Further, this feature allows you to look at your current invoice, or go back over invoices from any period of time since they’ve been on the system. The Client Invoice Lookup gives you the power to examine individual line items on your invoices, for improved transparency. You know exactly what you’re being billed for, and how much, thereby allowing you to dispute charges you feel were made in error. By taking advantage of this new feature, and seeing exactly how our fees are being applied, you are better able to appreciate the full value of the services Genesis provides.
The Safest & Quickest Way to Become Debt-Free
by Garrett B. Gunderson with Dale Clarke The Counter-intuitive Formula Your Financial Adviser Doesn’t Know Hint: It’s not about your loan interest rates, nor is it just about socking away more money by cutting back or even just about saving money on interest. As a financial advocate to professionals, I deal with this issue frequently with the business owners we work with. You want to get out of debt so you can reduce your risk, increase your cash flow, and have greater peace of mind, right? Unfortunately, in a zealous effort to get out of debt, too many people make critical mistakes that increase their risk and make the process much slower than it has to be. It’s not just a matter of prioritizing which loans should be paid off first. It’s also a matter of minimizing your risk throughout the process. Here’s the fastest, safest, and most sustainable way to do it: 1. Build Savings First. It doesn’t make any sense to start paying extra on loans until you have at least three months of income, and ideally six months, in a liquid savings account. If you have no cash reserves, what happens when you pay down your loans but then experience an unexpected cash flow crunch? You simply increase your loan balances again or even worse, miss payments and hurt your credit score, therefore getting charged more for future loans and you can miss opportunities to lower your interest rates. So before you even get started with paying down debt, build your cash reserves first. This puts you in a much safer and more sustainable situation. Don’t worry if you are wondering where that money might come from, details to follow, read on. 2. Raise Your Insurance Deductibles. Once you have cash reserves you can raise your insurance deductibles and extend elimination periods, which decreases your premiums, an extra benefit of having money in savings. This increased cash flow can then be used to strategically pay down debt. I recommend using your home, auto, and liability insurance to primarily cover catastrophic losses. With higher deductibles (again, assuming you have cash reserves to cover small losses) you’re less likely to make claims, which prevents increased premiums. The larger principle here is that when you approach debt elimination the right way it affects almost every other aspect of your finances. This is a more comprehensive approach that takes every factor into consideration, rather than looking at your debt in a vacuum. 3. Restructure Your Non-Deductible Debt by Rolling Short-Term, High-Interest Loans into Long-Term Tax Deductible, Low-Interest Loans. Again, the goal is to minimize your interest payments and maximize your cash flow. Then you can attack your remaining debt strategically, using your increased cash flow to eliminate one loan at a time. Another benefit of this strategy is that it improves your debt-to-income ratio, which then improves your credit score, which can then be used to negotiate lower interest rates and will result in increased cash flow. Having a better credit score also gives you more negotiating leverage. You can look into a streamline refinance on your existing mortgage. You can call your credit card companies, for example, and tell them you’re considering canceling and switching. They may be inclined to make their interest and terms more favorable for you, especially if you have a higher credit score. Assuming you have enough home equity and after improving your credit, refinance your mortgage and roll as much of your non-deductible loans (credit cards, auto loans, etc.) into it as possible. The tax deduction will also increase your cash flow. CAUTION: Do NOT do any of this if you’re undisciplined and your spending is out of control. If you’re just going to charge your credit cards back up again, you’ll just sink deeper into debt. 4. The Secret Sauce: Cash Flow Index. Here’s where the rubber hits the road. After minimizing your payments and maximizing your cash flow, you’re now prepared to focus on one loan at a time, thus creating the “snowball effect” until you’re completely debt-free. Most financial advisers and pundits will tell you to pay off your loans with the highest interest rates first. My advice is to ignore the interest rate and use my proprietary Cash Flow Index to determine which debt to pay off first. To determine your Cash Flow Index, take all your various loan balances and divide each of them by their respective payments. Whichever one has the lowest number is the one you should pay off first. For example: Home Loan Balance: $228,000 Interest Rate: 7% Monthly Payment: $1,665 Cash Flow Index: 137 ($228,000 ÷ $1,665) Auto Loan Balance: $16,500 Interest Rate: 8% Monthly Payment: $450 Cash Flow Index: 37 Credit Card Balance: $13,000 Interest Rate: 12% Monthly Payment: $260 Cash Flow Index: 50 Student Loan: $107,000 Interest Rate: 3.9% Monthly Payment: $650 Cash Flow Index: 165 In this example, it seems to make sense to pay of the credit card first because it has the highest interest rate. But the Cash Flow Index reveals that the auto loan should be paid off first. The trick is to pay off debt that gives you the greatest cash flow with the least investment. A high Cash Flow Index means your loan balance is high relative to the payment, while a low Cash Flow Index means your balance is low but with a high payment. Knock out those high payments first and you free up cash to work on other debts. In this case, by paying off the auto loan first, you free up more monthly cash, which can then be applied toward the credit card balance. Paying off the auto loan first means you can pay off both faster than if you started with the credit card. 5. Address the Risk Factor. Again, this strategy isn’t just about paying off debt faster and saving money on interest—it’s also about reducing your risk. Banks and other financial institutions tell you to pay off debts that lessen their risk
Building Blocks
A practice’s needs and concerns can stack up What’s the trade-off for Dr. Ben’s credit card dilemma? Ben added yet another piece to the enormous castle he and his son were building. Jonathan scooted around to see the other side and knocked down the eastern battlement. “Oh, shoot!” “That’s okay,” Ben assured him. “We’ll build it again. The building is the fun part anyway.” Carmen agreed, admiring the turrets. “That’s true of so much in life, isn’t it?” Ben smiled. “So, what did you decide about your credit card system? Were you able to negotiate a better rate?” “Not yet. The bank where we have our merchant account doesn’t seem to feel that we’re big enough to be bothered with,” Carmen grumbled. “Speaking of building. I’m going to do some comparison shopping, but I think I might just have to wait till next year to get much of an improvement in the fees.” “It is always based on volume,” Ben agreed, placing a block for a drawbridge. “I’m concerned about that for the practice, too. Manual processing can cost more than swiping, too, in addition to the possibility of errors.” “Do you think errors really happen much?” Carmen asked. “I don’t know about our office, but I read some startling statistics recently,” Ben said. “7.8 percent of recurring transactions are declined. That’s $780 for every $10,000 in transactions. And for that same $10,000 in manual transactions, you can expect another $15 lost just from address verification failures. If we do that every month, the amount we lose could pay for Jonathan’s college tuition by the time he graduates high school.” “That’s sobering.” “The fact that we have both a POS system and manual posting and recurring transactions also makes me wonder if we’re completely PCI compliant. Sending out paper bills and then taking the payment information by phone might not be completely correct — and those bills can cost $1.61 apiece, since I’m throwing statistics at you.” “Never mind the bills,” Carmen said. “The fines for being out of compliance can run you $25,000 a month. That’s high priority.” “So I’m looking into solutions, but integrating and automating everything is going to be expensive. The POS system is separate from everything else in the office, so we might have to make changes there, too. And that’s all in addition to the fees.” “It’s like when we first started our businesses. We used to have to run the numbers every time to make decisions. Now, we’re established, so we know what we’re doing most of the time. When something new comes up, though, we still have to run the numbers.” Jonathan stood and stretched up to add one more block to the top of a tower and it rocked, tipped, and crashed. After a moment of stunned silence, the little boy laughed, so Ben joined in. Building often is the fun part, he thought. What’s the trade-off for Dr. Ben’s credit card dilemma?
ICD-10 | Five Building Blocks | Q&A from Webinar
ICD-10 Questions and Answers ICD-10 is coming soon. As you get your practice ready for the ICD-9 to 10 changeover, you are bound to have questions regarding documentation and compliance. To help you get the answers you need, we have compiled all questions that were asked during our recent webinar “ICD-10 | Five Building Blocks,” along with the presenter’s responses. Feel free to add any new questions in the comment section below. Q: Where can I find CMS guidelines in written form? A: On CMS.gov, click on the Medicare link and you will find a link for both local and national coverage determinations. Q: When can I start finding ICD-10 codes within your software and submitting them? A: Our software already has all the ICD-10 codes listed; we are building the crosswalk now. We recently completed ICD-10 testing with Medicare, and were successful with our front-end edits. We are looking to have this available to practices by June, to really start testing and cross-walking. At this point, payers are not accepting claims with these new codes; they are not coming over until October 1, but we are testing with payers and clearinghouses directly. You will be able to see which ICD-9 codes correspond to the appropriate diagnosis 10 codes, side-by-side right in the travel card.
To Swipe or Not to Swipe?
Credit card processing has an effect on a practice’s bottom line. Now that Dr. Ben sees the potential problems with his credit card system, what is he going to do about it? With their son down for a nap and the afternoon stretching out ahead of them, Dr. Ben Wilson thought Carmen might be in the mood to hear some sweet nothings from him, but he was mistaken. “No way,” she said firmly. “You can talk about my eyes later. Right now I want to discuss credit cards. Don’t laugh! So often when you talk to me about your practice, I don’t really know what you’re talking about. But I know credit cards.” “I bet most of the payments you take at the pizzeria are credit or debit cards.” “You know it,” Carmen agreed. “We don’t take checks, and cash transactions are maybe 20% of the total. I know people who aren’t even accepting cash any more.” “As you say, people are used to paying with plastic at a restaurant. We still get lots of checks, though,” Ben assured her. “Lots of cash for copays. Some of the major employers around here give their workers debit cards for their tax-deferred health savings accounts, and some of our patients use special healthcare credit cards, but it’s still a pretty mixed bag.” Carmen nodded. “You were saying you have both POS sales and also some you have to post manually, too.” “That’s right, and of course that’s an opening for errors. Glitches in the payment processing can lead to stress, distraction from patient care, and even losing patients. Declined payments can fall through the cracks and get overlooked for so long that they never get taken care of. Plus, I think there’s a psychological barrier in having to pull out a wallet.” Carmen laughed at that. “Our customers are prepared for it, but yours may be thinking it’s all covered by insurance.” “Right. And of course many of the items we sell at the counter are not. If a patient is going to pay out of pocket, he’ll add in nutritional supplements or something, but if there’s no immediate transaction, I think they’re less likely to open their wallets.” “Sounds like an improvement in your credit card situation could actually improve your bottom line.” Ben nodded slowly, holding his wife’s gaze. “I think it could.” “You could be right,” Carmen said, leaning closer. “The question is, what are you going to do about it?” Now that Dr. Ben sees the potential problems with his credit card system, what is he going to do about it?
