Practice Management

Is the constant din of ringing telephones frustrating and annoying everyone in your practice? Maybe it's time to turn your telephones into tools that work for your dermatology practice instead of against it.

Medical technology changes so often that sometimes it seems as if one hardly gets something new in the office before it's outdated and another bit of technology is on the horizon.

Photography plays a valuable role in dermatology for improving patient care, but the usefulness of archived images depends on how they are stored.

First impressions have a strong influence on our perceptions and, ultimately, our loyalty to a service, a company or a physician.

The Internet provides a forum for disgruntled patients, employees or competitors to defame a doctor's reputation. One company helps doctors protect themselves from frivolous lawsuits.

Treating lesions of the vulva, anus and penis is common practice in dermatology, yet many dermatologists misrepresent the CPT code(s), as they are not aware that there are specific codes for some of these areas that have significantly higher allowables.

Industry experts estimate that as many as 20 percent of all claims for services are returned to physicians without payment.

While the full promise of EHR systems has yet to become reality, an expert offers shopping tips for finding the best available system for your practice.

In the absence of industrywide standards for electronic medical records, an expert advises carefully matching system costs, benefits and capabilities with the distinctive needs of one's practice.

National standards for ranking physicians may be on the horizon, but many dermatologists doubt that they can be implemented fairly and accurately. Insurance companies have proposed ranking physicians in tiers that could be used to determine levels of reimbursement or the amount of co-pays for patients to see the physician of their choosing.

Incorporating cosmetic dermatology into a medical dermatology practice is made easier if clinicians offer the cosmetic procedures to their existing patients. Internal marketing and a pleasant support staff ensure the success of expansion to cosmetic dermatology.

The iPLEDGE program is excellent for protecting the prescriber, so that he or she can continue to practice medicine and responsibly care for patients with severe acne, one dermatologist says. However, the issue of compliance remains a major hurdle.

Economists debate whether the United States has reached a full-fledged recession or is simply teetering on the brink, waiting for some sign it will either topple or be pulled back. Meanwhile, as the debate rages, people are dealing with the effects of soaring energy costs, rising unemployment and inflation.

Surviving lean times demands that dermatologists use a hard line with finances and a soft touch with patients, sources say.

Despite concerns about the U.S. economy, a March 2008 survey by the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery (ASDS) showed that nearly one-fourth of the survey's 562 respondents were experiencing increased bookings for existing aesthetic patients versus fall 2007.

While dermatologists offer mixed assessments of the impact of the sluggish U.S. economy on their specialty, they say today's tighter market clearly is intensifying the trend toward noninvasive procedures.

The subprime mortgage crunch is rippling through our economy in a variety of different ways. Many homeowners are postponing plans to sell until the market stabilizes; others, with hopes for trading up to a bigger home, are opting to stay put, turning instead to remodeling or enlarging.

You don't need to read another article telling you how terrible the malpractice crisis is. You already know that lawsuits are on the rise, jury awards are out of control, malpractice premiums are escalating to the point of being unaffordable, and the practice of medicine as we know it is severely threatened.

With constraints on healthcare human resources in some geographic areas in Canada, teledermatology offers advantages, such as increasing access to dermatological expertise. The use of store-and-forward technology avoids the logistical challenges associated with real-time teledermatology.

When I enrolled in medical school - what seems like a lifetime ago - I wanted to be akin to the sage and compassionate Marcus Welby, M.D. I wanted to be a pediatrician who takes care of and cures sick children.

At Nova Medical, the largest primary care practice in Loudoun County, Va., "The process of going green is ongoing," says Jennifer Stokols, M.S., a registered dietitian who heads Nova Medical's green team.

Maybe you've been blindsided by a "crisis" in your business office, and only then regretted not spending time to detect the early warning signs.

Clinical photography in dermatology can be an invaluable tool, if used properly. Following some basic guidelines can take the guesswork out, lend credibility and present a much more accurate picture.

Current Procedural Terminology codes were significantly changed in 2007 to clarify previous confusion, and physicians must understand the changes in order to submit the correct billing and, ultimately, to be reimbursed, one expert says.

Over the past 10 to 15 years, there has been a boom in the phenomenon commonly known as "medspas" - an outgrowth of the purely Aesthetic day spa, combining herbal wraps and massages with medical or near-medical therapies, such as microdermabrasion and chemical peels, and progressing into lasers, fillers and Botox treatments.

As with any legal or insurance planning, the early bird is richly rewarded. Nowhere in practice planning is this truer than in the Buy-Sell agreement. The reason is not so much economic, but political. If this planning is done before any owner is close to a disability, divorce, retirement, or death, all owners are in the same position relative to each other. That makes the negotiation of a standard deal for all owners a much easier and smoother process. Planning early for a Buy-Sell agreement will truly benefit you, your family and your practice.

Every dermatology practices could use a good Web site - and one that provides timely, accurate educational information for patients would be a boon. One enterprising practitioner saw the need, and developed a system to meet it.

Nothing can make a day more stressful - and less efficient - than to have a constant stream of interruptions. To get control of your day, start by noting how often you are interrupted.

The appointment schedule is more than a list of upcoming patients. It's what sets the pace of your day - and largely formulates patients' impressions of your dermatology practice.

Dermatologists are in a position to create the gold standard for medical spas, but first they need to master a retail mindset, an expert says.