How to Stay Safe Using Telemedicine
in six months your Medicare Advantage plan will have a telemedicine option. How to use it effectively and safely? Read this.
How Much Money Do Your Really Make?
To figure it out, you’ll need the following information: 1. The number of hours you worked during your last pay period—not how much you’re being paid for, but how much time you actually spent doing your job. That includes your commute, the work you do from home, everything. 2. Your after-tas […]
How Transparent Are You?
If your organization is being forced into insurance contracts with downside financial risk, you’re going to be tempted to pass at least some of that down to your clinicians. And if you do that transparency is essential. You must be candid with your clinicians about the rules of these […]
Sunday Links
An excellent use of your time. Some excellent summaries have been coming across my desk this week—here are a few of the best: Here is a summary of the new home care benefit, something that is going to be quite a center of cost if you are a Medicare Advantage […]
Saturday Q and A
Dr. Bpb asks? What is the biggest difference in taking care of Medicare Advantage patients in the nursing home rather than in the office? In the office you have to worry about coding. In the nursing home you just have to care for your patients, the nursing home […]
How Can You Tell If Your Health System is Stealing From You Under a “Shared-Risk” Compensation Formula?
If you’re not getting regular data that’s transparent and easy to understand, your employer is stealing from you until proven otherwise. Harsh, but sadly true.
How to Quickly Assess Mucous Membranes During an Audio Encounter
Kids with fevers should always be assessed for signs of Kawasaki’s. Doing that over an audio encounter can be time consuming. Simply ask, “Do his lips and eyes look ok?” If Kawasaki’s is present the informant will start describing the change in appearance. Once they do that, you know […]
Somebody May Be Saying You’re Sick With Something You Don’t Have
If you have Medicare Advantage, you’re insurance company is being paid based on how sick you are. The sicker they tell the government you are, the more money you get. This has led to insurance companies, health systems, and doctors telling the government you have sickness you don’t actually have purely […]
Paid Vacation?
When evaluating your employment contract, check out your “paid vacation.” Since you’re paid on production, your vacation isn’t “paid” unless your employer attributes to you your average RBV production for every day you are on vacation—and pays you for them. If they don’t do this (and they probably won’t), they are […]
The Big Twelve
Recently a faithful reader asked me to review the “Big 12,” that is the twelve diagnostic codes I always keep in mind whenever I see a Medicare Advantage patient. Here they are with the documentation requirements to keep you out of trouble (and a couple of acute codes thrown in): […]