Physicians Practice - February 2008 - (Page 12)

LETTERS “No one can better determine an individual’s medical needs than that individual. No one is more cost-conscious than the one paying the bills. Make this the same person and you have a motivated, frugal, health-conscious consumer of healthcare.” WHEN PATIENTS PAY WE ASKED FOR IT I read your column, “Our Best Chance for Reform?” in the October 2007 issue, in which you asked readers to make suggestions for reforming American healthcare. My suggestions for reform are very simple. No one can better determine an individual’s medical needs or wants than that individual. No one is more cost-conscious than the one paying the bills. Make this the same person and you have a motivated, frugal, health-conscious consumer of healthcare. Physicians who are directly collecting from the motivated patient will become competitive in the service industry of medical care. All third-party payment contracts violate the Hippocratic Oath and interfere with care. Physicians should not contract with third parties, but rather compete for patients’ cash with good service and measured outcomes. Competition works. —Michael J. Harris, MD Traverse City, Mich. My suggestion is to make Physicians Practice more visible in the physician community and hence garner more feedback. In my experience only about 50 percent of practicing physicians really want to be involved with policy issues, although 100 percent will complain about how bad the situation is and how much worse it will get. In Pennsylvania, our governor has tried to push through his “Rx for PA” solutions, which basically gives full independent practice authority to physician assistants and nurse practitioners so they can conveniently displace primary-care physicians over time. And his plan would provide “universal” coverage to the uninsured, probably at Medicaid rates (which are among the lowest in the nation). In addition, there may be other types of taxes (probably attached to payroll) used to pay for this program. Other ideas: Physicians Practice must make every effort to rally physicians to oppose the California proposal to tax physician revenues to pay for “universal coverage.” During the presidential primaries, every effort has to be made to draw the distinction between actual costs of healthcare and cost of health insurance premiums. The common misconception (and willful campaign rhetoric) that healthcare costs are spiraling out of control must be forcefully challenged at every opportunity by demonstrating that while insurance premiums have risen about 12 percent to 18 percent per year since 2001, physician payments have not even kept pace with inﬂation. —Arvind R. Cavale, MD Feasterville, Pa. OUR MISSION Helping physicians manage their practices more efﬁciently, leading to improved patient care. P U B L I S H I N G S TA F F VICE PRESIDENT & GROUP PUBLISHER Ken Karpay kkarpay@physicianspractice.com GENERAL MANAGER Katherine Hermann khermann@physicianspractice.com EDITORIAL EXECUTIVE EDITOR Bob Keaveney bkeaveney@physicianspractice.com SENIOR EDITOR, PRACTICE MANAGEMENT Pamela L. Moore, PhD pmoore@physicianspractice.com MANAGING EDITOR Abigail Beckel abeckel@physicianspractice.com SENIOR EDITOR, PROJECTS Laurie Hyland Robertson lchrobertson@physicianspractice.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR Barbara A. Gabriel, MA bgabriel@physicianspractice.com MANAGING EDITOR, PROJECTS Alyson Siclare asiclare@physicianspractice.com SENIOR WRITER Shirley Grace, MA sgrace@physicianspractice.com EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Erica Lukenich elukenich@physicianspractice.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS DEFINING ‘ENOUGH’ I have never before written a response to an article I’ve read. But you hit a nerve with your article “How Much Is Enough?” (October 2007). I have no idea how much is enough, Bill Dacey, Bruce Kleaveland, Rob Lamberts, MD, Suz Redfearn, Bob Redling, Shelly K. Schwartz PROJECT MANAGER Amanda Norbury TECHNOLOGY ANALYST Alka Chander DESIGN ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR Bill Ellis H O S P I TA L S T R AT E G I E S DIRECTOR, HOSPITAL STRATEGIES Steve Gottshall sgottshall@physicianspractice.com 773 880 8484 HOSPITAL RELATIONS STRATEGIST Shelley Schoenfeld sschoenfeld@physicianspractice.com 732 393 9696 HOSPITAL RELATIONS STRATEGIST Lori Brenner lbrenner@physicianspractice.com 715 384 6711 HOSPITAL RELATIONS STRATEGIST Tom Reavis tom.reavis@cmpmedica.com 602 790 2652 B U S I N E S S A D V E R T I S I N G S T R AT E G I E S DIRECTOR, BUSINESS ADVERTISING STRATEGIES, WEST Eric Temple-Morris etemple@physicianspractice.com 503 203 1060 BUSINESS ADVERTISING STRATEGIST, EAST Pamela Peterson ppeterson@physicianspractice.com 973 228 1226 BUSINESS ADVERTISING STRATEGIST, MIDWEST, SOUTH Seth Geller sgeller@physicianspractice.com 443 543 5131 BUSINESS ADVERTISING COORDINATOR Samantha Williamson samantha.williamson@cmpmedica.com 503 203 1059 PHARMACEUTICAL ADVERTISING SALES David March 203 662 6558 DMarch@cmp.com BUSINESS SERVICES MARKETING DIRECTOR Lynne Kirk Hammar CLIENT RELATIONS MANAGER Lindsay Goldman CLIENT RELATIONS SPECIALIST Heather Stephens CLIENT RELATIONS SPECIALIST Beth Zacharias MARKETING MANAGER Amy Tubman MARKETING EVENTS COORDINATOR Kyle Rondeau PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Steve Sanborn PRODUCTION MANAGER Carlos Yanez PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Naddya Chavez BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR Ann Marie Patrick CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING SALES Valley Forge Publishing Group 800 983 7737 HEADQUARTERS: 5523 Research Park Drive, Suite 210 Baltimore, Maryland 21228 Phone: 443 543 5100; Toll Free: 800 781 2211 Fax: 443 543 5170; E-mail: info@physicianspractice.com Web: www.PhysiciansPractice.com TO SUBSCRIBE TO PHYSICIANS PRACTICE: Call 203 662 6551 PHYSICIANS PRACTICE® (ISSN 1072-2912), published by CMP Healthcare Media LLC, is distributed to more than 280,000 U.S. physicians. Copyright © 2008 by CMP Healthcare Media LLC. Single copies $10; annual subscription $56. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Send address changes to: Physicians Practice, c/o CMPMedica, 330 Boston Post Road, Darien, CT 06820; or send by email to wdingle@cmp.com. 12 | PHYSICIANS PRACTICE | FEBRUARY 2008 WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM http://www.PhysiciansPractice.com http://WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Physicians Practice - February 2008

Physicians Practice - February 2008 Contents The Bigger Picture: Your Future is in Your Hands Letters Physicians Practice Pearls: Creating an A+ Practice Noteworthy Cover Story: Conquering Time: 5 Keys to a More Efficient Practice In Balance: A Family Affair Technology: Making EMRs Work in the Exam Room In Practice: "I've Got Some Bad News" The Tech Doctor - The EMR: Savior or Poseur? Ask the Experts NEW! Healthonomics: How to Handle Health Savings Accounts The Administrator's Desk: Finishing School for New Managers Human Resources: Is Your Partner Impaired The Great Practice Makeover: Too Well-Liked for His Own Good? Coding Idealab: 'Why I Blog' Classifieds Advertiser Index

Physicians Practice - February 2008

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