Physicians Practice - February 2008 - (Page 53)

a seller, have a yard sale, put your equipment up for sale on eBay, or ﬁnd another way to locate a buyer. Give your staff adequate notice, but retain at least one staff member for 30 to 60 days after the close to follow up on your ﬁnal outstanding accounts. Most physicians ﬁnd a part-timer for 60 days to be adequate, but it depends on the volume and how many of your accounts still await collection. Remember that a physician has an ethical obligation to notify her patients when she moves or closes her practice to allow them to obtain copies of their medical records or to have their records transferred to another practice. Ideally, a physician should notify each patient by letter at least 60 days in advance of closing. You'll find a sample letter in the Tools section of www.PhysiciansPractice.com. Often a physician supplements these written notices with a published notice in the local newspaper scheduled to appear on three or more occasions. The American Medical Association's Ethics Opinion 7.03, Records of Physicians Upon Retirement or Departure From a Group, states in part: “A patient's records may be necessary to the patient in the future not only for medical care but also for employment, insurance, litigation, or other reasons. When a physician retires or dies, patients should be notiﬁed and urged to ﬁnd a new physician and should be informed that upon authorization, records will be sent to the new physician. Records which may be of value to a patient and which are not forwarded to a new physician should be retained, either by the treating physician, another physician, or such other person lawfully permitted to act as a custodian of the records.” Finally, if you have privileges at a hospital — and especially if you take emergency call — you'll want to give that hospital at least 90 days notice, if not more. Of course, you can also talk to the physicians you now share call with about buying your practice. I strongly suggest you use an experienced appraiser to set the price, which is usually based largely on accounts receivable. EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK AND HIPAA Q I am a private pediatrician. I have an employee handbook that I wrote myself. Please advise me how much information and what exactly I need to include in my employee handbook on HIPAA. I already have a chapter on trade secrets, but I would like to be more specific on patient privacy. A HIPAA does not delineate anything in particular except evidence that you’ve thought through the issues and educated staff. Written guidelines help prove that point. I suggest including a confidentiality agreement (there is a WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM FEBRUARY 2008 | PHYSICIANS PRACTICE | 53 http://www.PhysiciansPractice.com http://www.mxsecure.com/practice http://www.mxsecure.com/practice 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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