Physicians Practice - February 2008 - (Page 56)

ASK THE EXPERTS part-time work in a hospice. Or help the airlines deal with passengers with severe anxiety. In other words, pinpoint what you love and ﬁnd other ways to do that. Really, this isn’t a limitation; it's a chance to explore endless opportunities. You just aren’t used to thinking about what else is out there. BILLING FOR REFILL REQUESTS may be clinically appropriate anyway. Otherwise, you’d have just written the ’script for a longer period. MARKETING MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES Q I am a psychiatrist who just moved to a new office. I want to announce my move with a marketing strategy. Do you have any specific recommendations as to the type and number of physicians to mail announcements to? Finally, I am bilingual. A As to the type of physicians, you should target the specialties that work for you now. I assume it is mostly primary care, including family practice, internal medicine, and maybe OB/GYN, depending on your particular clinical interests. You also might want to target providers in more affluent neighborhoods to have a positive impact on your own payer mix. Or, target neighborhoods with more Spanishspeaking patients (or from your own cultural background, assuming this applies). Q Can you please tell me how a physician can code and bill for a refill when the patient does not want to come in for an office visit? Do we use 99211 for a nurse phone conversation with the patient and consultation with the physician about filling the medication and calling the medication in? A You can’t bill an E&M for reﬁlls by phone because there is no patient visit and none of the real components of an E&M visit. Really, the only way to get paid is to have the patient come in. I’d suggest that it As far as industry-wide numbers go, the average response rate to direct mail is around 3 percent. So, you’d want to have some sense of how many referring sources you want and target enough to get that from 2 percent to 3 percent of the total list. We’ve also seen surprisingly good return from e-mails, though only using our own lists. The ones we’ve bought tend to be dated. You might want to track e-mails for future use if you don’t maintain a list already. I would encourage you to think through one brand aspect for the practice. Are you accessible (location, language, and appointment availability)? Most skilled? What makes you different and desirable to referring physicians? Make sure that brand promise follows into the business practices of the clinic (if you say you are accessible, you better plan to get those patients appointments right 56 | PHYSICIANS PRACTICE | FEBRUARY 2008 WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM http://www.medicscan-online.com http://www.medicscan-online.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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