Physicians Practice - March 2008 - (Page 55)

ASK THE EXPERTS work at home, they should invest in a secure, Web-based EMR. There are just too many risks to patient privacy and too much inefﬁciency involved in lugging around paper charts. PHYSICIAN RECRUITING PA AS INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR Q Is it advisable for an orthopedic surgeon to hire a physician assistant as an independent contractor? The physician would like to hire the PA as an employee after she completes her time out for maternity leave. A You might do better to hire her as a part-time employee, let her do her leave, then increase her hours. Q I’m investigating every resource I can to find an endocrinologist to join our multispecialty group. I’ve tried advertising in journals and have employed a physician recruiter. What else can I do? A You can ask your physicians to get in touch with buddies they trained with or know in the community and work the networking angle. Online networking tools such as LinkedIn are increasingly useful. Some groups invite residents to “intern” as a way of building connections and a pipeline. You can also consider some lower cost advertising venues, including online career centers. TRAINING RECEPTIONISTS Since you’ll pay taxes on an employee that you would not on a contractor, the distinction is important. And whether this person is an independent contractor or an employee is a matter of IRS regulation; it’s not really up to you. Here is what the IRS offers in terms of making the determination: www.irs.gov/businesses/small/ article/0,,id=99921,00.html. Q I would like to run a program to train receptionists who can speak both English and Chinese. We need such people badly. I am planning to train them for about one year and offer a certificate. How do I start? Are there legal issues if I’m not a teacher? A You should be able to set up your own certiﬁcation program without any legal or bureaucratic concern. All you are saying is that your group certiﬁes that this person has learned the skills of a receptionist. In your case, of course, those skills include proﬁciency in both Chinese and English. To get started, you need to set a curriculum and pricing, and assess market demand. Who would pay for this training: Practices? Students? You’d typically also have a testing system and a recertiﬁcation process: How will you assess whether this person deserves certiﬁcation, and based on what criteria? Consider whether a full year is really necessary. Perhaps you could look into offering some classes in conjunction with a local language school. WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM MARCH 2008 | PHYSICIANS PRACTICE | 55 http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=99921,00.html http://www.medplexus.com http://www.medplexus.com http://WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM

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

Physicians Practice - March 2008 Contents The Bigger Picture: Try a Little Tenderness Second Opinion Letters Physicians Practice Pearls: The Value of First Impressions Noteworthy Cover Story: Your Complete Guide to Patient Service Billings & Collections: Rules to Code By The Administrators Desk: Selecting an EMR Technology: Learn to Love Your Nerd Ask The Experts Coding The Guide The Tech Doctor: All About Blogs The Great Practice Makeover: When Bad Things Happen to Good Practices Start It Up - NEW! The Law: Audits 101 In Practice: Do As I Say... Pretty Please? Healthonomics: Handling the Changes Wrought by Medicare D Classifieds Advertiser Index

Physicians Practice - March 2008

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