Physicians Practice - March 2008 - (Page 57)

Medicare Beneﬁt Policy Manual, Chapter 15 (§270, for coverage of telehealth services), “The physician work resulting from telephone calls is considered to be an integral part of the prework and postwork of other physician services, and the fee schedule amount for the latter services already includes payment for the telephone calls.” Medicare considers all work on telephone calls to be bundled into the previous or the next E&M service, so document the telephone calls thoroughly and consider them when selecting the level of history or medical decision by years of experience or specialty. The full report is here: www.aanp.org. Another source, The Physician Compensation and Production Survey: 2006 Report Based on 2005 Data from the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), says that mean compensation for NPs is $72,616; the 75th and 90th percentiles are $81,435 and $94,726, respectively. (This is an aggregate for all NPs.) You’ll want to look at the total compensation package, of course, including beneﬁts, time off, perks like ﬂex time, and intangibles like work environment. At a minimum, store patient records for the duration of your state’s statute of limitations. RECORD KEEPING making that drives the level of code. Although physicians may select E&M codes based on time when half of their time is spent counseling or coordinating care, that time must be face-to-face with the patient, so the amount of time spent on the phone is not as important as the clinical documentation. CARDIOLOGY SALARIES HOW LONG TO RETAIN CHARTS Q How long do we need to keep medical charts? A Federal and state statutes and regulations as well as risk-management and ethical concerns determine the amount of time to retain patient records. Patient records are the written proof of your medical care and, thus, the best defense in any malpractice or other legal or administrative actions ﬁled against you or your practice. At a minimum, store patient records for the duration of your state’s statute of limitations. (Your state medical board should be able to help.) If your state extends the statute of limitations for minors and persons who are incompetent, then you may need to permanently retain those records. Also, determine whether or not your state follows the “discovery rule” for ﬁling malpractice cases. In states that follow this rule, the statute of limitations for plaintiffs to take action begins when they knew or should have known of the alleged MARCH 2008 | PHYSICIANS PRACTICE | Q What salary should a cardiologist expect? A According to the latest data from the Medical Group Management Association, the median is $431,886 for invasive cardiologists, $367,704 for noninvasive. NURSE PRACTITIONER SALARY Q I am a nurse practitioner with 10 years experience. I have been asked to join a gastroenterology group. What salary range is reasonable? A According to the 2007 American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) Compensation Survey, the full-time, mean base salary for NPs is $81,060, with an average total income of $87,400. AANP segregates WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM 57 http://www.aanp.org http://mba.yale.edu/mba-e http://mba.yale.edu/mba-e 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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