Physicians Practice - October 2008 - (Page 55)

TREATING EMPLOYEES Q Our practice wants to write an employee policy that defines parameters for providing medical treatment to employees. A recent newsletter from the malpractice insurance company advised such a written policy. Also, the physicians would like a buffer set by means of a written policy. What should the policy say? A I’d ﬁrst contact the malpractice company. If they suggest you have a written policy, I’m sure they have ideas on what the policy should say. My two cents? The policy should say you don’t treat employees. employee? What do you think her salary should be now? A My gut response is that you should offer to retain her beneﬁts (this is good will and a good retention strategy), but either drop her salary or not offer a raise. She wants to drop the half-day out of her week plus the Saturdays, which is about a 13 percent cut, so it would make sense for her salary to drop by the same amount. However, if that’s about the amount you had in mind for a raise you can just keep her pay the same or peg it somewhere in the middle. Try to stop seeing insurance companies as being out to get you. SHIFT YOUR PERSPECTIVE It’s just too difficult to be objective, not to use medical information when looking at job performance, and to keep medical and financial information out of the hands of other employees (even those who room the patient/ employee). Finally, what happens if the employee owes you money for care? It’s just too sticky. PONDERING A RAISE I’d just share all this thinking with her so she sees you are trying to help her out and has a sense of where you are coming from. Be prepared to negotiate. –QW CLARIFICATION Q My physician assistant (PA), joined my practice right out of school. She has performed above expectations and has been a joy to have in the practice. The first year of employment, she was getting a straight salary and worked a fourand-a-half day work week, plus a halfday one Saturday per month. For her second year of employment, I was planning on giving her a raise and keeping her on a straight salary. However, she just told me she would prefer to only work four days a week. In your opinion, how should this affect her salary for the second year? Should she still get all the benefits of a full-time WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM Q I added the –QW modifier to a lab test that was CLIA-waived but did not have the –QW listed on the CLIA list. If you double-check the CLIA list, some CPT codes have –QW and some do not. Those that do not have the –QW do not require it when filing. We received denials for invalid modifier and I was required to remove the –QW from those codes I had previously added it to because I thought if a lab test was waived it required the –QW. Does that seem right? A We checked in with coding expert Betsy Nicoletti, who offered this further explanation: “Many tests, such as measuring a patient’s glucose, have many ways to perform them — quantitative, qualitative, via an assay, via a culture, via a test kit that changes colors. Tests that may be performed via test kit — which do not require a lab tech’s OCTOBER 2008 | PHYSICIANS PRACTICE | 55 http://merage.uci.edu/go/HCEMBA http://merage.uci.edu/go/HCEMBA http://WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM

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

Physicians Practice - October 2008 Contents Another Reason to Go Cash-Only? Letters How ’Bout Them Gas Prices? Second Opinion: Oh, Canada! Noteworthy Cover Story: Fixing the Leaks: How to Tighten Your Money Spigot Navigating a Lawsuit Ask the Experts The Administrators Desk: What’s Your Mission? EMR: Help or Hindrance? Dealing with Dr. Dangerous E-Mail Abuse Primer The Road to EMR Interoperability Don’t Let Staff Costs Stifle Profits Coding Classifieds Advertiser Index

Physicians Practice - October 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.