Physicians Practice - July/August 2008 - (Page 66)

address with the post ofﬁce, payers, and everyone who bills you. It might help to make a list from your management software of everyone you’ve paid or who has paid you. Also contact the state medical board and the DEA, if you have licenses from them. You’ll also want to inform the state and feds for tax-related reasons. • Prepare budgets — You may want with the same information in a conspicuous location in your ofﬁce or on its facade at least 30 days before the change, and you should write patients. • Hospital — Do you need to get cre- dentialed with a new hospital? Can the hospital help you market your practice? • Staff — Let your staff know about to prepare a couple of budgets to plan ahead for possible glitches. Account for property acquisition and remodeling, marketing the new location, and temporarily increased operating costs as you work out the kinks. You can also expect to lose at least a few patients, even if all you are doing is moving a few miles away, so you might project lower income at ﬁrst. Over time, of course, if the area is busier, more visible, or convenient to better-paying patients, you can project growth. • Marketing — Let your patients know the move sooner rather than later. If some don’t want to change locations, you better ﬁnd out now so you are not caught short-staffed. WHO HANDLES OFFICE SQUABBLES? Q When staff bicker, should I get involved or is that a job for the office manager? A Generally, I like to see staff issues resolved by the manager. You need to focus on treating patients. That said, the ofﬁce manager should work under your direction. Meeting privately, the manager ideally suggests a course of action, you reach agreement, and she goes forth and implements it. You then need to back her up fully and direct any staff complaints back to her. Now, it may be that in a small practice like yours, the manager isn’t really “managerial” enough, if you will, to handle this task. If so, then one of the two physicians needs to be responsible. What matters more than whose job it is, is that it is one person’s job. Staff need to know who to go to with issues. They need to know that the person in charge speaks for the practice and there is no point in trying to get a different answer from the other physician or the manager. They need to know that every case is being handled the same way. you are moving and prepare to get some new ones. Set a budget and work with a designer to create a postcard or other announcement of the move, complete with map, and a very short explanation of how the move will beneﬁt the patients. Send it to everyone you have seen in the past three years if you are in primary care. If you depend on referrals, market to your referral base. Also market in the community where you are moving. The neighborhood paper might wish to cover the move; call them and offer to write a story about the move or a series of articles on healthcare issues that will include your address at the bottom. • Patient rights — You are required to • let patients know where to ﬁnd you and their charts. Publish a notice announcing this in the city and the local paper. The notice must contain the date of sale, termination, or relocation, as well as an address from which patients may obtain their records or have them transferred. You should also place a sign 66 | PHYSICIANS PRACTICE | JULY/AUGUST 2008 Pamela Moore, PhD, CPC, senior editor with Physicians Practice, is this month’s expert. Moore has been writing for physicians on practice management issues for 10 years, and she is a recognized speaker and commentator on healthcare management. She can be reached at pmoore@physicianspractice.com. WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM http://PracticeSalesUSA.com http://PracticeSalesUSA.com http://WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Physicians Practice - July/August 2008

Physicians Practice - July/August 2008 Contents The Bigger Picture: Battle Royale in the EMR Market Letters Physicians Practice Pearls: Hire Right Noteworthy Cover Story: Healthcare Reform: Voting for Change Patient Relations: Dealing with Problem Patients The tech Doctor: Is Self-Service Medicine Inevitable? Technology: Do EMRs Make You a Better Doctor? The Guide Idealab: Cash-Only Care Still Works The Administrators Desk: Who’s in Charge? Ask The Experts What Went Wrong: ‘Why Our Great Idea Didn’t Work’ Coding Start It Up: How to Launch a Practice: Operations Partnership: Don't Let Partner Conflict Destroy Your Practice Appraisals: What’s Your Practice Worth? Getting Advice: How to Hire a Consultant Classifieds Advertiser Index

Physicians Practice - July/August 2008

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