With an above average salary base and an optimistic job forecast there’s no better time than now to consider a job in medical office management. The fact is medical offices and healthcare facilities cannot run smoothly without a great manager at the helm. The role of a medical office manager is critical in today’s fast-paced facilities where above board patient care and quality is expected.

Topics: Practice management, Certified Medical Office Manager, medical office staff

Medical information is the number one prime target when it comes to cybersecurity hacks, FBI Computer Scientist Thomas Ervin at Practice Management Institute’s National Conference for Medical Office Professionals in December. A single click on a phishing email can turn a machine into a “slave,” as termed in the cybersecurity industry. Phishing email incidents are not new and have increased more than 200 percent. It has become so prevalent that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity Division has set up a website to report phishing emails. Ervin, FBI Special Agent Raymond Martinez, and Cybersecurity Expert Richard Avery delivered an eye-opening demonstration to show how easy it can be for your personal and work data to be compromised by a hacker. Cybercriminals target all types of organizations and these experts warned that healthcare entities need to be especially vigilant.

Topics: Practice management, medical office manager topics, medical office compliance, medical practice issues, medical fraud, medical identity theft, HIPAA compliance

With patients to serve and open positions to fill recruiting qualified, caring healthcare professionals for your medical practice can be time consuming, overwhelming, and challenging. Learn how you can draw top talent and keep abreast of cutting-edge technology and new techniques with skilled, trained and knowledgeable employees. 

Topics: Practice management, medical office staff, staff recruiting

Is your medical practice following current HIPAA compliance guidelines? Keeping track of current regulations is challenging and time consuming. But disregard for mandatory patient privacy laws can bring costly violations, fines, and penalties if a breach occurs. The following checklists outline important steps that organizations must take to secure Protected Health Information (PHI). Keep these checklists on hand to help keep your practice compliant.

Topics: Practice management, medical office manager topics, medical office staff, financial management, HIPAA compliance, HIPAA

With rising costs in today’s medical practice, it’s becoming more important than ever to receive timely payments from patients. With the high costs associated with printing and mailing statements, and lingering late and missing patient payments, it’s enough to send the medical office budget into deficit. Though collecting insurance company payments is the lifeblood of all medical facilities, out-of-pocket patient expenses such as deductibles, copays, and coinsurance amounts can’t be dismissed. They can add up quickly in lost revenue if stricter collection procedures aren’t in place. 

Topics: Practice management, medical office manager topics, medical practice issues, medical office staff, financial management

Medical practice overhead is a growing concern for many practices that are looking to thrive and simultaneously maintain quality patient care. In today’s medical practice, overhead is directly related to patient volume, collections, and its general structure. These ongoing administrative and clinical expenses are necessary for the business to function but can have a negative impact on the practice’s revenue.

Topics: Practice management, medical office manager topics, medical practice issues, financial management

An excerpt from the new ebook: The Medical Office Manager's Guide to Time Management 

Key tips, best practices, insights—we've shared a number of ways to better manage your medical practice. But if you're looking for guidance in getting better at time management, all in one place, you'll want to download the latest ebook on The Medical Office Manager's Guide to Time Management. Not only does this guide provide you with educational and informative gems, it also shares how to help put all of this great knowledge into practice. 

Topics: Practice management, time management, medical office manager topics, medical practice issues

To be effective time administrators, concentration must be focused on what is important rather than what is urgent.

Learning to concentrate on the important reduces crises mode and urgency addictions. The important eventually becomes urgent, so the strategy is to act on the important before it becomes urgent. 

Topics: Practice management, time management, medical office manager topics, medical office staff

In today’s medical practice HIPAA regulations provide both guidance and compliance standards for all financial and administrative procedures involved when it comes to protected health information (PHI). With patient privacy on the line these standards cover all key transactions in which organizations collect, handle, and store their information. Complying with these standards will protect the medical practice against theft and violations along with helping to ensure their patient information is secure.

Topics: Practice management, medical office manager topics, medical office compliance, HIPAA compliance, HIPAA

HIPAA Compliance can be a complex issue. Especially with advancements in technology and the rising prominence of social media and online reviews. However, there is a degree of solace in knowing that you are not alone in your quest to successfully navigate HIPAA requirements. Medical office managers across the country must be able to effectively understand the federal regulations that deal with protected health information (PHI).

Topics: Practice management, medical office compliance, HIPAA compliance, HIPAA

Sexual harassment can be a tremendous liability in the workplace if not addressed properly. In a medical office environment it can have disastrous effects on both employee retention and patient care. Addressing the issue and implementing protocol to handle claims is essential. Creating an environment where employees can work without being harassed is fundamental. Making employees feel comfortable and ensuring that they are aware that they can report an incident-free of retaliation are key roles for the medical office manager.

Topics: Practice management, medical office manager topics, medical practice issues, medical office staff, sexual harassment

In a busy medical practice, the risk of error runs high. This is a dangerous assertion when you consider that mistakes in a medical record can negatively impact a patient’s health. Mistakes made repeatedly in medical claims may flag your practice for an audit and, if overpayments are found, can result in huge fines and penalties from the government.

Topics: Practice management, PMI Certification, cmom certification, medical practice issues, medical fraud, medical billing, medicare

Northern California Medical Associates (NCMA) has been a leading association of medical practitioners in the North Bay Area since 1975, when Cardiology Associates of Santa Rosa, Inc. first opened its doors. Since then, NCMA has expanded its expertise and scope of care by merging with several private practices to better serve patients in Sonoma, Mendocino and Lake counties.

Topics: Practice management, Certified Medical Office Manager, medical office manager topics, quality assurance, staff recruiting

Every year nearly 2 million American workers are exposed to violence in the workplace. Astonishing as it sounds, experts say it’s just a fraction of the cases that take place; many incidents are never reported. The propensity for violence in the workplace has escalated in recent years, and notably in healthcare. From verbal abuse to physical violence, harassment, intimidation, and even homicide, healthcare and social service workers face threats to their safety at a more frequent rate than other professions.

Topics: Practice management, CMOM, medical office, medical office manager topics, medical practice issues, medical office staff, workplace violence, emergency preparedness

Portions of this article were originally published in BC Advantage Magazine March 5, 2019

A whopping 25 to 31 percent of total health care expenditures in the U.S. are administrative costs, according to a time-driven, activity-based costing study published last year in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)¹. These are huge margins for healthcare providers already squeezed by insurers and increasing costs of care. You may wonder if the grass is greener on the other side.

Topics: Practice management, CMOM, PMI Certification, Certified Medical Office Manager, medical office manager topics, medical practice issues, medical billing