Month: January 2014

If the relentless cold weather and gray skies have your medical office staff sinking into a blue funk, use the following tips to boost office morale and keep the winter blues at bay (see our previous post for more blues-beating tips): Laugh! Laughter lifts the spirits. Sharing a belly laugh or even a good chuckle […]

Helping older and younger staff members at your medical practice bridge the generation gap can reap rewards for both employees and your practice (see our previous post). Both generations have valuable ideas to bring to the table, but differences in communication and work styles can create misunderstandings and ruffle feathers. Use these additional tips to […]

Most medical offices and clinics have a mix of older employees who my have been with the practice for years, and younger employees who are new to the practice and may be new to the workplace or the field of medicine or both. Both generations have much to offer and can learn from each other, […]

Achieving and maintaining compliance with HIPAA’s complex patient information privacy regulations is one more time-consuming chore adding to the workloads of already overburdened medical office staffs. Between the Affordable Care Act, HIPAA’s new Omnibus Rule and changes to Medicare and Medicaid, the flurry of new paperwork threatens to overwhelm physician and dental practices, taking staff […]

If HIPAA-compliance concerns are keeping you up nights, you’re not alone. Complying with HIPAA regulations has been a challenge since the first national privacy standards were implemented in 1996. Omnibus Rule updates have only made HIPAA compliance more complex and much more time-consuming, particularly for smaller physician and dental practices. Aside from the desire to […]

If snow and cold weather keep your favorite coffee shop from opening, it could make for some cranky folks with caffeine withdrawal. In the case of a medical office, the results can be far more dire. When brutal winter conditions prevent your associates from reaching the office, do you have a backup plan to keep the lines of communication […]

The Arctic Vortex that froze the Midwest over the weekend dipped into the Deep South and started moving up the East Coast, shattering low temperature records that have stood for more than a century. With sub-zero wind chills of minus 50 in Wisconsin, minus 40 in Chicago and minus 30 in Cincinnati, Ohio; Antarctica and […]

The Arctic Vortex that froze the Midwest over the weekend dipped into the Deep South and started moving up the East Coast, shattering low temperature records that have stood for more than a century. With sub-zero wind chills of minus 50 in Wisconsin, minus 40 in Chicago and minus 30 in Cincinnati, Ohio; Antarctica and […]

Value added services are not something physicians, dentists or medical clinics typically consider; but the retailization of health care spurred by the Affordable Care Act is changing the nature of America’s healthcare marketplace, injecting it with a hefty dose of consumerism. As noted in our previous post, as consumers take a greater role in choosing […]

The Affordable Care Act is changing consumer attitudes about health care. As noted in our previous post, consumers are taking a closer look at what they’re getting for their healthcare dollars and demanding greater value. And the attitude adjustment isn’t just affecting people who purchase their own medical insurance. As more employers shift a greater […]