Practice Management
Benjamin Barlow, MD; Phyllis Dobberstein, CPC, CPMA, CPCO, CEMC, CCC The False Claims Act (FCA) is a federal statute enacted in 1863, inspired by defense-contractor fraud during the Civil War. Today it is used to prosecute inappropriate billing in the healthcare setting. Any person who knowingly submits false claims to the government (ie, Medicare, Medicaid, and Tricare) is liable for 3 times the government’s damages plus a penalty that is linked to inflation. Penalties are per …
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Benjamin Barlow, MD; Phyllis Dobberstein, CPC, CPMA, CPCO, CEMC, CCC One of the biggest challenges facing urgent care operators is increased scrutiny in the form of payer reviews. More clients than ever are facing these administrative and financial burdens. Compounding the issue is that urgent care clinicians often struggle to understand coding guidelines and how to document in a way that shows their medical decision making, which is vital in care and in payer reviews. Prepayment …
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Ben Barlow, MD, is Chief Medical Officer of Experity As I’ve discussed before, urgent care medicine is ready for its next phase, and exceptional leadership is needed to make urgent care a shining light within a struggling house of medicine. Engaging your team and setting one priority goal is the best approach for solidifying a behavior change that leads to exceptional results. Picking one goal is the easy part. Getting all team members to engage …
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Urgent care medicine is still trying to find its place in the vast medical care landscape. At the same time, the whole “house of medicine” is going through yet another challenging time. Our journals and the media are reporting that medical providers are feeling demoralized and uncertain of the future. In some clinics, the medical staff shows up focused only on surviving the day. Considering these organizational issues, it can often feel overwhelming when leaders …
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Urgent message: Founded by emergency medicine doctors on a mission to keep nonemergent patients out of the ED, urgent care has been forced by changes in reimbursement policies to emphasize high productivity and labor cost savings—ultimately leading to overall fewer procedures and thus a lower acuity level for urgent care centers. Benjamin Barlow, MD; Monte Sandler; Alan Ayers, MBA, MAcc The urgent care community has faced many challenges over the past several years. The largest …
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