This past year, the Business of Hand Surgery Committee has provided practice management educational offerings for ASSH members both at the Annual Meeting in Chicago and online.
This is all in an effort to keep our members updated on coding issues, government regulations and practice management best practices that will allow them to be successful.
At the Annual Meeting, we once again provided a precourse on financial basics, chaired by Anne J. Miller, MD and Thomas J. Fischer, MD. Other symposia and instructional courses focused on health policy, social media, computer use and other technologies.
The committee continues to produce two webinars per year. The most popular webinar covers the cornerstone of a good practice: coding. Mary LeGrand, RN, MA, CCS-P, CPC, a nationally recognized coding and reimbursement expert, was once again featured this year. Our upcoming fall webinar will cover new government regulations that will impact your practice.
In addition, the committee continues to develop Business of Hand Surgery articles for our newsletter throughout the year.
Currently, we are in discussions with the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University to develop a series of practice management lectures. These lectures would involve areas that are not covered in an MBA or other types of classes – areas that are specific to the practice of medicine. As part of this effort, we are exploring alliances with businesses outside of the practice of hand surgery to provide current industry knowledge.
In these times of ever-increasing government regulation, it is essential to stay on top of best business practices so we may provide for our communities and patients. The Business of Hand Surgery Committee looks forward to continuing to provide educational offerings that help our members succeed in their practice.
Elizabeth A. Ouellette, MD, MBA
Chair, Business of Hand Surgery Committee
Does Your Community Know What a Hand Surgeon Is?
Here's the problem: Much of the public still doesn't know that Hand Surgery is a specialty unto itself and that Hand Surgeons (i.e., ASSH members) are available in their communities.
The Public Awareness Committee is working to promote our specialty, our society, and its website (
handcare.org) by producing videos for the Internet to capture the public's attention. We are also in a constant search for stories in the media that feature hand surgery and any of our members. ASSH members can help this mission in several ways:
- Link, post or "like" the ASSH video to your own professional websites, Facebook, YouTube, and/or Twitter accounts, or personal blogs. This gives them a better chance of going viral and being seen on a large scale. They might even attract patients to your practice. They serve as good educational tools and will underscore your ties to the prominent hand surgery organization.
- If you have appeared in a story in the media, please share that with us so we can publicize it on our Web and other outlets.
- If you have a high-profile patient (celebrity or well-known athlete), ask if he/she is willing to help by sharing his/her story to educate the public about common hand conditions as well as provide a trusted resource for patients. Consider showing them the Dirk Nowitzki video ("Dirk did it"). You might find that many of these special patients are open to the idea, and it's good publicity for them as well. It can be as easy as a short video captured with your smart phone or as elaborate as a professional video shoot through the Public Awareness Committee.
Help spread the word about our specialty and all it has to offer. We feel it is important and beneficial for patients to have an accurate and reliable resource for upper extremity care. If you have a story to share, a potential video project, or questions/comments, please contact Tara Havenga (
thavenga@assh.org).
A member posted a CNN Money article on the ASSH Listserv that provides chilling details on the Norian vertebroplasty debacle.
One Listserver described the article as an "awesome read, mesmerizing!"
Another commented: "Thanks for finding this story. I would strongly recommend that hand surgeons read it."
If you have already signed up for the ASSH Physician Listserv, you can read the CNN Money article and contribute to the discussion by visiting the
archives and scrolling down to the thread titled "Norian Horror Story." If you don't know or remember your Listserv password, you can reset your password
here.
Thank You to AFSH Donors
Edward Akelman, MD
Saul J. Kaplan, MD
Scott H. Kozin, MD
Mukund R. Patel, MD
Kathleen A. Robertson, MD
Bruce R. Wheeler, MD
Jennifer Moriatis Wolf, MD
Did you know you can support the Foundation (AFSH) through automated monthly payments? Visit www.afsh.org/donate to complete an auto-pay form, or contact afsh@assh.org.
A
new resource from the AMA outlines steps physicians can take to ensure their practice achieves and maintains an excellent reputation among existing and prospective patients. From improving the practice's reputation to managing the information patients find online, the resource explains effective ways to cultivate the loyalty of existing patients and attract new ones.
Additional guidance and resources on
patient satisfaction are available through the online AMA Practice Management Center.
by Claire McCarthy, MD
I got a really unexpected honor recently: according to
Sharecare, I'm the top online influencer for children's health.
I truly didn't see it coming. I didn't go into the online space to be an influencer. I've been writing about health and parenting for more than twenty years; when publishing moved into the online space, I just moved along with it. But having been online, blogging and doing other social media, it has become increasingly clear to me that I need to be there — and that more doctors need to be there with me.
Read more.
The Washington Post reports that thousands of doctors and other medical professionals have billed Medicare for increasingly complicated and costly treatments over the past decade, adding $11 billion or more to their fees — and signaling a possible rise in medical billing abuse, according to an investigation by the Center for Public Integrity.
Read more.