What A Mud Run Can Teach You About Managing Your Medical Practice
A few weeks ago, I completed my very first mud run.
A mud run is a 5K run with obstacles and mud, lots of it. Imagine a military style obstacle course with climbing walls, balance beams, mudslides, mud pools, mazes and all kinds of fun and crazy stuff.
Doing a race like that brought a lot of personal satisfaction. It was a lot of fun and I would probably do it again. But the mud run – and the events leading up to the race – also did another thing for me. It reminded me of an important principle that we often forget in life and in business.
Let me share with you how I was reminded of this important lesson.
I wo...
Source: Pediatric Inc - October 16, 2013 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Brandon Tags: Leadership Note to Self The Business of Medicine Accomplishments Commitments Goals Hard Work Health medical practice Objectives Source Type: blogs
Practice Mgt Webinar: Have a Social Media Presence While Managing a Thriving Pediatric Practice
One of the questions I almost always get when I do a presentation on social media goes something like this…
Where do I find the time to see all my patients in a day, manage my practice, be a mom, be a wife and on top of that, manage social media?
This time, I wanted to do something different. So instead of listening how I would address this question, I’ve asked  Kristen Stuppy MD, FAAP to come on a webinar I’m doing for the AAP and be my co-presenter so that she can answer this, and other questions, regarding managing one’s social media presence.
Dr. Stuppy works at Pediatric Partners in Overland...
Source: Pediatric Inc - October 11, 2013 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Brandon Tags: Internet Social Media Technology Web Marketing Business Facebook Pinterest Twitter Web conferencing Source Type: blogs
#18 Is the Independent Physician a Dinosaur? [Pediatric Practice Management AwesomeCast]
Not too long ago, you couldn’t avoid reading in the media about how the independent doctors  were becoming extinct.
Pundits and experts in the field stressed that if independent doctors, those that own their own practice, didn’t join, sell, merge or retire all together, they were going to walk the same path as travel agents, video stores and mom-and-pop own book stores.
I’ve subscribed to a different thought.
I’m crazy enough to believe that there will always be a place for the small independent practice.
Sure, practices will have to adjust, figure out new ways to meet the demands (just like any ...
Source: Pediatric Inc - October 9, 2013 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Brandon Tags: Health Care Leadership Marketing Pediatric Practice Management VideoCast Pediatrician Pediatrics The Business of Medicine Hollywood iTunes Pediatric Practice Management AwesomeCast Source Type: blogs
You Can Take Away Our Lives, But You Will Never Take Away Our Freedom
My co-host on the Pediatric Practice Management AwesomeCast, is working a project that I think many that read this blog will find interesting. Â I’ll let you read it directly from Chip’s original post:
Over the past couple of days, I’ve been working with some friends on a concept publication entitled “Independent Pediatrics.” The idea is to share the myriad stories of what it’s like to practice pediatrics independently – the challenges, the success stories, the future.
This will be as commercially agnostic/invisible an endeavor as possible and I’m going to be looking forÂ...
Source: Pediatric Inc - October 5, 2013 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Brandon Tags: Innovation Leadership Pediatrics The Business of Medicine American Academy of Pediatrics AwesomeCast Health Medical Specialties Source Type: blogs
#17 What Every Medical Practice Needs to Know about Web Design [Pediatric Practice Management AwesomeCast]
For today’s Pediatric Awesome-Cast Chip and I sit down with Alan Houser of Squareflair. Alan is a web designer. He and I worked together on Salud Pediatrics’ website.
I really enjoyed working with Alan. I’ve also enjoyed talking with him. We’ve had some interesting conversations ranging from web design (of course), to managing a small business, to how our wive’s use the iPad.
So I thought, why don’t we bring Alan on the AwesomeCast so we could talk about web design, some of the pitfalls people run into when designing their web sites and what are the things we could all do to make better ...
Source: Pediatric Inc - September 25, 2013 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Brandon Tags: Advertising Branding Consulting Internet Pediatric Practice Management VideoCast Web Marketing Google iTunes Pediatrics Web design Web Design and Development Source Type: blogs
Pediatric Practice Management Seminar You Don’t Want To Miss
From time to time, I get asked what practice management conference/seminars I recommend. As many of you know, there aren’t that many around, so I was only able to recommend one, maybe two.
I’m very happy to be able to add another awesome PM seminar to the list.
My friend Paul Vanchiere from the Pediatric Management Institute is offering 6-seminars around the country that I think you should attend. Or at least send somebody from your practice.
If you haven’t heard of PMI, head on over to their webpage and check them out. Paul and his team are doing some really cool things in the pediatric practice manageme...
Source: Pediatric Inc - September 18, 2013 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Brandon Tags: Lessons Practice Management The Business of Medicine Healthcare Pediatrics Seminar Source Type: blogs
Do You Struggle With Budgeting?
Budgeting is no easy task. It is cumbersome, slow, frustrating and most often wrong by the time you finish with it. Most of us are really bad at budgeting, therefore we avoid it like the plague.
But we should all agree that budgeting is very important and quite frankly a must when running a business.
The way that I’ve approached budgeting for the practice over the years is by keeping it as simple as possible. And then, once I’ve mastered the simple, or at least feel comfortable, I’ll add another level of complexity.
If you are feeling a overwhelmed about this budgeting thing, I’m gonna share my KISS...
Source: Pediatric Inc - September 11, 2013 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Brandon Tags: Cost Lessons Revenue The Business of Medicine Budget KISS medical private practice Money Money Management Source Type: blogs
#16 Going From An Old EMR To A New EMR: Featuring Dr. Seth Kaplan [Pediatric Practice Management AwesomeCast]
Meaningful Use and ARRA have brought a huge interest in practices adoption Electronic Medical Records for the very first time. But there is also large number of practices that are in the process of going through the process of switching to their second EMR.
In fact, our practice is one of those practices ready to make the transition.
Chip and I thought it would be good idea to talk to somebody that has gone through the transition and learn a little more about how this process works, what are some of the considerations we must remember not to forget, and a few lessons learned.
Today, our special guest is Dr. Seth Kaplan, wh...
Source: Pediatric Inc - September 4, 2013 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Brandon Tags: EMR Pediatric Practice Management VideoCast Technology American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Business Computing Electronic health record Electronic medical record Google Healthcare Source Type: blogs
Want To Improve Profitability for Your Medical Practice?
When in comes to increasing profitability, I see practices focus their efforts in collecting copayments and patient balances. Others look towards decreasing cost, like buying cheaper paper or going with a cheaper merchant vendor to help boost the bottom line.
Both, of course, are important exercises for a business. But here is what I’ve noticed. There doesn’t seem to be an equal amount of energy put towards learning about medical coding and how it can have a significant impact on a practice’s numbers.
Here is a truth. Money isn’t always lost when the patient is at check-in, or when a claim is subm...
Source: Pediatric Inc - August 28, 2013 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Brandon Tags: Coding Revenue The Business of Medicine Healthcare Medical Billing Practice Management Source Type: blogs
How to Deal with Unreasonable Patients in Your Medical Practice
A while back, I was working the front desk when a dad of one of our patients came up to me and said he didn’t want to sign the credit card on file authorization. I politely insisted he needed to fill out the auth form. He cut me off with loud: “WHY? Who came up with this stupid idea?”
Awkwardly I uttered, “Ummm, me.”
Now, both of us felt awkward. Silence…
So the parent broke the silence and in a less aggressive manner he asked why we were doing this. He asked, “…don’t you get paid by my insurance company?”
I started explaining how insurance worked. I happened to h...
Source: Pediatric Inc - August 17, 2013 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Brandon Tags: Customer Service Leadership The Business of Medicine Time Management Credit card Insurance Money Management Personal Finance Policy Source Type: blogs
#15 What Is a Practice Charter And Why Should I Have One? [Pediatric Practice Management AwesomeCast]
I often reference our Company Charter. This is a document that spells out our mission, our values, and what we must do as an organization to achieve our mission.
Practices use charters in different ways. Â But for us, our charter was created as a blue print for the practice’s actions and behavior. In the same way that an architect might prepare drawings of a structure for the purpose of design, planning, estimating, and actual construction, our charter describes the plan for delivering on our mission.
At the PCC User’s Conference Susanne Madden from the Verden Group gave a talk about practice charters, why you ...
Source: Pediatric Inc - August 1, 2013 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Brandon Tags: Pediatric Practice Management VideoCast Source Type: blogs
Do Your Patients Expect Something for Nothing?
I would say yes.
However, I would submit that the reason our patient’s expect something for nothing is our fault, not theirs.
The truth is, we’ve given away so much over the years. And now that we want to charge for things (that have always cost us) like forms, after hour phone calls, and others, and people think we are wanting to collect for something that they were lead to believe has no value.
Not to mention they often think we are nickle-and-diming people.
But some practices have been very careful about not falling into this trap of giving away their time and their resources.
Take Village Pediatrics for exa...
Source: Pediatric Inc - July 24, 2013 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Brandon Tags: Leadership Lessons Note to Self The Business of Medicine Health Insurance Parent Patient Pediatric Source Type: blogs
How Do You Best Motivate Employees?
Despite our efforts to recognize staff members for their outstanding work, the feedback we often get is that employees don’t feel appreciated enough. In other words, we appreciate our practice’s team members, but they don’t feel we recognize their work enough.
Apparently, this is not something unique to our practice. I’ve read research that shows that most employee leave a company because they don’t feel their bosses appreciate their hard work, commitment or dedication.
Research has also shown that when employees leave a job, many times it isn’t the money. Workers reveal that raises and promotions a...
Source: Pediatric Inc - July 17, 2013 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Brandon Tags: Employee Leadership Book boss Business Employment Gary Chapman Human resources Job satisfaction Workplace Source Type: blogs
#14 Dr. Natasha Burgert Joins Us To Talk About Social Media [Pediatric Practice Management Awesome-Cast]
Wow, we scored big this week and somehow convinced Natasha Burgert – queen of pediatric social media – to speak to us. Her real-life stories are great.
Don’t believe us? Watch/listen and see her Twitter effort or check out her blog.
A special shout out to an awesome vaccine-related charity that Dr. Burgert supports: Shot @ Life!
As always, you can get the AwesomeCast in different formats:
iTunes
Google+ PPMM Community Page
Pediatric Practice Management MediaCast
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#13 What Will You Do With All That Money? [Pediatric Practice Management Awesome-Cast] (pediatricinc.com)
Filed under: Clinic...
Source: Pediatric Inc - July 10, 2013 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Brandon Tags: Clinical Care Customer Experience Internet Pediatric Practice Management VideoCast Social Media Technology The Business of Medicine Time Management Training Facebook Google iTunes LinkedIn Social network Twitter Source Type: blogs
Is Your Company’s Culture Hindering Your Profitability?
I come from a non-medical business world where most conversation centers around profit, revenue, budgets, marketing, sales and things like that.
In the private  practice world, mentioning profit or revenue is almost prohibited as if it was a kind of taboo.
I remember being a little taken aback when people in the healthcare business would talk about “profit” and they would lower their voices and look around and whisper the words “making money” to ensure nobody outside of our conversation heard the money reference.
In our practice, we take a completely different approach. In our practice, we don̵...
Source: Pediatric Inc - July 3, 2013 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Brandon Tags: Collections Employee Leadership Money Savings Business Health Health Care Healthcare medical practice Medicine Patient Profit (economics) Revenue Source Type: blogs
