• FEATURES

    Do You Have a Year 2000 Problem?

    Jack Valancy

    Here's how to test your practice's system and get the help you need.

    Demand Management: Putting Patients First

    Brandi White

    Where managed care may seem designed to thwart patients, demand management seeks to engage them.

    Demand Management: Implementing Your Own Program

    Steven E. Goldberg

    You don't have to spend a lot on bells and whistles. Instead, put the principles of managing demand to work in your practice.

    Demand Management: The Patient Education Connection

    Leigh Ann Henry

    The easy, affordable demand management strategy might also be the most effective.

    EDITOR'S PAGE

    What's Bugging You? Maybe FPM Can Help

    Robert L. Edsall

    Since Family Practice Management exists to make life easier for you in a number of ways, we're eager to know what's currently giving you a hard time. If it's something that expert advice could help, we may be able to find the expert (sometimes even here within the AAFP) and...

    LETTERS

    What's all the fuss about coding?

    J. Yates Sealander

    Make good with imperfect data

    Paul Mayeda

    Staff surveys tell more than patient surveys

    Robert L. Cranfield

    ASK FPM

    ASK FPM

    Mary Alice Tillman, John Swanson

    Effective mission statements | Charging for medical record copies

    REIMBURSEMENT STRATEGIES

    How to Handle Problems With Self-Pay Patients

    Robert B. Connelly

    Are you having trouble collecting debts from patients who pay for their own care? Considering the pressures of today's health care market, you need to collect all fees owed you, even those owed by what may be a comparatively small group of your patients.

    A Quick Review of Reassignment Can Help Avert Fraud Accusations

    Kent J. Moore

    Medicare fraud and abuse investigators have found that, under the guise of reassignment, some unscrupulous clinics have billed for services that weren't performed using the billing numbers of physicians who were no longer affiliated with them. In such cases, physicians have...

    REIMBURSEMENT STRATEGIES

    Kent J. Moore, Leigh Ann Henry

    Documenting decision making for a new problem | Routine venipuncture | Intrathecal anesthesia | Prolonged labor and a C-section | Lab panel codes

    MONITOR

    MONITOR

    Aetna, physicians embattled again | Primary care recruitment slows; family practice remains on top | Hospitalists' care shown to lower costs | How to help seniors with questions about Medicare+Choice

    OFFICE SUITE

    Physician, Laugh at Thyself

    Kenneth G. Davis

    While performing a flight physical on an airline pilot, I noticed his blood pressure was 8 mm Hg over the acceptable limit for certification. The patient had no history of blood pressure problems, so I asked the nurse to recheck his pressure after a few minutes. Still, his...

    THE SALARIED FP

    Do You Belong on the Board of Directors?

    Richard E. Thompson

    Every health care organization has a board of directors (sometimes known as a board of trustees or governing body) that sets policy, hires the chief executive officer (CEO), sets the annual budget, approves large purchases, plans for the future and bears legal accountability...

    FP STATS

    An Average Workload

    Family physicians average 52 hours per week in practice, according to a recent AAFP survey. Of that, 42 hours are spent in direct patient care; 34 hours are spent in direct patient care in the office setting. The survey also found that family physicians average 96 office...



    Disclosure

    All editors and editorial advisory board members in a position to control content for this activity, FPM journal, are required to disclose any relevant financial relationships. View disclosures.



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