tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-177491782011-12-14T22:09:34.238-05:00A Solo Doc's attempt to make sense of the business of medicine while he grows (from its infancy) a primary care practice in the island of Manhattan.Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.comBlogger521100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-68631234135113259382008-09-25T20:31:00.004-04:002008-09-25T21:03:34.799-04:00

We are in the midst of one of the biggest economic crises probably since the Great Depression, so they say. What caused the economy to weaken they say is the defaulting home ownership market, with people's finances overstretched too far to pay for their home mortgages. Home mortgages were handed out like free candy to anyone who applied. Then with the strength and crazy rise in home prices,

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-58313622303861611502008-09-22T10:03:00.001-04:002008-09-22T21:18:31.349-04:00

Today, a front page article of the Wall Street Journal spoke about how people are cutting down on healthcare spending in the wake of this shaky economy. The article noted that for the first time in 10 years, the amount of money spent on prescription medications had dropped. However, it wasn't clear from the article if this drop was due to falling demand or due to the fact the insurers are more

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-17356871180051565512008-09-21T20:15:00.002-04:002008-09-21T20:53:01.882-04:00

1 year ago I took a big chance, jumped off a financial cliff (much like the country is in right now, except I had a back-up parachute), and opened a new office designed for the future of my practice. Now a year later, I can say that as scary as that step was, it was the best thing I did for my career. Calculated risks can push us forward beyond our limits and into greater success. Reckless

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-23664623803182722012008-09-19T22:14:00.002-04:002008-09-19T22:31:43.552-04:00

The walls are caving in all around us. But stay calm, the foundation is still standing. Don't worry that the foundation is sort of rotten. My practice is in Manhattan, so I take care of employees at Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, and the former Bear Stearns. For the last few months, the stress and anxiety has been of astronomic proportions. However, none of them saw this incredible collapse

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-46676923271490189912008-09-12T20:59:00.004-04:002008-09-12T21:17:58.292-04:00

Read this article and wonder if the circumstances we are in right now, with a devalued U.S. currency, rising oil prices, and terrorism used as a chest piece to support our military agenda, were not engineered by the current administration. Bear Stearns is gone. Freddie Mac and Fannie May have been absorbed by the U.S. government, which everyday seems to become more "communist" in its operation.

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-72214652651870864672008-07-17T23:23:00.003-04:002008-07-17T23:38:19.585-04:00

It only takes a few seconds....1. To say "Hi" with a smile.2. To answer the business phone with a kind hello and your name.3. To ask, "How was your weekend?"4. To empathize, "How is dealing with your ailment(s)/pain affecting you?"5. To ask, "How do you feel about your diagnosis?"6. To remember, "How's your dad doing after that fall and hospitalization?"7. To help someone with directions

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-65574073864282915762008-07-13T21:57:00.011-04:002008-07-16T23:14:09.392-04:00

This is the second in a series of blog entries describing the incredible events that took place in the creation of my new office space. I'm not sure how long the series is going to be, but it will continue until it ends. While I was in the midst of this metamorphosis, it didn't seem like all fun and games, but as any hardships are in retrospect, they don't seem as hard, and usually there's

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-2483544917359164472008-07-13T20:38:00.008-04:002008-07-13T22:03:42.002-04:00

April 19th, 2007 was my last post. What happened after that was a tornado of chaotic, but somehow organized activity to manifest the new space where my practice would boom. My philosophy has always been more patient-centered, than doctor-centered -- thus, my dislike for sterile, white surroundings which seem to have become the norm in the doctor world. When did doctors become so boring? It

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-20634206531087783572007-04-19T22:04:00.000-04:002007-04-19T22:20:04.346-04:00

But it's a lot of fun!Planning a move. I'm making my list. Checking it 10,000 times. Gotta make sure nothing's missing in there. I'm getting ready for a Big move.Yeah, I'm planning to move my office this summer. And it's been a work in progress since the Winter. Wow! Along the way, I've managed to accumulate my very own "Entourage." I was thinking today, I must be an adult now (yeah, I

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-579985694616577232007-04-03T13:58:00.000-04:002007-04-03T14:55:04.510-04:00

How many times have you had a case of sciatica, and you get another patient in an appointment right after with the same symptoms and diagnosis? It's happened to me many times. Two acute nephrolithiasis on the same week, two culture-positive strep throats (unrelated to each other, besides having appeared in my office at the same time), two foot fractures, two cases of Lyme disease. Well, you

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-26471189595950811172007-04-02T13:59:00.000-04:002007-04-02T15:32:26.849-04:00

I had a feeling this was coming soon. The FDA has found another drug in post-launch analysis that was riskier than believed to be by the data revealed during the prelaunch studies. Zelnorm has been found to increase the risk of cardiovascular events by 10-fold compared to placebo in a pulled analysis of 18,000 patients. A Swiss government study (which the FDA relied upon for its decision), showed

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-73028228075299258002007-03-26T16:16:00.000-04:002007-03-26T19:25:26.828-04:00

What does Healing look like?A patient asked me this recently, and I wondered.... What does healing look like anyway? If it could look like anything? And where is healing found?We as doctors believe that we are writing prescriptions for healing left and right. By the end of any given day, we've written countless prescriptions and fulfilled another slew of refill requests. But are we really

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-41063723270425063062007-03-23T09:12:00.000-04:002007-03-23T09:27:41.874-04:00

Well no stone has been left unturned, as I said. Today I got an email from "InfoSessions at Medscape.com" with the title in the Subject line: "GERD Patient Education Program." Well, sounds all nice and good. We PCP's sometimes don't have enough time to go over every single detail of what GERD is all about. Sure, it would be nice to refer our patients to an impartial online source of information

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-13171275351487977102007-03-21T22:53:00.000-04:002007-03-22T00:16:30.376-04:00

Big Pharma has been closing its gap on medicine in the last two decades. It is hard to find physicians in academia or high level positions of influential medical advisory boards that have not been tapped by the fertile green hands of big pharma. They come dressed as attractive young drug reps, carefully chosen by these companies to have enough look appeal to help them across the doors and

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-14018532647698812752007-03-08T13:52:00.000-05:002007-03-08T14:29:00.439-05:00

An article in today's Metro NY talks about the lack of HPV vaccines in New York City's STD clinics and immunization centers. I'm happy to see this article on the front page, because the HPV vaccine needs to be brought to the attention of not only the public, but physicians as well. Gardasil, the quadrivalent version was only released last summer and there is still confusion and misunderstanding

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-71130802000106735202007-02-26T16:56:00.000-05:002007-03-07T00:06:01.778-05:00

If you're going to have a website, then you should put it to good use for you as a marketing engine for your practice. But how do you do this?Marketing your practice website is just as important as getting IT up and running with the right look, feel and user-friendly navigation. Without a marketing strategy for your website (i.e. your practice), your website might as well be stranded on a boat in

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-34105228784963806352007-02-25T12:41:00.000-05:002007-02-26T10:28:42.040-05:00

Can a Primary Care Medical Practice exist without a dot.com presence in 2007?While advertising dollars in other industries have recently fallen or failed to grow, as per an article in the Wall Street Journal about a month ago, internet advertising dollars have grown exponentially, thanks to the many means by which to advertise on the internet at a fraction of the cost of print and other media.

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-9830095683631702262007-02-25T11:24:00.000-05:002007-02-25T12:30:08.080-05:00

Starting a practice is not easy, and as a series of very realistic posts over at The Independent Urologist demonstrate, there's a lot of new understanding required to achieve success in private solo practice.Besides understanding cold-hard numbers and facts, I've found that a little Tao can go a long way towards helping a young practice grow. Just like a small shrub in the forest, there are

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-8140254341077361772007-02-24T23:23:00.000-05:002007-02-25T00:14:38.562-05:00

On the Friday, February 23rd edition, the Wall Street Journal ran a a front page story by Gautam Naik talking about the use of technology in the creation of a new type of medical practice for the primary care physician -- the micropractice. The main reasons for this are: 1) technology reduces costs, 2) reduces need for superfluous staff, 3) possibly eliminates the need for a costly biller (a

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-19001184180877229312007-02-14T10:44:00.000-05:002007-02-14T12:32:49.306-05:00

The "concierge," "boutique," or "patient-centered" model of medical practice is drawing a lot of attention these days. Doctors that are discontented with the way the medical system works are deciding to drop out of the insurance picture and repaint a kinder, more time-friendly scene for their patients with increased access (like giving out their own private cellphone number). In effect, from an

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-83646377954043740092007-02-12T12:48:00.000-05:002007-02-12T12:47:07.758-05:00

A fellow blogger, conciergedoc is giving us a fresh perspective on starting a concierge practice. Wherein I wrote in January about the micropractice, a low-cost alternative to the healthcare conundrum = rising costs/ falling reimbursements, the Concierge Practice offers another solution to this mess. The polls say doctors are depressed and unhappy (see Physician morale on shaky terms), but

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-1170720293543704392007-02-05T18:51:00.000-05:002007-02-05T19:04:53.570-05:00

And the search goes on for the new office space. Yes, it can be a frustrating affair. Questions, like "Will my patients follow me?" come up on a daily basis. Will the new space be right? How big should it be? How small should it be? It seems that the just-right Goldilocks space is hard to find.At some point, you might just have to jump in without testing the waters to see if they're too

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-1169008515608887192007-01-16T23:35:00.000-05:002007-01-17T00:17:22.223-05:00

Yes, New York City is where I live and practice, and as you may imagine, office space comes at a premium. Finding office space that is affordable is a challenge. Finding office space, period, is a challenge! But like I've said before, no matter where you're at, if you can purchase an office space you're steps ahead of the game. Just think about it, owning your own space means locking in mortgage

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-1167678500680450832007-01-01T12:50:00.000-05:002007-01-01T14:20:05.496-05:00

Yes, I know it's hard. You feel like you work harder every year and make less money. Personally, I've only been in the solo game for 2 1/2 years now, so I've only felt a slight crunch, whereas those of you who have been practicing for more than 5 years have really felt the crunch. Unfortunately, I already started halfway down the reimbursement hill, but I do face the same struggles of keeping a

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-1167183258977064132006-12-26T19:42:00.000-05:002006-12-27T13:34:23.986-05:00

It's time to look at the books once again, as I prepare myself for the year end. As a small business owner, having no salary, and no set taxes to pay, other than the estimated deductions based on last year's, you're continuously trying to estimate what will be the year-end final Profit and Loss statement. Of course, nothing is finalized until you've sat with your CPA and divvied up your final tax

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-1166903689873460992006-12-23T14:34:00.000-05:002006-12-23T14:57:15.403-05:00

The best day ever, starts nice and bright!Yeah....... yeah, yeah!I wake up early, well-rested and light!Yeah....... yeah, yeah!My son wakes up all bushy-eyed, he doesn't scream.....My wife already has breakfast made! Yeah...... yeah, yeah!And with a nice kiss goodbye,Then I'm off to work; a pleasant stroll in sun-shiny day!It's the perfect day, to be a doctor!Yeah...... yeah, yeah!I stop at

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-1166800757704750202006-12-22T09:29:00.000-05:002006-12-23T13:15:41.270-05:00

Here's a thought: Rising energy prices and this country's sheer dependence on imported oil are causing healthcare costs to rise. I'm reading a book by Stephen and Donna Leeb, The Oil Factor: How Oil Controls the Economy and Your Financial Future, that talks about the negative effect rapidly rising oil prices can have on our nation's economy. Since 1973, which is after the U.S. stopped being able

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-1166669102157439722006-12-20T21:39:00.000-05:002006-12-22T14:49:19.490-05:00

I understand where they're coming from, but when non-doctors start producing cheap-care clinics staffed by NP's to take care of the supposed "uncomplicated" issues in medicine, it makes me wonder where healthcare is going in this country? That's a problem and a lawsuit waiting to happen.RediClinic is opening walk-in clinics staffed by NPs in WalMarts and Duane Reades around the country. Their

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-1164920876796963762006-11-30T15:31:00.000-05:002006-11-30T16:08:45.193-05:00

Ok, as if it wasn't enough that Wal-Mart is planning to open its own brand of clinics (sound awfully similar to those HMOs that sprouted out in Florida in the late 1980's, then failed. Will quality suffer in the name of cost controls?). Now, they're planning to set up Electronic Health Records. These portable electronic records would be recognizable by hospitals, doctors and pharmacies. The idea

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-1164830156464725272006-11-29T14:39:00.000-05:002006-11-29T14:55:56.540-05:00

On Monday I placed a post about Identity Theft, because someone apparently got their hands on my credit card over the weekend, and charged up a storm. I thought it would have been over after the requisite phone conversations with my C/C company and the credit bureaus. But, yesterday I received a mysterious package in my office. It was one of those fraudulent purchases. My staff found the

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-1164729600557428782006-11-28T10:59:00.000-05:002006-11-28T11:34:44.983-05:00

Along the lines of my most recent post, I've brought attention to the idea of not just working to follow a dream, but to get rich. That is what my previous post was about -- doctors, Ph.D's, etc... letting go of their idealistic dreams of making a difference for the numerical remuneration on Wall Street. Are we in danger of losing more and more talented professionals for the lure of money? Are we

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-1164670516696799752006-11-27T17:41:00.001-05:002006-11-28T07:57:21.056-05:00

An interesting article in the NY Times today talks about how doctors, and other professionals, including academically trained Ph.D's, are shunning their chosen fields for high-paying business consulting positions on Wall Street. The article points to the widening chasm between the rich and the really rich. Apparently the proportion of high net-worth individuals and households in this country has

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-1164653710392936792006-11-27T10:49:00.000-05:002006-11-27T17:12:29.190-05:00

Well, yet another joy of being a small business owner....yesterday afternoon I was leaving the gym when I got a text message on my PDA phone:Re: Citibank alert/Business card/suspended right now/Fraud dept.Someone had apparently gotten their hands on my Business credit card number and charged up $8,000 in a number of a few hours on Sunday. Wow! Glad Citibank picked that up in time. I wondered why

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-1164496309492968362006-11-25T18:09:00.000-05:002006-11-25T18:11:49.493-05:00

FleaHealth Business BlogMusings of a Dinosaur

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-1164424034604034382006-11-24T21:54:00.000-05:002006-11-24T22:15:20.396-05:00

Imagine a world where the US computer industry ran like its biotech industry: I dug up a biologist's view on the matter. Where does drug development factor into the rising healthcare cost=equation?

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-1164385327622551412006-11-24T10:43:00.000-05:002006-11-24T11:22:07.706-05:00

Recently, I was invited to a friend's place for a get-together, except it wasn't just any get-together, besides drinks and good conversation, there was going to be a doctor performing free botox injections. This is not the first time I've heard of a botox party, but it is the first time I've been invited to one. Well, my friend's primary care doctor was the one who was going to be giving the

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-1164293323430572892006-11-23T09:14:00.000-05:002006-11-23T09:48:43.490-05:00

One of the toughest parts of being "the boss" is learning how to manage employees. This is a constantly evolving art, and one that I admit I'm not very good at. I'm much better at being a doctor, but I'm learning everyday how to manage and motivate my employees to do a better job and really care about the service they are providing to other people. They are each as vital a part of my practice

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-1164261764585868582006-11-23T00:06:00.000-05:002006-11-23T01:07:25.260-05:00

Yes, and that's basically what I am. I've created a medical practice from scratch. That's right, from maybe 2 patients in the first week, to a flow of 40-60 patients now after 2 1/2 years. It was no easy feat, and required a lot of faith that one day it would work. I had the privilege to build this in one of the most competitive markets in this country, because I wanted to live there and nowhere

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-1164038032730355512006-11-20T10:22:00.001-05:002006-11-20T10:54:00.063-05:00

As if yearly reimbursement rate cuts were not enough, it seems that Aetna throws in a curve ball every so often just to see if I'm still awake. Last week, I received the EOB (Explanation of Benefits for those of you that may not know that dilineates how claims are paid) for some recent claims and immediately noticed a greater than 40% drop (aah!) in payments for given CPT codes. What? I couldn't

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-1163830442939021952006-11-18T00:27:00.000-05:002006-11-18T01:21:29.426-05:00

Ah, the quandary is the meeting of medical care with financial reality. As a solo practitioner, you are forced to attach a value to what you do. I never thought of that before opening my own private practice. Valueing, i.e. assigning a price to what I do, was a foreign concept to me. After all, in residency we never dealt with billing. There was no business of medicine course. But wait!

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-1144165722276144872006-04-04T11:14:00.000-04:002006-11-18T01:22:53.070-05:00

Go ahead and ask me your medical practice questions. I may be able to answer them. And if I can't, I'll refer you out. Of course, who I refer you to depends on your insurance. Oh, can you imagine that? What if you needed insurance to see anybody (car repair, lawyer, photocopier), and if they weren't on your plan you would have to pay out of pocket? Oh wait, that's sounding like communism. Well,

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-1133192468818026122005-11-28T09:42:00.000-05:002005-11-28T11:21:32.546-05:00

Networking: It's something we as doctors don't learn much about, and some of us [sorry to say] are inept at. The problem is that it is not part of the culture. As doctors, we are encouraged to be self-directed and self-motivated and competitive -- as individualistic as possible. However, go to any business school, and the number one thing you are taught is how to network. You see, business people

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-1131769827585501312005-11-11T23:27:00.000-05:002005-11-11T23:30:27.596-05:00

This week was all about networking - a very important tool for growing a young business, such as a solo practice. As a solo general practitioner, I've found that one needs to be more creative to build business. When I complete this post I will talk about Networking 101: How to Build Your Business Effectively - The Do's and the Don'ts.

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-1130867658855380902005-11-01T12:32:00.000-05:002005-11-01T12:55:50.323-05:00

1st Steps. The Cost of: Becoming a doctor $100-150,000 Taking USMLE Step 3 $635 Obtaining a State Medical License $600 Obtaining a DEA Registration Certificate $390 Becoming a Board-Certified Physician $1000 Obtaining a UPIN

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-1130446259817656092005-10-27T16:48:00.000-04:002005-10-27T16:55:11.570-04:00

How much is your Time worth? A look at RVU's.Life Coaching.... A new means to achieving your goals.Part II of the Series: So you want to open your own private practice.

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-1130349839753265632005-10-26T13:52:00.000-04:002005-10-26T16:39:07.163-04:00

Today, I got paid for a comprehensive check-up I did for a patient on December 21st, 2004. Can you believe that!?! This is a joke, right? Seeing the check almost a year later brought up some uncontrollable hysterical laughter. Let's say that I give the insurance plan a 30-day leeway. This means, Oxford, that your payment is 278 days LATE or 9 months 5 days off the mark. This doesn't account for

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-1130290892063137502005-10-25T21:40:00.000-04:002005-10-26T13:18:59.766-04:00

Woes me! Writing scripts has become the toil of medicine. Don't get me wrong, medicines do great things for people, but they also do bad things too; nevertheless, remedies are here to stay, and the nitty gritty of any day at the office may involve refilling a number of scripts for patients you don't necessarily have to see that day... All doctors do this, but let's admit, most hate having to

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-1130187354250862842005-10-24T16:35:00.000-04:002005-10-24T21:44:15.170-04:00

And you're positively not intimidated by today's ever-complex medical marketplace......then, READ ON.What do you need to do?Part I. The Technical Stuff.These are things I wish someone had told me while I was a medical student or in residency training, or even early on in my career, because planning is everything. And planning eliminates lost time waiting for things to go through that should

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-1129827604826770572005-10-20T12:36:00.000-04:002005-10-20T13:00:04.836-04:00

HIPAA National Provider IdentifierWe don't have enough numbers as it is, so on January 23, 2004 our Department of Health & Human Services published a final rule stating that all providers will need to use a new National Provider Identifier (NPI) to conduct HIPAA standard transactions (i.e. electronic claims, eligibility inquiries, claims status inquiries, etc...) by May 23, 2007. Wow! And I

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-1129741260970987542005-10-19T13:00:00.000-04:002005-10-19T19:46:24.643-04:00

Last night I went to a pharmaceutical dinner, for which I candidly must admit I have a love/hate relationship. I like the networking, but dislike the implication that they're buying my scripts [which they never are]. As a solo practitioner [actually doesn't matter if you're solo or in a group -- everyone wants new business], one way to gain patients (especially when starting out) is to meet and

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-1129558193985866252005-10-17T09:28:00.000-04:002005-10-18T08:24:24.606-04:00

At least in the last decade, it seems that while specialists continued to profit, the primary care physician suffered from paycuts and a devaluation of their work by today's redefined insurance environment. Procedures are rewarded with money (i.e. high insurance reimbursements) but time spent face-to-face, counseling patients through the troubled waters of their overall health, is paid poorly.

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17749178.post-1129087283806136592005-10-11T23:14:00.000-04:002005-10-16T11:24:20.093-04:00

Private practice found me -- not the other way around. However, being my own boss was probably engrained in my blood since childhood. Go ahead and ask my parents -- I was quite stubborn as a child. My Cuban parents came to this country as political refugees (please note, this is the correct use of the word "refugee" -- not to describe our own hurricane-ravaged citizens, displaced from their

Medicine Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09282560866089461520noreply@blogger.com1