From the Cardiovascular/Thoracic Surgery and Cardiology Assembly eGroup

Quote of Note

"A group on our campus successfully transitioned all of their docs to [voice-recognition technology], and it's going great so far. Our docs are anxious to get on board. We can't seem to roll it out fast enough – although we have a few naysayers. The three who are using it really like it. I was hesitant, knowing that prior versions weren't that great – too many errors. Seems that the latest version is still not perfect, but I would recommend it. Training time is minimal and a good IT person can speed that up by running old voice files and training [the system] for the doctor. I'd recommend it."

Education
 

• MGMA 2011 Annual Conference
• MGMA 2012 Financial Management and Payer Contracting Conference
  Feb. 26-28, 2012

Advocacy 

• 2009 Regulatory, Reimbursement and Coding Update for Cardiology Practices
  
  
• The new ICD-10 and HIPAA transaction standards
  
  
• 2009 General Medicare Update  

Cardiology Resources

• 2010 Regulatory and reimbursement decisions impacting cardiology practices. Get the latest information on the new Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes and tips for billable services for cardiology.
  
• Cardiology and the Patient-Centered Medical Home. The original design of the PCMH focused on primary care practices, but it has since been expanded to include other care environments, including cardiology.
  
• 2010 Easy Coder ICD-9 Cardiology. So user-friendly, it actually helps reduce coding errors and improve reimbursement and compliance.
  
• Operating Policies & Procedures Manual for Medical Practices, 3rd edition. Natural disasters, declining reimbursement and more diverse patient populations have made the need for specialized medical practice policies and processes even greater.
  
• HR Policies & Procedures Manual for Medical Practices, 4th edition. Human resource issues in the medical practice setting have a reputation for being more complex than the mainstream; thus, the need for specialized information has never been greater.
  
• Electronic Health Records: Transforming Your Medical Practice, second edition. While some electronic health record (EHR) implementations proceed on schedule with the team’s full participation and – seemingly – little effort, others flounder, stall, or struggle, experiencing only limited success or, in extreme cases, no success at all. What accounts for the difference?
  
• Medical Fees in the US: 2010 Edition. This book  includes everything you need to review your fees, set fees for new services, challenge low payments from third party payers and evaluate managed care contracts.
  
• Data Sanity: A Quantum Leap to Unprecedented Results. Far too much emphasis has been placed on “tools, tools and more tools” (especially statistical techniques), resulting in rampant waste caused by poor everyday organizational use of data. This book offers a new way of thinking via a common organizational language based in process and understanding variation to motivate more productive daily conversations for everyone.
  
• Integrated Delivery Systems: Ensuring Successful Physician-Hospital Partnerships. As medical groups, hospitals, and health systems position themselves for the new marketplace, they must be proactive in establishing new relationships and affiliations. Because the outcomes of health system integration vary widely, this book will help steer organizations toward a common purpose – in a way that is meaningful to providers, administrators, and health care leaders, and most of all, to patients.
  
• See additional group practice management resources.