Category: VE Blog

Increase Patient Satisfaction with Vetters Enterprises

How Price Transparency Can Increase Patient Satisfaction

Posted on by VettersEnt

Patients today are very educated about healthcare, and many are also footing a bigger proportion of the bill than ever before. As a result, there is a great deal of concern over pricing for health care services. While some offices worry about revealing too much about pricing, it can actually increase patient satisfaction. When consumers understand the quality that they are receiving for the price and the true value of care, they are more likely to make an educated decision.

Why Is Price Transparency So Hard?

Price transparency is a problem that many in the healthcare industry are already aware of. However, nothing captures a potential patient’s attention more than cost. As more consumers utilize high-deductible health plans (HDHPs), they are hoping to spend less in the short-term at the risk of shelling out more if they are injured. As a practice, it can be difficult to predict a course of treatment for a patient in advance, which leads to a misperception on behalf of patients that doctors are intentionally misleading about how much care will cost. 

What Solutions Could You Implement?

Some practices are experimenting with price estimators to increase price transparency and improve patient satisfaction. This allows you to engage the patient and explain potential treatments one-on-one. When presenting pricing, consider explaining things in one of two ways:

  • A bundled out-of-pocket estimate for medically necessary services
  • An estimate of the rate for a procedure covered by insurance and the associated patient costs

Remember that we are living in the age of Amazon, which means that consumers want the most possible for their money, in addition to transparency over what they will be getting. In your conversations, you should also make it clear that everything is an estimate. The projected costs might not align with the actual costs due to a variety of reasons.  

Showing Additional Benefits

While price is the biggest pain point when it comes to patient satisfaction, there are many other things your practice can do to show your value. Board certification, experience and patient experience all make a difference in what patients are willing to pay. When talking to patients and marketing, make it clear that you have plenty to offer beyond the actual services and procedures you provide.

Take Care of Your Physicians with Vetters Enterprises

Vetters Enterprises specializes in practice management, private practice business support and revenue cycle optimization. We can perform in-depth assessments of your practice or facility and identify potential issues. Let us keep your business as healthy as you keep your patients! Give us a call at (443) 352-0088.

Physicians Care with Vetters Enterprises

5 Ways for Physicians to Care for Themselves

Posted on by VettersEnt

While the primary focus of the nurses and physicians in your practice is taking care of the patients that come in for various ailments all year long, the most effective doctors are the ones who also take care of themselves. Many physicians jeopardize their short and long-term health and well-being to meet the demands of the job, which also harms the patients that they aim to treat. How can doctors take better care of themselves?

Why Do Doctors Neglect Their Health?

While the health care industry has come a long way, some doctors still hold onto the idea that paying attention to personal, physical or mental needs is a sign of weakness and that working as hard as possible around the clock is a sign of strength. While working more and sleeping less can work for a small period of time, in the long term it can cause serious health consequences. Why do doctors routinely neglect their health? One recent study attributed it to a variety of things—sleep deprivation, long hours, heavy workloads, disempowerment, bureaucracy, rigid practice culture, the stress of malpractice lawsuits and more.

5 Ways for Physicians to Care for Themselves

  1. Get enough sleep every night. Working without enough sleep is not something to be proud of. Instead, it’s dangerous to your life and the lives of patients underneath your care. The more tired that you are, the more likely you are to make a critical mistake.
  2. Avoid negative coping mechanisms for stress, like overindulging in alcohol or taking drugs. Instead, try to engage in exercise or experiment with meditation to relax after a long day on the clock.
  3. Never be afraid to seek professional help. Physicians are human beings just like anyone else, and there is no shame in asking for help coping with intense stress.
  4. Schedule small breaks throughout the day. Even 2-5 minutes of walking around outside in between appointments can make a big difference in how you feel and how much exercise you’re getting.
  5. Find self-care practices that are sustainable and good for your well-being. A great self-care practice could be anything from swimming in your apartment complex’s pool to volunteering at a local soup kitchen. Anything that fills up your cup instead of taking more out is a good way to care for yourself.

Take Care of Your Physicians with Vetters Enterprises

Vetters Enterprises specializes in practice management, private practice business support and revenue cycle optimization. We can perform in-depth assessments of your practice or facility and identify potential issues. Let us keep your business as healthy as you keep your patients! Give us a call at (443) 352-0088.

5 Star Reviewed Practice with Vetters Enterprises

4 Ways to Become a 5-Star Reviewed Practice

Posted on by VettersEnt

Online reviews matter more than ever before, as patients turn to the internet to find the best doctor or specialist available. As a result, more practices are concerned about becoming a 5-star reviewed practice. How can you boost your online ratings and get an A+ rating across the web? It’ll take some elbow grease!

Know What Affects Ratings

First, you need to understand what affects patient ratings online. While some people will leave vindictive negative reviews, the vast majority of practice reviews left online are honest and reflect patient experience. That means that the best way to improve your online reviews is not necessarily only asking patients with great experiences to leave them, but instead to focus on improving patient experience across your practice.

Keep it Face to Face

When entering a room, always sit down facing the patient. Sitting in front of a patient, instead of standing up or rummaging around the room, improves patient perception of how much attention you are paying them. Studies have found that patients whose doctors sit in front of them to discuss their issue perceive that their doctor paid more attention and that the appointment lasted longer.

Ask for Feedback

If you only have a handful of reviews online, a single1-star or 2-star review could majorly impact your rating. To be a 5-star reviewed practice, you should focus on getting as many reviews as possible. Ask patients for reviews on a consistent basis as they leave appointments, in follow-up emails and even via text message. The more that patients are asked, the higher the likelihood that they will leave a review. You should also follow up with negative reviews when they are left. Don’t ask the reviewer to take down the review. Instead, you should learn more about the negative experience and work to make it right.

Thank Your Patients

When was the last time you thanked a patient for coming into your practice and giving you business? What about the last time you thanked a patient for proactively getting a flu shot or preventative procedure? One study found that thanking patients at the end of the appointment moved the average rating from 3 stars to 4.5-5 stars. Even more profoundly, the majority of patients specifically mentioned the “thank you” message and how it was different from experiences at other practices.

Get a 5-Star Reviewed Practice with Vetters Enterprises

Vetters Enterprises specializes in practice management, private practice business support and revenue cycle optimization. We can perform in-depth assessments of your practice or facility and identify potential issues. Let us keep your business as healthy as you keep your patients! Give us a call at (443) 352-0088.

Text Messaging your Patients with Vetters Enterprises

Best Practices for Text Messaging Your Patients

Posted on by VettersEnt

Text messaging is undoubtedly one of the most popular ways to quickly and easily communicate today, but does that make it secure? Think again! While text messaging your patients might seem like an exciting new way to stay in touch, there are many unique problems that can pop up when using texting in the healthcare space.

Texting and HIPAA

As a provider, your medical practice is required to follow the rules and regulations put together in HIPAA. Some practices mistakenly think that HIPAA prevents all text message communications, but that isn’t the case. There is no rule that stops you from texting patients missed appointment notifications, appointment reminders and other information. However, HIPAA does mandate that, when text messaging your patients, you must put adequate protections in place to guard Protected Health Information (PHI). Since you have no guarantee that text messages are arriving at the phone number associated with a patient and phones can be easily compromised, you shouldn’t dive into text messaging your patients without the right preparations.

Do Your Patients Want to Receive Text Messages?

Before you add text messaging to your suite of contactoptions, you should consider what your patients want. The Columbia University Medical Center conducted a study of patients to see what they wanted from theirdoctors. ¾ of patients said that they preferred:

  • Being texted statements instead of questions (“Reply YES to this message to confirm your appointment on November 20th” instead of “Can we expect you at your appointment on November 20th?”)
  • Receiving text messages that are professional and written with proper grammar (Saying “you” instead of “u,” “tomorrow” instead of “2mrw,” etc.)
  • Cute, happy emojis included at the end of messages

When You’re Text Messaging Your Patients

  • Verify patient contact information every time you speak with them to ensure reminders and confirmations are arriving at the right destination.
  • Let patients know that by giving you their wireless contact information, the number may be used for both telephone and text message communications.
  • If patients ask to stop receiving text messages or change the phone number on file, you should have procedures inplace to instantly update the information in the system. You can face legaltrouble for unwanted text communications.
  • When text messaging your patients,include the least amount of PHI possible.
  • If you choose to use a third-partymessaging service, make sure that it is HIPAA-compliant before signing up.

Alternatives to Text Messaging

Patient portals offer secure messaging between providers and patients, and they are 100% HIPAA compliant. Vetters Enterprises can help your practice implement patient portals and ensure safe, prompt communication between your office and clients. Patient portals also offer the additional benefit of fulfilling the secure patient communication guidelines that are part of the Meaningful Use standards. If you are tracking your metrics for MU or MACRA, adding a patient portal will help you to reach your goals.

Improve Your Practice with Vetters Enterprises

Vetters Enterprises specializes in practice management, private practice business support and revenue cycle optimization. We can perform in-depthassessments of your practice or facility and identify potential issues. Let uskeep your business as healthy as you keep your patients! Give us a call at(443) 352-0088.

Preventing Physician Fatigue with Vetters Enterprises

Preventing Physician Fatigue at Your Medical Practice

Posted on by VettersEnt

As we covered in our last blog, preventing physician fatigue needs to be a major priority for every medical practice. When providers are under constant pressure to perform, not only are they at risk of developing stress-related health issues, but employees and patients can also suffer increased stress and dissatisfaction. Thankfully, there are a number of strategies currently being used by many medical practices to get to work preventing physician fatigue.

How Your Practice Can Work to Prevent Physician Fatigue

  1. Make wellness for your employees a top priority at your medical practice. Remember that physician burnout isn’t just a problem for the doctors experiencing it, but also the patients and employees who may bear the brunt of it.
  2. Create a wellness position at your practice or a collaborative committee. Your wellness chairperson or champion should be someone who can help to survey employees for burnout and troubleshoot initiatives to prevent physician fatigue. These employees can also work to make employees aware of all of the wellness resources available and model positive anti-burnout activities, like leaving the office on time or stopping during lunch for a short meditation session.
  3. Survey your employees on a yearly basis to see what employees are doing to keep themselves in good physical, mental and emotional health. Use the results to identify potential workplace wellness initiatives and get a look at where your medical practice is succeeding and where you could stand to improve.
  4. This might seem obvious, but if you complete a workplace wellness survey, you should also use the results to make positive changes in your workplace. Whether it’s redesigning the way that daily workflow occurs or developing new and better ways for employees to communicate, these changes will show employees that you are listening and that you care about their experience enough to change.
  5. Once you have made some changes, you should repeat the survey to see how things have changed. Are you doing your job when it comes to preventing physician fatigue? Checking back in allows you to also see if there are new areas where you could stand to improve.
  6. Don’t call out employees or embarrass anyone in the office with survey findings. Instead, you should be supportive and continue to emphasize improvement. Just like physician fatigue doesn’t happen overnight, counteracting burnout doesn’t happen in one day either. 

Preventing Physician Fatigue with Vetters Enterprises

Vetters Enterprises specializes in practice management, private practice business support and revenue cycle optimization. We can perform in-depth assessments of your practice or facility and identify potential issues. Let us keep your business as healthy as you keep your patients! Give us a call at (443) 352-0088.

Prevent Physician Burnout with Vetters Enterprises

The Real Cost of Physician Fatigue

Posted on by VettersEnt

According to a number of recent studies, physician fatigue is no longer a marginal problem, but instead an epidemic sweeping through hospitals and medical practices. Physician burnout has a far-reaching impact on physicians themselves, patients and the finances of every healthcare facility.

Physician Fatigue 101

Physician fatigue is used to refer to doctors experiencing emotional exhaustion, a decreased feeling of success and pride at work, cynicism, exhaustion, depersonalization of patients and a lack of empathy. Burnout can be subtle and affect any healthcare practitioner.

There are four core factors that increase stress levels and the likelihood of physicians specifically experiencing burnout and fatigue.

  1. Time: Doctors are under a great deal of pressure to do a lot of tasks in a short amount of time and document the entire process.
  2. Chaos: Physicians experience disorder on a regular basis, even in organized offices that sometimes lack resources or a streamlined workflow.
  3. Lack of Control: Feeling a persistent lack of control over the tasks performed, work conditions and environment can increase fatigue.
  4. Competing Demands: When doctors are constantly pulled in two different directions, like needing to increase the number of patients but also spend more valuable time with each patient, it can also contribute to burnout.

It has been directly linked to:

  • Physician alcohol and drug abuse
  • Decreased patient satisfaction and care quality
  • Higher malpractice risk
  • Higher turnover
  • Physician suicide

With physician fatigue being a potentially fatal disorder, it’s vital that your practice takes it seriously.

On Patients

Burnout can compromise patient care and patient experience. When anyone experiences high levels of stress for long periods of time, their memory, attention and decision-making will be affected. In a career where skilled, competent and timely decision-making is so important, the consequences of physician fatigue can be deadly for patients.

On Practices

To demonstrate the devastating impact of physician fatigue can be demonstrated in one study by the American Medical Association. This found that in a healthcare system with 500 doctors and the average national rate of burnout (54%), a whopping $12 million a year would need to be spent only to replace the physicians that were lost. That figure does not factor in decreased productivity, financial ramifications of mistakes and more.

Reduce Physician Fatigue with Vetters Enterprises

Let us help you eliminate the chaos in your office and reduce stress levels with our services in practice management, private practice business support and revenue cycle optimization. We can perform in-depth assessments of your practice or facility and identify potential issues. Give us a call at (443) 352-0088.

Claims Are Bouncing? Trust Vetters Enterprises

The 4 Most Common Reasons Your Practice’s Claims Are Bouncing

Posted on by VettersEnt

Billing can be time-consuming, tedious and frustrating to say the least. It can be even more frustrating when the medical claims that you worked so hard to submit are bounced right back. What are the most common reasons that a medical practice’s claims are bouncing back after submission?

Minor Errors

Just like it’s easy to miss a comma in an email or mistype a word, it’s also very easy to make minor errors in medical claims. Reimbursements are often denied or delayed due to seemingly-small mistakes, like forgetting to include a plan ID number or mixing up a letter. Because front desks are already so busy and overwhelmed, mistakes can fall through the cracks. One winning solution to this is using a professional outsourced claims processing service that will review claims before submission and look just for errors. The time saved from going through a resubmission is much less than time spent reviewing claims.

Missing Information

Another common reason that claims are bouncing is insufficient information. You always need to submit documentation to back up claims, and you should always supply each insurance provider the information that is requested to process payment in an expedient manner. Again, it is much easier to put the effort into properly gathering everything beforehand instead of needing to go back in the future to find the right documentation.

Skipping Authorization

If you needed authorization before a procedure was performed and it was not secured, you shouldn’t be too surprised that a claim bounced back your way. You should verify whether or not prior authorization is needed before you schedule the procedure. When it is time to bill, ensure that you also include the prior authorization number on the submitted claim. While prior authorizations can seem like an annoying extra step, they are vital to ensuring that claims receive approval in a prompt manner.

Changes on the Patient End

One of the most common reasons for claim denial isn’t necessarily your practice’s fault at all. Claims are often denied because a patient’s coverage has changed, the plan or payer has been changed or coverage has been terminated altogether. Even if you think everything is the same as the last time you spoke with a patient, you should always ask to confirm insurance information and see an insurance card at each appointment.

Trust the Experts at Vetters Enterprises for your Billing Needs

Vetters Enterprises specializes in practice management, private practice business support and revenue cycle optimization. We can perform in-depth assessments of your practice or facility and identify potential issues. Let us keep your business as healthy as you keep your patients! Give us a call at (443) 352-0088.

Call Your Patients with Vetters Enterprises

When You Should Call Your Patients Instead of Emailing

Posted on by VettersEnt

Technology has changed the entire healthcare landscape, and for many doctors, it has also transformed the way that they speak with their patients. Instead of communicating by telephone and letter being the only options, emailing and texting are now on the table. Do you know when you should call your patients instead of emailing or texting?

Why Do Doctors Email?

A growing number of doctors use email for most regular communications, as it can increase practice efficiency and prevent playing phone tag. Doctors also like being able to make themselves available for patient questions and concerns around the clock through email. Email communication can also be perfectly sufficient for quick messages requesting appointments, rescheduling or requesting prescription refills. However, there are HIPAA violations that can come to play over email that aren’t as possible elsewhere.

When Emailing Is Inappropriate

As with any other technology product, there are both upsides and downsides to emailing instead of calling your patients. Beyond potential murky water with HIPAA guidelines, there are many situations where emailing can lead to unnecessary stress and confusion:

  • Discussing issues before completing a physical examination of the patient could lead to misdiagnosis.
  • Email messages can be misinterpreted by the patient receiving them. If the misinterpretation leads to damage, you could be held liable.
  • Anyone who is not the patient could open the email and read sensitive information.

If there is a chance that any of the above scenarios could occur, you should call your patients instead. Remember that the tone of your voice can have a huge effect on the message that a patient receives, and written words are not ideal for conveying tone.

If You Do Email

When it is appropriate to email instead of calling your patients, use the following best practices:

  • Use email messages to supplement your existing patient relationship, send reminders and offer general health tips.
  • Only use email if you have a firewall-protected server and both you and the patient are using encryption technology. Most standard email does not meet HIPAA requirements.
  • Educate your patients about when it is appropriate to email the office instead of calling.

Learn When to Call Your Patients with Vetters Enterprises

Vetters Enterprises specializes in practice management, private practice business support and revenue cycle optimization. We can perform in-depth assessments of your practice or facility and identify potential issues. Let us keep your business as healthy as you keep your patients! Give us a call at (443) 352-0088.

Recredentialing with Vetters Enterprises

The Most Common Recredentialing Mistakes

Posted on by VettersEnt

The credentialing process is fraught with deadlines, paperwork and requirements that can leave your head spinning. Unfortunately, when it’s time to complete the process again to keep everything current, things aren’t necessarily that much easier. There are plenty of recredentialing mistakes that practices across the country face when it’s time to recredential.

Failure to Report Adverse Peer Review Actions

Most insurance companies require you to not only report these in your initial application but to also keep them up to date. Adverse peer review actions include things like revocation, suspension and voluntary relinquishment of clinical privileges, state licenses, DEA licenses or other memberships. While this can happen inadvertently, to third parties it can look a lot like you’re trying to hide something. More importantly, failure to report is a violation of the bylaws of your agreement and can ruin your relationship with a provider.

Starting Too Late

Recredentialing deadlines can sneak up on you, especially since many doctors fail to realize that recredentialing can take almost as long as the initial process. Set aside plenty of time to complete all forms, get all of the documents together and review licenses and certifications to ensure that they are in compliance. If you leave these steps until the last minute, your application might not be approved before the deadline, and you’ll need to start the entire initial credentialing process over again.

Missing Information

One of the most common recredentialing mistakes is also one of the easiest to prevent—missing information. Credentialing paperwork is not hard, but it is complicated. You need to take plenty of time to provide all required information in an accurate manner. If you are missing information, there is a high probability that the provider will not contact you to get it, meaning that your application will sit on the back burner for an indefinite period of time. Review your completed paperwork multiple times before you submit it.

Failing to Keep Up with Standards

Many credentialing processes require doctors at your practice to be registered with a number of federal health care programs including Medicare and Medicaid. All federal programs have different registration processes, and any errors in your registration could prevent you from a speedy recredentialing process.

Prevent Recredentialing Mistakes with Vetters Enterprises

Vetters Enterprises specializes in practice management, private practice business support and revenue cycle optimization. We can perform in-depth assessments of your practice or facility and identify potential issues. Let us keep your business as healthy as you keep your patients! Give us a call at (443) 352-0088.

Flu Epidemic with Vetters Enterprises

How the 2018 Flu Epidemic Can Prepare Your Practice for the 2019 Season

Posted on by VettersEnt

The 2018 flu epidemic caused a frenzy across practices, the internet and communities throughout the United States. While many flu seasons over the past few decades have been unremarkable, the 2018 flu epidemic was notable for the severity of the virus and the deaths that occurred as a result. As in any field, it’s important to learn from the past to improve the future. The 2018 flu epidemic has many lessons to offer the average practice.

Communicate Clearly with Patients

Communicating with patients and employees is critical for triaging potential flu patients before they ever come in for an appointment. Doctor’s office and emergency room visits are not necessary for the majority of people experienced mild flu-like symptoms. Your practice should educate patients early on what symptoms are cause for concern and what symptoms do not mean they need to head right into the office. This limits both unnecessary strains on your resources and prevents exposure in your waiting room. If you can, include the most worrying symptoms that should lead to medical care (trouble breathing, chest pain, confusion, dizziness, etc.) in a brochure or email blast that you send out to patients.

Offer Protection Tools in Your Practice

When patients with flu-like symptoms arrive in your office, provide them with tissues and surgical masks. Always have hand sanitizer available for any visitor to your practice. If possible, keep patients with influenza symptoms away from other patients. If it isn’t possible to maintain more than one waiting room, mark off a specific area or prioritize patients with flu symptoms when filling exam rooms. This stops the spread of flu inside of your practice and makes patients visiting for unrelated reasons feel more comfortable coming in.

Educate About the Flu Vaccine

One of the key hallmarks of the 2018 flu epidemic was many patients ignoring the influenza vaccine because of perceived ineffectiveness or other concerns about vaccines. When visiting with patients, take time to explain why flu vaccines are important, even when the past year’s vaccine was perceived as a “failure” in some circles. Answer questions with respect, and understand that patients are often undereducated or misinformed on the subject of flu vaccinations. Start promoting the vaccine’s availability early in the year and reach out to patients who haven’t been vaccinated by the start of flu season to make it clear that it isn’t too late.

Flu Epidemic Guidance for Your Practice from Vetters Enterprises

Vetters Enterprises specializes in practice management, private practice business support and revenue cycle optimization. We can perform in-depth assessments of your practice or facility and identify potential issues. Let us keep your business as healthy as you keep your patients! Give us a call at (443) 352-0088.