HEALTHCARE SEMINAR TOPICS
Healthcare is moving from a service to a relationship. If physician practices want to be successful, the patient experience must be prioritized above all else. Even the carriers agree and are developing telemedicine policies designed to incentivize providers, increase patient satisfaction and control their costs. This presentation will highlight the importance of adopting telemedicine and engaging patients.
Medical practices today face dramatic and rapid change – health care reform, the evolving ACO and medical home concepts, use of mobile information technology, acquisition by health systems and hospitals (again). These are active shifts that will dramatically impact the future of your practice and your own personal career path. In this seminar, we discuss ways to position your practice to thrive in the changing healthcare landscape.
Healthcare today has moved from the Paternalistic Model of care to a Facilitative Model of care, where the patient expects to be educated, informed and most importantly involved. All businesses know that it is much easier to “hold onto” customers (patients) rather than trying to attract new ones. This presentation will focus on how these changes can become opportunities for your practice. This presentation will touch upon general marketing approaches, social media and technology.
This presentation offers an overview of tasks, responsibilities and obligations necessary to not only run a successful business but to have it continue to grow and thrive. We will touch on both basics and ideas for new ways of viewing your business. It will also include perspective on the challenges of the future and viewing these challenges as opportunities.
This presentation covers the basics of developing a strategic plan that enables your practice to adapt to changing conditions and new challenges. We will engage in a group exercise using a S.W.O.T. Analysis – identifying your practice’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. For example, understanding who your competitors are and what they offer is one of the backbones for constant improvement in customer service, improved access and improved quality of goods or services. We will tackle this topic and more with a dynamic strategic planning process that constantly evolves to keep your practice moving forward.
We are constantly being told that the new healthcare system will depend on “Big Data,” “Business Intelligence” and “Analytics.” What does this mean? Haven’t we always analyzed data? This presentation will challenge you to reconsider whether you are asking the right questions and whether you have the right data and tools to answer them. Learn how analytics adds value to your practice’s financial position and operations. We’ll review some commercial products in the marketplace and also build some of our own!
The source of all knowledge seems to be the internet. When in doubt, Google it! … It’s the first place people go for information on medical conditions, treatment options and details about your medical practice. But it doesn’t stop there. Prospective patients also turn to the internet to find out how your current patients rate your practice and your individual physicians. Everything is fair game for discussion – your doctors’ bedside manner, the friendliness of your staff, the cleanliness of your waiting room, etc. Whether you know it or not, you have an online reputation. This presentation will focus on key steps for managing your online presence.
Healthcare today has moved and continues to move into new and sometimes scarier waters. These waters are infested with many different groups – the government, private enterprise and patients – all with their own agendas. This presentation will focus on how these new waters can become opportunities for your practice rather than a Sharknado. It will touch on market conditions, regulatory changes, general marketing approaches and technology.
The goal of this presentation is to discuss approaches to improve revenue such as adding ancillary revenue, collecting more upfront, and continually ensuring that your insurance agreements are at their maximum. With the constant pressure of decreasing reimbursement and high deductible plans, cash flow can quickly become a concern. This session is a forum of ideas to assist in revenue and expense management impacting overall profitability. The presentation will identify effective methods for managing and planning strategically for revenue and expenses.
Today’s practice is under duress from many sectors both internally and externally, and the schedule is no different. What used to be a static list of “what’s up or who’s up next” is now more a dynamic system of expectations. The schedule is an information gold mine and also a matrix of complexity that practices today must not only utilize but manage more effectively than ever. It is a core component of managing customer expectations and internal resources (both capital and human), and it serves as the first point of entry for new customers. This presentation will help practices look at the schedule differently than in the past, and quite simply, to maximize the value of the schedule to the practice.
The current healthcare environment certainly makes it challenging for providers to answer this question. There have been many changes in healthcare both clinically and administratively over the years, and there are new players every day that seem to have the answer to all the “problems” we have in healthcare. Although many physicians may dislike it, if they are independent then they own a business. This session will highlight four areas that are essential in running a business and focus on the necessary combinations of both subjective and objective considerations when being a business owner of a healthcare practice. The competition for daily success has never been more difficult and more complicated, but we can MAKE it happen.
Motivation
Anticipation
Kinetic
Earnest
For many years, the process of undergraduate school, medical school, residency, fellowship, and subsequently private practice worked without much effort and produced healthy financial returns. Though this world still exists in some cases, it is becoming an endangered species as a recent MGMA survey demonstrates. This presentation provides insights and ideas into how to run a successful independent practice and win in the competitive race for the patient.
This presentation encourages us to take a moment and giggle at ourselves and our crazy industry. One of the funniest events in the life of a healthcare administrator is attempting to explain how our world works … such as explaining that our charges aren’t really our charges, but our allowables are the allowables. And they always don’t get allowed because they may not have been authorized unless we remembered to add a modifier. This presentation is a way for us to breathe … to take in the craziness of what we do and how we do it. It is one hour of smiles and laughs with fellow administrators and managers about a topic that truthfully only we get.
Managing people has been and will always be the most challenging portion of any administrator’s job. When the generational mix is introduced, the challenge can sometimes be exacerbated. If understood and managed properly, generational differences can be an effective facet in not only enhancing an organization’s culture but it can also be an effective tool for learning new ways to tackle problems. This presentation discusses the unique differences in generations but also the opportunities that exist in improving practice operations, productivity and organizational behavior.
“Siri, make an appointment for my low back pain.” “Alexa, who is the best doctor to handle my cirrhosis?” As if the regulatory changes weren’t enough, we must also compete with technology. This session is an introductory course in defining artificial intelligence. In addition, the presentation will cover the current scope of the various “phases” of the technology and how they apply to healthcare … for the moment. Finally, the presentation will explore and encourage the review and expansion of how artificial intelligence may shift our world of healthcare.
Ever played a game for fun … with no winner or loser. In business, this is extremely difficult to do. One way in which a practice can maintain an understanding of its strategic, operational and financial positioning is by utilizing key performance indicators (KPI). A healthcare KPI or metric is a well-defined performance measurement that is used to monitor, analyze and optimize all relevant healthcare processes. This presentation will highlight and review several of the key indicators that a practice should consider using when comparing its own position. Discussion will involve defining what some of the indicators mean and identifying source data for comparative purposes.
In the environment of health administration, the world moves quickly. Sometimes, this world evolves faster than our skillsets may evolve. In this seminar, we will discuss ways to ensure that you are acting as a leader in the organization and not simply issuing commands with a hope for a positive return. The presentation will highlight some of the unique characteristics that distinguish leaders within organizations.
Using a scientific approach in healthcare has always made sense. Clinicians and practitioners do this daily in fact. Practice management can also utilize the same principles that are found in the common scientific approach to problem solving or decision making. This multi-faceted presentation will feature two or three real examples that all healthcare practices face and apply management science techniques to these problems using actual tools and formulas. Attendee participation is encouraged.
Voices seem to carry in today’s world in a way that we’ve not seen before. With the introduction and growth of social media and electronic communication, the art of effective communication is being lost. This presentation will discuss techniques that can be employed to assist with reengaging in the art of communication. Case studies will be shared that demonstrate the effectiveness of these techniques within practice settings both on the operational floor of the practice and within the board of the physicians.
Culture matters. And it has never been more important than today. With the open and constant flow of information in our society, culture not only matters but a sincerely positive, uplifting culture can be instrumental in a business’ success. A healthcare practice is no different. To quote a line from a great movie: “Attitude reflects leadership.” Establishing an effective culture within the organization establishes a firm foundation of success for many management areas such as customer service, marketing, recruitment and economic growth. This presentation will highlight multiple perspectives of what an effective organizational culture can mean to a truly successful healthcare practice.
Is this the best way of performing this service? Is there a better way? Are we stuck in time? These are questions that administrators ask themselves constantly. We are not always creatures seeking out change, but sometimes change is necessary to perform at our highest level of success. An operational assessment allows the organization to effectively analyze processes and procedures. This assessment allows the organization to either validate a current process or justify a needed improvement to bring the organization to a higher level of efficiency. This seminar will highlight components needed during an operational assessment and instruct users on tools that will assist in performing the assessment across departments within the practice/organization.
Just when we thought owning a private practice could be no more difficult….we introduce private equity, corporations, Wall Street, powerful Insurers, and dominating health systems. This presentation will touch on the various competitive elements that the physician practices face in their daily effort to survive in a chaotic landscape. The seminar will explore some of the pros and cons of the various options available as a consideration of exiting independence.
We will provide tips from much of our frontline experiences with numerous specialties, states and payors. The presentation will identify common denials and errors that occur but also provide you with effective tools to identify these within your organization. In addition, ideas and actual spreadsheets will be given to participants to use back on the frontline.
The primary focus of this presentation is to simply discuss and demonstrate how to truly identify your organization’s boundaries. Organizations sometimes make mistakes because expectations are higher than reality. When this happens, many downstream effects can occur: poor business decisions, shifted strategic directions, elimination of successful projects and the list goes on. This presentation will assist you in demystifying the variables that can skew reality for the organization. We will present real world examples to share with both administrative and physician leaders in the organization.
We are commonly asked this question. It is also a question we regularly hear in our discussions with other managers and practices. This presentation will focus on how to answer this question for your healthcare practice. We will provide analytical tools that you can take back to your practice and utilize within your organization.
There is absolutely no doubt that “wait times” have a historical place in healthcare. The common number one complaint by patients is “wait time,” which are the words every healthcare administrator in the industry dreads. This presentation is a discussion about Queuing Theory – a concept that is utilized in many businesses. Simply put, queuing is standing in line both literally and metaphorically. The seminar will define what the theory is and how it is applicable in the healthcare industry. We will also discuss the application of various concepts to minimize the negativity that can be associated with queuing for a healthcare practice.
Physician Assistants (PAs) and Nurse Practitioners (NPs) offer much more value than what’s commonly understood and practiced. How can you significantly improve the profitability and efficiency of your practice with the effective use of PAs and NPs? In this presentation, managers and physicians will learn how to effectively augment their general practice or specialty services by adding or adjusting their clinical team with strong mid-level providers.