Access and Reimbursement

Reimbursement

Financing Technology

Billing Compliance

Audits

Accounts Receivable

Denials

Revenue Cycle Management

Billing & Collections

Value-Based Care

Personal Health Records

Coding & Documentation

Medical Billing & Collections

Overhead

Finance

Industry News

OSHA

Medicare

Medicaid

Healthcare Policy

Malpractice

Risk Assessment

Safety

MACRA

Opioids

Mergers/acquisitions

HIPAA

Embezzlement

Healthcare Reform

Legal Compliance

Contracts

Risk Management

Stark

Law & Malpractice

Social Determinants of Health

Technology and Patient Engagement

Patient Care

Marketing

Patients

Patient Portals

Patient Flow Wait Times

Patient Relations

Payers

Patient Dismissal

Patient Confidentiality

Patient Engagement & Communications

Practice Management

Retirement

Surveys

Practice 360

Locum Tenens

Practice360 Blogs

Practice360 Articles

Practice Expansion

Banking

Pharmacy

Healthcare Careers

Investment

Primary Care

Business

Salary

Safety and Error Prevention

Front Desk

Employment

Jobs

Managers & Administrators

Hiring Firing

Career

Mentoring

Staff

Staff Salary Survey

Self Pay

Scheduling

Training

Work/Life Balance

Residents

Operations

Outsourcing

Partnerships

Performance

Practice Models

Productivity

Recruitment

Red Flags

Practice Management Systems

Physician Productivity

Personal Finance

Physician Compensation

Referrals

Burnout

Staffing & Salary

Cybersecurity

Remote Patient Monitoring

Telemedicine

Vendors

Voice Recognition

Health IT

EHR Technology

Hardware

E-prescribing

Technology Survey

Stimulus

Mobile

Data Analytics

Technology

Utilizing Medical Malpractice Data to Mitigate Risks and Reduce Claims

Topics

MedMal by Coverys

Media

Video & Interviews

Podcasts

Medical World News

Pearls

Best States to Practice

Great American Physician Survey

Conferences

ACP Internal Medicine Meeting

HIMSS

MGMA

All Conferences

Events

Virtual Events

CME/CE

Resources

Partners

Publications

Subscribe

Terry Ciesla is senior vice president of ScribeEMR located in Woburn Massachusetts. 

Articles

Safely integrating AI functions into medical practices can improve workflow for staff and limit administrative burden.

Ambient AI scribe technology: The future for clinical documentation?

Your weekly dose of wisdom from the Physicians Practice experts. 

Practice tip of the week: Making more money

Neil Baum, MD, a Professor of Clinical Urology at Tulane University in New Orleans, LA. Dr. Baum is the author of several books, including the best-selling book, 

Marketing Your Medical Practice-Ethically, Effectively, and Economically,

 which has sold over 225,000 copies and has been translated into Spanish. He contributes a weekly video for 

 on practical ideas to enhance productivity and efficiency in medical practices.  His 5–7-minute videos and short articles provide practical ideas that can be easily implemented and incorporated into any medical practice. Dr. Baum can be reached at 

Burnout and social media toxicity are ravaging the public, but doctors can help.

Social epidemics and the role of physicians 

Loneliness can have a negative effect on patient health, here's how to spot it and help.

Epidemics then and now: Managing loneliness, burnout, and social media toxicity 

Physicians Practice offers practical, proven solutions to the real-world concerns physicians and medical practices face every day.

Advertise

Contribute

Contact Us

Privacy

Terms and Conditions

Do Not Sell My Information

Physician's Practice | Medical Practice News | Physicians Practice

Facebook

LinkedIn

Spotlight: Career

1rem

Authors

, with over 20 years’ experience in physician billing and revenue cycle management

New legislation, as well as changes in patient expectations, present a host of challenges and opportunities for getting paid for service this year.

Getting Paid Today: Challenges and opportunities for independent practices

Patient engagement begins by recognizing that greater responsibility for payment has also led to greater expectation and choice on the part of patients.

Patient engagement is the first step in getting paid

It’s critical that independent practices make sure that they are laying the groundwork to make telehealth a robust part of their care delivery and their bottom line.

3 things practices must do to assure they get paid for telehealth in 2021

It's hard to overstate the importance of some decisions.  In the life of a physician, the choice of where to practice would certainly fall among them.

“Location can impact your daily practice, as well as your career trajectory and quality of life outside of work,” says 

, a PCP at Spring-Ford Family Practice in Royersford, PA and ACE Medical Director for Tandigm Health. “Choosing the right type of practice – large or small, independent or system-owned, single- or multi-specialty – can also go a long way toward overall job satisfaction.”

The best time for making this choice varies. Sometime during the residency seems to be the best option for most, with earlier starts allowing more time for exploration. But waiting until the third year is also acceptable if the delay is not too long, according to 

, executive vice president of Merritt Hawkins/AMN Leadership Solutions. “Given the dampening effect of Covid on the job market, it’s better to job hunt earlier in the year and not wait until you are a few months out,” he says.

Regardless of timing, selecting where to practice merits careful investigation. In making your decision, consider these tips.

1.  Don’t rule out the independent and/or small group route

Although large healthcare systems have much to offer, other possibilities may be worth considering. Independent or smaller groups may offer increased reward potential, more autonomy, less bureaucracy, greater flexibility, and an ability to limit payors, says 

, CEO of Private Health Dallas in Texas.

Of course, there can also be a downside, with the potential for increased financial risk, reduced negotiating power for contracts, reduced benefits, or fewer referrals.  But for some physicians, smaller is simply a better match. 

It may be tempting to stick with the familiar, but that can be a mistake.

"In terms of geography, think outside the box," Singleton says. "Don’t be bound by preconceptions."  Rather than limit your choices to a few areas you know, consider the qualities and options you want in a location, whether that means good schools, cultural and recreational amenities, or something as basic as safety.

, chief medical officer of VillageMD and Village Medical in Houston, TX feels identifying a work environment that's a good cultural and clinical fit is essential.  "Working with like-minded physicians is critical to long term career satisfaction," he says. If your clinical interest is in wellness and prevention, a practice with large skilled nursing or hospital obligations would likely not be a good fit. If you have a young family and specific family interests, look for organizations and locations that will give you both the time and opportunity to engage in those activities. 

Unless you’re totally on your own, any location decision should include family considerations.

“If the location is not the right fit for you and your family, that may not be the best practice for you,” says 

, president of The Physicians Foundation. “I know of physicians who had the opportunity to practice their dream job in their dream city, but because their spouses were simply not happy there, they had to relocate.” In fact that almost happened in Price’s case. He found a location and practice which seemed ideal, but his wife quickly realized that the area was almost devoid of young families.  They looked elsewhere, finding an alternative that proved to be a better fit. 

If the goal is starting a private practice rather than joining an existing one, facilities planning should commence up to two years in advance. In looking for space to lease, the search should begin 12 to 14 months ahead of the planned opening, says 

, executive vice president at Transwestern, a national commercial real estate firm.  When looking to build a new property, physicians should start the site selection process 18 to 24 months before opening This allows enough time for finding the site, negotiating the sale of the land, closing on the land, designing the facility and constructing a new building.

, medical director of plastic surgery at Modernizing Medicine in South Florida, advises supplementing research with personal insights. “Talk to those that came before as you are finishing residency,” he says.  “Ask what the landscape and journey looked like for them.” Talking to people in a community where you might want to live can also be helpful, but keep in mind that their own agendas can color the information offered. Insightful sources of info may include CEOs of hospitals in the area. “They are often more than willing to talk and will give you a good picture of the landscape,” Rosenthal says.

The American Medical Association recommends creating a checklist for investigating and acting on practice choices. Such a list might include lifestyle factors, available practice options, steps in become practice-ready and key components of employment contracts. Other resources can be found in AMA’s training module, “Choosing the Practice That’s Right for You,” at 

Regardless of timing, selecting where to practice merits careful investigation.

Deciding where to practice: Seven tips for success

The 10 best states for physician cost of living 2024

With the cost of living rising everywhere, finding a place you can afford to live and practice can be difficult.

To give more insight into which states are the most expensive to live and work in, we present our rankings. These are the 10 states with the lowest cost of living for anyone running a physicians practice.

The cost of living ranking was based on the 

Missouri Economic Research and Information Center

, which itself based its ratings on averaging the indices of cities and metropolitan areas in each state.

Which states have the lowest cost of living?

News

The 10 best states for physician quality of life

The actual practice of medicine is only part of deciding where to start your practice.

To give more insight into which states have the highest quality of life, we present our rankings. These are the eight states with the highest rankings for anyone running a physicians practice.

For the quality of life metric, Physicians Practice used Wallethub’s 

 rankings which were based on adjusted cost of living, lowest annual cost of in-home services, their own taxpayer ranking, the percentage of the workforce aged 65 and older, museums per capita, theaters per capita, percentage of population aged 65 and older, life expectancy, and property crime rate.

The 10 states that ranked highest in our quality of life metric.



The best states for women's health

With many states legislating around women's health, it can be dicey finding a place where you can practice medicine without fear of legal reprisal.

Here are the nine best states for women's health.

Which states rated the highest for women's health care?

Terri Joy, MBA, CPC, CGSC, COC, CPC-I

Articles

Latest Updated Articles