Patient Relations

Identifying and dealing with potential patient payment issues preemptively and professionally …is the most important thing a practice can do to preserve its fiscal health.

The practice of medicine does bring with it patient encounters that do not always turn out the way we had expected or were trained for.

With the mushrooming litigation climate, and the advent of the Internet, patients are now bombarded with copious information about their care, and in particular their medications.

How do you nurture your practice and your new prospective patients at the same time? Here's a four-step method to guide you.

The greatest challenge will be for outpatient services and centers to continually adapt. Proactive adaptation will be rewarded. Reactive adaptation, or no adaptation, will be punished.

Many practices fail to appreciate the enormous value of strategic scheduling: a full schedule means a full day of revenue. Because even one missed patient makes a difference, we show you how to stack the deck in your favor.

I continue to be amazed by the complexity and layering of the medical bills associated with my short, elective, outpatient procedure.

How can you be expected to maintain four or more social media profiles while also running a successful practice? Here's some advice.

Thanks to new federal initiatives and the increased use of smart phones and tablets, more physicians are communicating with each other while on the go.

What every medical practice's prescription drug monitoring program should include.

Use this basic article structure to save time and energy when you sit down to write your next patient-education article for your practice's website.

You are in charge of what types of patients you attract and having clear goals makes this process flow more easily and simply.

Tending to the patient’s health in partnership with their fiscal health is the training ground for the inevitable shift from fee-based services to hybrid forms of reimbursement.

It’s cheaper to spend the time and money setting things up properly at your medical practice then to defend yourself when a problem arises.

As patient engagement efforts intensify, mobile health apps present opportunities. Are you taking advantage?

Payers are mobilizing their reimbursement models to ensure that they are paying only for "quality" and "efficiency" in medicine.

In the medical world, the way you introduce yourself and others can make or break your relationships - with patients, their families, and your colleagues.

A new survey published in Health Affairs asked thousands of physicians how they felt about telling lies and stretching the truth when treating patients.

Physician and social media expert Russell Faust explains the connections physicians can make via LinkedIn.

Are you competing with Dr. Google? Here's some advice on how to deal.

Is it ever appropriate for a physician not to fully disclose a medical error? And what legal consequences can arise if he does not?

Physicians Practice recently asked physicians whether they believe positive incentives for patients really work.

It is vital that practices have systematic ways to address patient collections; the following strategies can help your practice collect all that it is due.

You've heard all the guidance about the importance of good patient relations and documentation as a way to avoid a malpractice suit. But now, you think you may have a problem. Here's what to do.

Physician and social media expert Russell Faust explains the benefit of Tweeting for physicians - both in interacting with patients and with peers.

Practice Notes blogger and family physician J. Scott Litton, Jr., recently wrote about how his practice improves patient care through technology.

With more patients online accessing health information, Facebook is one way physicians can make connections. But like any tool, there are right ways to use it.

If like many communities, yours has significant numbers of non-English speaking people with whom neither you nor your staff are able to converse, your practice is at a serious disadvantage.

Even if you've had a site for years, it's worth reevaluating what information lives there and update it from time to time.

Meeting patient expectations is a practical reality, and the sooner steps are taken, the better your outlook.