Practical Pearls

A Handy Guide to the Best Take-Home Tips in the October 2009 Issue of Ophthalmology MANAGEMENT

A full 10-minute scrub between each surgical case doesn't improve sterilization any, it just slows you down. After the first scrub, use alcohol foam scrub in between cases ……… Find it!

Diagnostic connectivity systems are particularly helpful when following glaucoma or macular disease patients. The ability to track progression over time is an enormous benefit, enabling comparison of data from various devices taken over many years ……… Find it!

All trabeculoplasty is billed under CPT code 65855. It is approved to be performed in an ASC if the laser is located in the ASC. Physician reimbursement can vary depending on whether the procedure is performed in an ASC (where a facility fee can also be claimed), a physician's office or a hospital outpatient department ……… Find it!

Practices that are planning to buy or lease a significant amount of business-related equipment should consider obtaining and installing the equipment before the end of 2009 to take advantage of the tax deduction ……… Find it!

Services excluded from skilled nursing facility consolidated billing include physicians' professional services (e.g., exams and consultations) and the professional component of physician diagnostic services submitted with modifier -26 (e.g., A-scan interpretation) ……… Find it!

A recent study reporting significant endothelial cell loss with anterior placement of a leading glaucoma shunt is being seen as a spur to employing pars plana shunt implantation in a larger percentage of patients ……… Find it!

The three foundation blocks of value-based medicine are: (1) medical evidence of safety and efficacy of the interventions, (2) value to patients and (3) amalgamation of these data with their related costs ……… Find it!

The best indication that it is time to add a new physician to the practice is to be found in a simple question: “How long does it take to schedule an appointment?” ……… Find it!

Patients seeking cosmetic procedures for aesthetic improvement are generally considered finicky and high maintenance. That patient type is ill-suited to the high-efficiency practice model needed in the next decade ……… Find it!

Right now the average private-practice MD is supported by only one quarter of an optometrist. In the future, each should be supported by at least two ODs, with a ratio of four to one not being excessive in some settings ……… Find it!

There are many reasons to use SLT in patients with elevated eye pressure and glaucoma. Many glaucoma patients cannot tolerate or afford IOP-lowering drops. Others have difficulty with instillation and/or remembering to use their medications on a daily basis ……… Find it!

When evaluating a clinical trial, a p-value of <0.05 often signifies a valid study; however, clinicians are much more likely to have a higher bar to accept the new intervention, device or drug if the p-value is less (0.0001) ……… Find it!

For greater efficiency in the ASC, save the challenging cases for the end of the session. If you do them at the outset, they are likely to take longer than expected and thus will throw off your schedule for the entire day ……… Find it!

Some scheduling and e-prescribing programs merely substitute e-mails for phone calls. If your office staff must transcribe a patient's e-mail information into a schedule and your e-prescrib-ing program fails to check for drug interactions and contraindications, the power of technology is not being fully harnessed ……… Find it!

Smaller practices seeking to expand their range of services might be wise to add a pediatric ophthalmologist. With the children coming to your practice, the mom, dad and grandmom are likely to follow. Adding a pediatric subspecialist can be helpful to the entire practice ……… Find it!

Come 2014, any lingering refuseniks will be hit with penalties for failure to adopt EMR ………Find it!

Female staff members who have family responsibilities at home appreciate the option of flexible schedules, such as a work-week of four 10-hour days or a schedule that allows earlier start and end times for the workday ……… Find it!

Currently, no eyecare-specific EMR system can receive certification from CCHIT because it is not a specialty sanctioned by the group ……… Find it!

Cash bonuses for workers must be tied to performance. If it becomes an entitlement, it loses its impact to incentivize staff ……… Find it!

A large Florida practice has recently had success with new hires who have already been in practice for several years. The practice administrator says that these doctors tend to have realistic view of what it's like to be part of a practice in the real world ……… Find it!

Offering your patient care staff members the means to improve their professional skills is a powerful tool for retaining quality staff, and the worker's improved skill level benefits the practice as well ……… Find it!

In managing a practice, a policy of transparency is vital to prevent surprises and minimize damage. The essence of transparent supervision is that every staff member can see everyone else's business ……… Find it!

Connectivity systems increase office productivity by eliminating the need to print hard copies of exam results and by increasing mobility within the practice. For instance, fundus photos can be reviewed at a workstation rather than at the camera, allowing the next patient to use the camera without delay ……… Find it!

The lower energies applied to the trabecular mesh work by SLT and to a similar extent by MDLT suggest that these modalities can offer true long-term repeatability that was not possible with the thermally traumatic argon lasers ……… Find it!

In addition to having a written policy against the use of personal e-mail or social media communication between employees and their subordinate employees, you should also have a sexual harassment or general anti-harassment grievance process ……… Find it!