As part of its efforts to serve as a professional resource for clinicians in private, academic and industry settings, the Society is hosting a different kind of symposium at ATS 2011. B91 “The Practice of Medicine: Insights and Updates” will take place from 2 to 4:30 p.m. today in rooms 301-302-303 on the street level of the Colorado Convention Center.
Michael Green, MD, MBA
“Physicians are intensively trained in the practice and art of medicine, but most receive little or no training in the business of medicine,” said Michael Green, MD, MBA, chair of the Clinicians Advisory Committee, which is co-sponsoring the session with the Clinical Practice Committee. “However, all practicing physicians are required to operate in an environment where business is an integral part of their practices.”
The needed knowledge ranges from how to code and bill for their services to how to manage an office, buy equipment, contract with payers and decide on whether to offer new or additional services.
And while this gap in knowledge is great for many or even most practicing physicians, it is especially broad in the early years of practice. This symposium will address these gaps, giving those at the beginning of their careers the opportunity to learn new skills and allowing more experienced practitioners to stay abreast of the changing landscape of practice management.
Stephen Hoffman, MD
What specifically will attendees learn? “As an example, every practicing physician in the United States is faced with the reality of being facile and compliant with Medicare and third-party payer practices—and the rules, regulations and subtleties of this practice change on a yearly basis,” said Stephen Hoffmann, MD, chair of the Clinical Practice Committee, who will co-chair the symposium with Dr. Green. “But despite ongoing educational efforts, physician billing is still fraught with error.”
The best evidence for this, he added, is the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ CERT program, which is designed to review services experiencing high error rates. In the most recent review in May 2008, pulmonary medicine had an error rate of 8.6 percent—the 10th highest.
In addition to covering coding and billing issues, the symposium will teach attendees how to best integrate electronic medical records and electronic tools into their practices.
“This program will be especially useful for clinicians who have been in practice less than five years,” said Dr. Green, who is a staff physician with Pulmonary and Critical Care Consultants at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, N.C. “Our goal is to provide them with information, insights and tools that will allow them to have an efficient, effective and productive practice.”
This overarching goal is one that Drs. Green and Hoffmann hope to see grow at future ATS conferences. “ATS conferences offer the best clinical content, and we hope to continue to enhance the offerings for clinicians by adding valuable practice management content,” added Dr. Hoffmann, who is associate professor of medicine at The Ohio State University’s Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine.