When Healthcare Management Consultants was founded in Ohio back in 1949, it was one of very few healthcare management consulting companies in America. Today, members of two professional organizations for healthcare consultants (The American Association of Healthcare Consultants and The National Society of Certified Healthcare Business Consultants) can be found in every state in the nation.

Why has the business of medical practice consulting grown? There are a few reasons:

Running a medical practice has become more complicated. There are many reasons, including:  the increasing complication of filing insurance claims, the need to manage accounts receivable, the need to comply with OSHA and other regulations, and the necessity of keeping liability insurance coverage in place.

It has become more difficult to focus on the quality of patient care. Medical practice consultants can help busy medical offices preserve the quality of the relationship between caregiver and patient.

Physicians have learned that they can earn more money when their practices deliver care to more patients. This can involve: hiring additional front-desk staff, adding additional care rooms, and hiring support specialists to take blood pressure, do cardiograms, and perform other functions that may not require direct physician care. Medical practice consultants can analyze a medical practice and recommend which of these changes to apply.

And medical practice consultants can review office operations in other ways too. Here’s a list of services offered today by Healthcare Management Consultants Inc. (partial listing):

-  Billing Systems

-  Front Office Training

-  Interim Management

-  Managed Care Systems Read the rest of this entry »

In Getting to Yes, his classic book on negotiating, Roger Fisher writes: “Like it or not, you are a negotiator. Negotiation is a fact of life. You discuss a raise with your boss. You try to agree with a stranger on a price for his house. . . . Everyone negotiates something every day.”

Fisher, who founded the Harvard Negotiation Project, was right. When you stop and think about it, you realize that you are probably negotiating for something every day . . .

-     Can you work on a flextime basis, instead of logging in and logging out at regular hours?

-     Would your company consider setting up an in-house daycare center for employees’ children?

-     Will your husband or wife cook dinner for your family tonight, so you can go to the gym on the way home?

-     Can you take on a bigger job – the one that a departing colleague just vacated?

When you are about to discuss questions like those, it is tempting to think that you are about to enter into conflict, not into conversation. According to Fisher, that is a mistake. He writes that it is better to practice something that he calls Principled Negotiation – an approach in which both parties look for areas of mutual gain.

Here are the four principles of Fisher’s approach . . .

-     Separate the people from the problem. For example, set aside the fact that you don’t like your office manager and that you want to score a win against her. Remember that when you negotiate, you will come to a better agreement if you focus on issues, not personalities.

-     Focus on interests, not positions. Instead of saying, “I need flextime, period,” discuss your underlying reasons for needing it and invite the other side to express its interests too. When you strive to make a situation better for both sides, you are more likely to make progress toward your goals. Read the rest of this entry »

Spring is in the air!  The days are getting longer and the weather is getting warmer and we are gearing up to take that spring break vacation.  Whether you are headed to the beach, visiting family, or just staying at home, spring break is an excellent opportunity to network for job opportunities.

Photo by Joshua Davis on Flickr

You never know where you might find an opportunity to work as a medical administrative assistant, so when someone asks you the typical “How is school/class/work going?” don’t throw away this opportunity.  Try to have a conversation.  Here is your checklist:

1. Before your break or vacation, think of your “pitch”. It should include what you have been doing and what you hope to be doing in the future.

2. Strike up a conversation with a family member or friend that you see during the break. Don’t be afraid of letting your friends and family know that you are in the market for a job.

3. Be conscious of what you are learning from these conversations. Do your friends and family have any insights or advice for you? Do they have any contacts that might help you in the future?  Take notes after the conversation covering what you discussed.

4. Follow-up after the break. If there were any contacts or places to look that were recommended to you, get on it! Don’t put this off; it might lead to your next job interview.

Have a Happy Break!

With the job market in a period of flux and unemployment rates at a frightening 9.7%, few people are feeling secure in their field. Traditional media, automotives, and banking, three industries that were doing perfectly well ten years ago, are failing.

Here’s the good news: medical administrative assistants can feel secure in their field. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment is expected to grow much faster than average, ranking medical assistants among the fastest growing occupations over the next decade.

So, why is this field projected to grow so much faster than all the others? Here are 4 reasons:

1. Federal funding supporting local and state institutions in implementing electronic health record systems.

Signs of the Times by Chris Dever on Flickr

After he was elected, Obama vowed to change the way we track medical records and guaranteed a complete transition to electronic medical records by 2014.  His American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grants $19 billion to help the transition go smoothly and quickly.

John Kerry also introduced The Small Business Health Information Technology Financing Act of 2009 last year, which supports family doctors by providing small business administration loans for the switch.  States are already seeing the funding.  In just the last week, Kentucky has been awarded a $10 million grant, Ohio $53 million, and DC $5 million.

2. Health care bill extending coverage to 30 million people.

a. The original health care bill put forth by President Obama would provide health care to 30 million uninsured Americans. Of course, the bill is facing considerable opposition by the GOP, and with the loss of a democratic seat in the Senate, the bill will have to be re-worked to satisfy the Republican Party.

Regardless, more Americans will receive coverage which means that doctors will need support from medical administrative assistants, especially with the transitions to electronic health records.

3. Private companies supporting the transition

Private companies are jumping into the field as well.  Kaiser Permanente and Microsoft have been working together to push forward efforts to transfer sensitive health data to digitized medical records and GE has been offering loans to doctors that want to switch to their GE Centricity electronic health records system.

4. More patients will require health care services

With the baby boomer generation aging and retiring, more people will require medical attention.  That, combined with the transition to electronic health records, means that doctors will need administrative assistants that understand the new technology.

The White House projected a 48% increase in health care support occupations from 2000-2016.