AAOS Now, June 2007
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Staff training with the click of a mouse
Have you ever considered the cost to your practice when an employee leaves? There’s not only the cost of recruiting a new team member, but also the costs of lost productivity. According to human resource experts, these costs can run as high as 25 percent of the employee’s annual salary and benefits. So the cost of turnover for a medical assistant who receives $30,000 compensation and $6,000 in benefits annually would be $9,000.
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Physician assistant “FAQs”
“Partnering” with other health care providers can benefit your orthopaedic practice in several ways. With more than 3,000 physician assistants (PAs) currently working in orthopaedics, many practices already benefit from the enhanced efficiency and continuity of care that PAs provide. In 2005, PAs working in orthopaedic practices conducted more than 15 million patient visits, an average of 75 a week per PA. Q. What is a physician assistant (PA)? A.
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Physician assistants: Scope of practice
What exactly can PAs do? And who decides? The boundaries of a PA’s scope of practice are defined by the following four factors: State law Education and experience Facility policy Physician delegation State law Since the inception of the profession, dramatic changes have occurred in the way states deal with PA practice. The first state laws for PAs, passed in the 1970s, allowed broad delegatory authority by the supervising physician.
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Hiring a PA? Here’s how to get paid
Primer on third-party reimbursement for medical services provided by Pas Medicare coverage for PAs The first Medicare coverage for physician assistant services was authorized by the Rural Health Clinic Services Act in 1977. Over the next 20 years, Congress incrementally expanded Medicare Part B payment for PA services by authorizing coverage in hospitals, nursing facilities, and rural health professional shortage areas, and for first assisting at surgery.
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Managing modifiers for surgical assistant services
Orthopaedic practices commonly question how to correctly code and bill for surgical assistant services for both physicians and nonphysician providers (NPPs). Although commercial rules for reporting surgical assistant services can and do vary markedly, the Medicare rules apply across the country and are quite clear. In addition, Current Procedural Terminology® (CPT) clearly defines relevant modifiers and their use.
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Vicarious liability: “Let the master answer”
By Edward D. Shoulkin, JD, and Tamara J. Smith, JD Hospitals, medical practice groups, and other healthcare entities often find themselves named as defendants alongside physicians in lawsuits alleging physician malpractice. In many cases, the plaintiff patient claims that the physician was an “agent, servant, or employee” of the hospital or practice group, and the healthcare entity, therefore, should be held vicariously liable for the physician’s acts or omissions.
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Putting the “power” in PowerPoint
Whether you’re speaking to a local community group, in a lecture hall or before hundreds of your peers at the AAOS Annual Meeting, it pays to have a dynamic presentation. Learning the basics of effective public speaking with PowerPoint is easy when you know “the rules.” “We are trained to be doctors—not to be public speakers. So why are we surprised when our members do a lousy job as presenters?” asks orthopaedic surgeon David L. Nelson, MD. And who gets hurt by this lack of training?