BLOG FOR
PHYSICIANS |
REED TINSLEY, CPA

Retention of medical records

Is there a HIPAA standard for the retention of medical records and billing information? The HIPAA privacy rule does not provide specific requirements for the retention of medical or billing... Read More >

Patient emails

Email is becoming a frequent way to communicate with patients. However, you must concern yourself with HIPAA s privacy issues. Your office policy should state that patients must first give... Read More >

A thought on internal controls

nbsp Even with separation of duties, I find the lack of proper business oversight of internal practice controls astounding. In any position held with personal financial responsibility, you shouldn t... Read More >

Keeping track of collections

To stay on top of collections and to improve your cash flow, send out statements on a regular basis, such as weekly or biweekly. Never hold the statements for more... Read More >

Breaking bad habits at work

Sometimes bad habits are fairly innocuous. However in the workplace, they can ruin a career and disrupt internal business. The January issue of the Journal of Accountancy www.journalofaccountancy.com listed work... Read More >

Are small providers exempt from HIPAA?

nbsp The term small providers originates in the Administrative Simplification Compliance Act ASCA , the law which requires those providers submitters who bill Medicare to submit only electronic claims to... Read More >

HSAs – a brief overview

nbsp Back in , President Bush introduced Health Savings Accounts HSA . Only individuals or families covered under a high-deductible health insurance plan during the year are eligible to contribute... Read More >

Strategic planning made easy

Here are a few suggestions for a simple strategic planning meeting one usually without an outside facilitator even though I don t recommend this . This format works especially well... Read More >

Paid Tax Return Preparers

nbsp IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman offered taxpayers the following recommendations when selecting a tax return preparer avoid preparers who claim they can obtain larger refunds than others or who base... Read More >

Do you have a strategic plan?

nbsp Do any of you have a strategic five ten year plan? You should hold physician retreats annually and plan into the future even if you are solo practitioner. The... Read More >

Reducing Payment Denials

nbsp What advice would I give for ways to reduce payment denials? Start simply but right away by implementing a simple system such as the following Flag all denied charges,... Read More >

Physician Mergers and Due Diligence

Physician Mergers Opportunities, dealing with present marketplace conditions or looking to the future has prompted many physicians to explore merging their practices with other physicians or even sell out to... Read More >

Patient phone call reminders

Looking for a system for phone call reminders to your physician office patients? If so, you might want to check out Inphonite s ReminderPro which is a hardware software package... Read More >