It’s the unfortunate reality that while increased specialization of labor in health care can result in better care, it most certainly results in more expensive care.  This is going to be an issue until we find a way to pay more for “brain time” or “cognitive medicine.”

From, the NY Times: Let Doctors Bid for Medicare Business

Researchers have observed that having one additional specialist (per 100,000 people) in a region leads to about $13 more in health care spending per Medicare patient. New York City, for instance, has 186 specialists for every 100,000 residents, which is twice as many as Albany’s 93. Accordingly, Medicare spends $12,114 a year treating each patient in New York City, but only $5,950 in Albany.

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Tannus Quatre PT, MBA is a private practice consultant and principal with Vantage Clinical Solutions, Inc., a nationwide healthcare consulting and management firm located in Bend, OR and Denver, CO.  Tannus specializes in the areas of healthcare marketing, strategy, and finance, and can be reached through the Vantage Clinical Solutions website.

We love creativity and innovation around here…and here we simply tip our hats to Fast Company’s Top 10 Most Creative People in Health Care.  Keep a-changing the health care world as we know it fellas. 

Congratulations, and thank you.

Vantage Clinical Solutions

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Tannus Quatre PT, MBA is a private practice consultant and principal with Vantage Clinical Solutions, Inc., a nationwide healthcare consulting and management firm located in Bend, OR and Denver, CO.  Tannus specializes in the areas of healthcare marketing, strategy, and finance, and can be reached through the Vantage Clinical Solutions website.

The Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) is taking on waste…IT style.

It’s a great initiative, and I recommend that we consider getting on board.  The goal is to prevent up to 2.2 billion in waste that occurs each year through the use of non-standardized insurance cards.  By using machine-readable cards, patients, private practice clinics, and insurers can all save.  Click below to learn more about this great initiative.

MGMA’s Project SwipeIT for standardized health insurance cards

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Tannus Quatre PT, MBA is a private practice consultant and principal with Vantage Clinical Solutions, Inc., a nationwide healthcare consulting and management firm located in Bend, OR and Denver, CO.  Tannus specializes in the areas of healthcare marketing, strategy, and finance, and can be reached through the Vantage Clinical Solutions website.

Here’s a great clip from ABC News that discusses a framework for choosing a primary care physician.  Knowing what the media is telling patients about how to find providers is an important step toward setting up marketing messages and systems that will help attract and retain a loyal following.

1. Ask family and friends who they trust
2. Find out where your doctor is affiliated
3. Check the doctor’s credentials
4. Find out the doctor’s accessibility
5. Find out what your doctor will cost

Click here for the ABC News video

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Tannus Quatre PT, MBA is a private practice consultant and principal with Vantage Clinical Solutions, Inc., a nationwide healthcare consulting and management firm located in Bend, OR and Denver, CO.  Tannus specializes in the areas of healthcare marketing, strategy, and finance, and can be reached through the Vantage Clinical Solutions website.

It is possible after all, to spend more time with a patient.  It just can’t be done using outdated paradigms.  This article below from the New York Times tells the story of Dr. Battle, a primary care physician from New York that is leveraging technology and an innovative business model in his successful primary care practice.  The result…more time with patients and exceedingly better care than the status quo.

To make personalized care possible in an era when compensation is often tied to the number of patients they see, doctors use technology to streamline processes and reduce administrative costs. Dr. Batlle, for example, uses online appointment scheduling and manages his medical records electronically. He prescribes medications from his computer and offers virtual visits by phone and e-mail.

If All Doctors Had More Time to Listen - NYTimes.com

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Tannus Quatre PT, MBA is a private practice consultant and principal with Vantage Clinical Solutions, Inc., a nationwide healthcare consulting and management firm located in Bend, OR and Denver, CO.  Tannus specializes in the areas of healthcare marketing, strategy, and finance, and can be reached through the Vantage Clinical Solutions website.

Specialization of labor helps to improve quality, efficiency, and profitability.  In health care however, there is a downside – it can come at the cost of the quality of the continuum of care that patients need and deserve.

This is one of the worst examples of patient abandonment I can imagine. Surgeons are paid a bundled fee to provide surgical care for a 90 day period.  I’m pretty sure CMS would like to hear about this surgeon’s policy of not providing their agreed upon service contract with the federal government. 

See more from A Happy Hospitalist: Is it OK For A Surgeon To Stop Seeing Their Hospitalized Patient?

Who has time in the day to update Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn?  If you’re a doctor, dentist, or physical therapist I bet you don’t…at least I hope you don’t.

It all takes time - too much time some would say.  I disagree with the back end of that statement, but fully acknowledge that getting your social media engine up and running takes a bit of work.

This article from econsultancy.com lists a number of tips for keeping your social media strategy manageable.  They name starting small, setting goals, and allocating resources as a few pointers, and I’d add that an integration strategy is critical in order to prevent duplicating updates/posts on multiple sites just to engage your audience.

It’s all interconnected after all, we just need to tie the pieces together.  A couple of my favorite integrators are HootSuite, Ping.fm, and Twitterfeed.

One of them is making social media sustainable. As exciting as it can be to start using Facebook, Twitter and other popular social media websites, excitement usually wears off real fast and many businesses struggle to sustain their social media efforts.

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Tannus Quatre PT, MBA is a private practice consultant and principal with Vantage Clinical Solutions, Inc., a nationwide healthcare consulting and management firm located in Bend, OR and Denver, CO.  Tannus specializes in the areas of healthcare marketing, strategy, and finance, and can be reached through the Vantage Clinical Solutions website.

Looking for a way to update Twitter, Facebook, your blog, and LinkedIn all in one click?  Try Ping.fm.  It’s easier than you might think.  We’re doing it.

We love Twitter around here and use it all the time.  It’s a great tool for medical practices, though there are many asleep behind the social medial wheel.  If I told you I could help you market your practice in a way that was free, easy, fun, and effective…would you be interested?

If so, check out this article from MGMA that does a great job of speaking to the medical practice administrator’s use of Twitter.

 If you’re asking yourself, “What’s the point of Twitter?” you’re not alone. Several medical practice administrators have asked us why they should participate in this form of electronic messaging. If you’re wondering, too, this guide is for you.

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Tannus Quatre PT, MBA is a private practice consultant and principal with Vantage Clinical Solutions, Inc., a nationwide healthcare consulting and management firm located in Bend, OR and Denver, CO.  Tannus specializes in the areas of healthcare marketing, strategy, and finance, and can be reached through the Vantage Clinical Solutions website.

In any industry, new business is required for growth, but it’s naturally much harder to come by.  This has an impact on health care.

The New York Times published an essay titled, “Referral System Turns Patients Into Commodities” recently, and it provides stellar insight into the behind-the-scenes business relationships that are driving supply and demand of both patients and specialty care.

Logic says that a referral should depend only on a patient’s needs and the reputation and skill of the physician to which the patient is referred. But medicine is a business too, so that isn’t how it always works in practice.

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Tannus Quatre PT, MBA is a private practice consultant and principal with Vantage Clinical Solutions, Inc., a nationwide healthcare consulting and management firm located in Bend, OR and Denver, CO.  Tannus specializes in the areas of healthcare marketing, strategy, and finance, and can be reached through the Vantage Clinical Solutions website.