The Healthcare Entrepreneur Blog » Primary Care

Is traditional internal medicine dead? – A guest post by Dr. Steven Knope

Tannus Quatre PT, MBA — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 01:48:04 +0000

Introduction by Tannus Quatre PT, MBA

I am pleased to post the following commentary from Dr. Steven Knope, an internal medicine specialist and concierge physician located in Tucson, AZ. I had the pleasure of befriending Dr. Knope a few years ago, and since that time have enjoyed thoroughly Dr. Knope’s perspective on medicine, and vision for the future of healthcare. Dr. Knope’s book, Concierge Medicine: A New System To Get The Best Healthcare,…

More physicians leave private practice

Tannus Quatre PT, MBA — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 01:10:44 +0000

I was recently interviewed for an article which was published in the Carolina Journalism Network, titled “Physicians move out of private practice,” a story by Laura Montini. The interview was prompted by an article I wrote for The Healthcare Entrepreneur Blog titled, “Time to throw in the towel on private practice…or is it?”

Click here to visit the article (excerpt below).

As an advocate of entrepreneurship, Quatre

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Medical practice management 101: Budgeting

Tannus Quatre PT, MBA — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:37:10 +0000

Creating a medical practice budget is one of the most important elements of running a profitable physician practice, doctor’s office, or physical therapy clinic. The medical practice budget provides physicians, office managers and administrators with a gauge from which financial performance can be measured and operational issues identified.

There are many ways to create a medical practice budget, however our firm often recommends use of a budgeting format which clearly distinguishes those revenues…

Medical practice management 101: Scalability

Tannus Quatre PT, MBA — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:31:14 +0000

In this new series on The Healthcare Entrepreneur Blog, we’ll be taking a look at a number of medical practice management concepts that medical practice managers, administrators, and clinic owners should consider as part of their planning and day-to-day management. The principles we’ll be outlining as part of the Medical Practice 101 series are applicable to all types of medical practices including general medicine, the surgical specialties, and rehabilitation services such…

Physician office sends patient data to wrong fax number…for 3 years

Tannus Quatre PT, MBA — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:16:57 +0000

A Tennessee physician practice apparently sent out hundreds of faxes to a wrong fax number, breaching the privacy of likely hundreds of patients over the course of 3 years. Lots of questions about this one, like the obvious one: why wasn’t this remedied after the first error?

This is a huge HIPAA violation, and should serve as a reminder to make sure procedures are in place to verify and cross-check fax numbers and all other…

Blogging in healthcare: The power of instant communication

Tannus Quatre PT, MBA — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:30:56 +0000

Blogging can (and should) be considered a powerful strategy used for marketing, publicity, and even damage control for an organization who’s stakeholders exist online. For small private practices and large healthcare organizations alike, the power of blogging to reach an audience is often underestimated. The article below from Health Leaders Media does a great job of outlining the benefits of a blogging strategy for healthcare providers, as well as some tips on who and how…

$15 million Medicare fraud scheme paid kickbacks to fraudulent patients

Tannus Quatre PT, MBA — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 17:31:23 +0000

Two Miami residents have plead guilty to submitting over $15 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for heathcare services that were either not necessary or not provided from March 2006 through March 2007. By itself this is a tragic tale, but the fact that the criminals paid cash and narcotic kickbacks to Medicare beneficiaries in return for their co-conspiracy in the fraud scheme is disgusting.

In his plea, Jose Rosario also admitted that

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Nurse Practitioners As Primary Care Doctors

Tannus Quatre PT, MBA — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 01:45:58 +0000

Some estimate that as many as 125,000 nurse practitioners throughout the U.S. might have a sizable impact on the primary care shortage. In Boston, wait times are about as bad as they get, providing the impetus for finding a solution quickly.

Trying to get an appointment to see your primary care doctor can be a burden. In Boston, the wait time to see a physician is the worst in the country, with an average of almost

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Patients have a voice online…and they’re using it

Tannus Quatre PT, MBA — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:54:00 +0000

One of the best things about the Internet is ease of communication. Whether you want to learn from others or share your own story, the flow of information is a mere click away. And it just so happens that learning, sharing, and clicking is exactly what patients are doing.

Through a growing number of business and healthcare review websites, patients are speaking openly about their healthcare experiences, and in a candid manner. From the best…

Medical association fights back against RAC’s

Tannus Quatre PT, MBA — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 23:11:49 +0000

The Texas Medical Association is fighting back against RAC’s through a lawsuit that claims false assertions during a medicare recovery audit. You can bet that people on both sides of the RAC issue will be paying attention to this one.

“This is about protecting our patients’ private health information and fair treatment for physicians,” says Richard J. DePersio, MD, president of the 7,800-member TMA. “Our members complained to us about the HRI ‘strong-arm’ letters. We

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