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AMA Online Offers Informational Wealth for Medical Offices

Posted by Joe Gargiulo | Tue, May 16, 2017 @ 09:45 AM

medical officesFrom “creating the medical school of the future” to “claims processing and practice review,” the website of the American Medical Association provides a wealth of information for all physicians, but especially those operating private-practice medical offices. CrossCheck — a company committed to payment industry solutions — reviews highlights under the Practice Management tab, particularly the sections concerning payments and revenue.

Ama-assn.org is a huge site, but the minimalist upper section of the homepage might lead viewers to believe otherwise. There are only five primary navigational tools (Education, Life & Career, Practice Management, Delivering Care and About Us), but selecting any one of them leads to second, third and fourth tiers revealing an informational pool that is both wide and deep.

For example, Education>Creating the Medical School of the Future describes the AMA’s collaboration with medical schools to “accelerate change in medical education and create a system that trains physicians to meet the needs of today's patients and to anticipate future changes.” The underlying third layer offers information about Innovations & Outcomes of the Consortium where one can “learn about the AMA initiative to improve medical education and the medical schools selected to share ideas and new practices for better physician instruction.” There is also a list of Member Schools of the Consortium and a forum called Join the Medical School Conversation for obtaining news and engaging in dialogue.

For more formal information, the Publications & Newsletters tab under Life & Career Overview offers links to the AMA’s 12 peer-reviewed journals (The JAMA Network).

Notwithstanding all of the above, the Practice Management tab is where the action begins, at least from the perspective of a payment processing specialist like CrossCheck.

Practice Management for Medical Offices

Managing Your Practice, the first option under the Practice Management tab, lists guides and preferred providers that help practices run smoothly, lower costs and provide a better patient experience. Furthermore, the third level drills down to even greater detail in areas covering strategy improvements, practice management systems, choosing insurance and obtaining discounts on shipping, supplies and payment and collections services.

Other second tier sections of note include Coding & Billing, Medicare & Medicaid (definitions, preparations and tips), Private Payer Reform, Claims Processing & Practice Revenue and HIPAA Compliance.

Private Payer Reform instructs medical offices how to locate “new payment and delivery models that are developed to enhance patient and practice needs.” For example, Reducing Administrative Barriers to Care (third tier) discusses the issues, research and legislation related to the prior authorization process. In addition, Improving Provider Networks & Access to Care (third tier) includes suggestions as well as model legislation such as the Truth in Out of Network Healthcare Benefits Act.

Claims Processing & Practice Revenue offers three critical areas for medical professionals (Managing Patient Payments, Managing Health Plan Payments and Physician Payment & Delivery Models) with even greater detail linked to tier four. For example, selecting the Managing Patient Payments link leads to the members-only Point-of-Care Pricing Toolkit.

Also under Practice Management, HIPAA Compliance offers a comprehensive group of nested sections including issues such as privacy and data security as well as audits, violations and enforcement by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Summary

This snapshot of the Practice Management tab is just one reason for medical offices to become frequent browsers of the AMA site. However, as a guaranteed payment processing company, CrossCheck would be remiss by not pointing out one glaring omission, specifically, that checks are still the preferred method of purchasing big-ticket items such as home furnishings, autos, building supplies and yes — treatments at medical offices.

This position is corroborated by the preliminary version of the 2016 Federal Reserve Payment Study which states that the average amount for each debit- and credit-card transaction ($37 and $93, respectively) pales in comparison to the average check transaction of $1554.

CrossCheck’s Multiple Check program is an excellent choice for patients wishing to pay for treatments without the use of credit cards or credit options such as CareCredit. Patients write 2 – 4 checks which the office deposits on mutually convenient dates over a 30-day period. This program gives patients a little extra time to replenish their ability to pay while offices receive guarantee payment with each deposit.

Learn more about Multiple Check by downloading our free guide.

Multiple Check Insider's Guide

Topics: Medical, Events / Conferences

Written by Joe Gargiulo

Marketing Specialist Joe Gargiulo has 25-plus years in marketing, communications and copy writing. As a writer, he enjoys connecting story leads to all aspects of the human experience.