Eyeworld

OPHTHALMOLOGY BUSINESS 86 March 2019 • All possible patient-responsible amounts have been collected at the time of service. • Charges have been posted on the same day services were provided. • Claims have been submitted within 24 hours. • Payments have been posted and deposits made within 24 hours. • Collections work has proceeded satisfactorily this week. • Open accounts more than 90 days stand at 12% or less. • Delinquent patients have been turned over to a collection agency. • Lasers and special testing equip- ment logs have been spot-checked against charges submitted. • Payment denials have been ap- pealed when unreasonable. • Doctors have arrived in the clinic at least 10 minutes before their first patient is worked up. • All providers gather monthly to review charts, socialize, and increase team cohesion. • New doctors are mentored by an assigned senior member of the clinical staff. • Techs, scribes, doctors have entered accurate and complete chart/EHR data. • Charts have been checked ran- domly for missing information, missed charges, lack of continuity of care, and missed opportunities to provide needed services. • Special testing ordered has been followed up. • All surgical patients received an evening call from their surgeon or a staff member. • Optical and contact lens orders have been filled on time. • Patients have paid 50% upon ordering and the balance on deliv- ery for contacts, glasses. • All departing patients have been asked to refer to the practice. • All (appropriate) departing pa- tients have been either reappoint- ed or put in the recall system. • Patients who have referred re- ceived thank you notes, calls, or small gifts. • Referral sources have been entered in the computer. Is it time to develop or improve your custom checklist? It would be easy to set this column aside and "get to it later." Try to avoid that. In the spirit of this column, do it now. Circle the items above that apply to your part of the practice and trans- fer these to an e-file. Spend a few minutes each day editing and adding to the list. Break out any categories that make sense. Keep it simple, especially to start off. Your list can always expand. Show your emerging checklist to coworkers for input (and to en- courage them to develop their own list). Finally, post a hard copy of your list where you'll see it often. Devel- op the habit of checking off items at sensible intervals (again, this might be daily, weekly, or monthly, depending on your role). Airplane pilots and boat cap- tains wouldn't dream of launching without going through their highly specialized checklists. Neither should you, no matter which part of the practice you steer. EW Editors' note: This article is excerpt- ed in part from Ms. Wohl's and Mr. Pinto's upcoming book, Up: Taking Ophthalmic Administrators and Their Management Teams to the Next Level of Skill, Performance and Career Satisfaction. Published by the American Society of Ophthalmic Administrators (ASOA), Up will soon be available for purchase through the ASOA bookstore at asoa.org. Launching continued from page 84 Mr. Pinto is president of J. Pinto & Associates, an ophthalmic practice management consulting firm in San Diego. His latest books, published by the American Society of Oph- thalmic Administrators (ASOA), include Simple: The Inner Game of Ophthalmic Practice Success and the fifth edition of John Pinto's Little Green Book of Ophthalmology, and are available at www.asoa.org. He can be contacted at pintoinc@ aol.com or 619-223-2233. Ms. Wohl is president of C. Wohl & Associates, a practice management consulting firm. She earned her Masters of Health Services Admin- istration degree at The George Washington University and has more than 30 years of hospital and physician practice management experience. She can be contacted at czwohl@gmail.com or 609-410-2932. About the authors

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