Introducing Independent Heartbeats, a newsletter created just for cardiologists and practice managers. Each month, you’ll get peer insights, industry trends and advice to help you strengthen your practice and elevate patient care.
As a physician, I believe that more than ever, independent cardiologists have a critical role to play. CardioOne is here to support you–whether you’re a longtime practice owner, administrative leader, or employed physician curious about becoming independent.
Best regards,
Jasen Gundersen, MD
CEO, CardioOne
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Industry Buzz:
Hot Topics for Independent Cardiology Practices
The scheduling conundrum (Health Tech Stack)
- At a glance: Direct scheduling in healthcare offers many advantages, but its limitations pose challenges to large-scale implementation.
- What you should know: Scheduling is crucial to the patient experience and outcomes. Piecemeal approaches that lack focus on technology, training and patient needs often fall short. Scheduling solutions should be integrated into a single platform to guarantee a smooth flow of information between patients and their care teams.
Private equity has new love for cardiology. Should doctors take the deal? (MedPage Today)
- At a glance: Private equity investments in cardiology are rising because of increasing demand, a shift toward non-hospital care, and the potential for value-based care to enhance outcomes and manage costs.
- What you should know: Private equity deals offer independent cardiologists the potential for financial gain and other perks to enhance and grow their practices. Partnering with the right private equity firm can streamline administrative tasks, allowing cardiologists to focus on patient care and clinical aspects. However, before deciding, they should weigh all risks and rewards of making a deal.
PE finds a new healthcare play in cardiology (Pitchbook)
- At a glance: Private equity firms are attracting cardiology practices with offers of financial relief, but it’s essential they consider the potential impact on clinical practice, prioritization of profit and associated risks.
- What you should know: Independent physicians should consider the potential consequences of entering a private equity deal. Although such deals can result in financial gain, the PE firm may seek to alter the practice in ways that prioritize revenue generation and cost-cutting. As a result, physicians may lose some of the autonomy and decision-making power they have enjoyed in their practice.
Insights from CardioOne
Now more than ever, cardiologists should stay independent
Cardiologists who value personalized care and professional autonomy may choose to remain independent. However, managing all aspects of a practice alone can lead to burnout and inefficiency. By partnering with experts who offer support while preserving ownership, independent cardiologists can achieve growth and provide quality care. Read our article about the power of independence in cardiology practice.
CardioOne partners with MedAxiom
CardioOne is excited to announce an industry partnership with MedAxiom, the cardiovascular community’s premier source for organizational performance solutions. With our colleagues at MedAxiom, CardioOne can further our mission, allowing clinicians to focus on caring for their patients while we take care of the rest. Learn more about the partnership.
Practice Management Tip of the Month
Inefficient and ineffective processes and workflows for patient collection can hurt your practice’s revenue collection rate. Here’s how we’ve tackled the issue:
- Be transparent with patients: Have an established patient financial responsibility policy visible at the front desk, in their new patient paperwork, or published on your website. Clearly communicate their financial responsibility for any visits, testing or procedure services at time of check-in.
- Expedite insurance eligibility checks: Leverage your EMR services and administrative teams to perform eligibility checks 48 hours before the patient’s visit. If their visit is not covered or has a higher-than-expected cost, be sure to communicate with the patient so they can plan accordingly.
- Improve the collections workflow: Maintain a clear, consistent collections workflow. This includes copay collections based on eligibility checks, reviewing and collecting outstanding balances, reliably sending patient statements and creating multiple avenues for your patients to pay their bills.
- Offer more options: Time-of-service collections can be improved by collecting copays and outstanding balances in office, at time of checkin/out and offering multiple options for paying bills post-visit. This includes: accepting all major credit cards and cash, online bill-pay availability through your EMR or other third-party vendor, and mailing options for personal checks. Review your merchant vendor fees for credit, debit and check processing to optimize your collection options.
How can you measure success? Be sure to track and assess the percentage of time-of-service collections, outstanding patient balances, and outstanding ARs for patient payments.
Practice Partner Spotlight
This month, we’re highlighting Dr. Paulraj Samuel of Samuel Family Cardiology, an independent cardiologist partnered with CardioOne based near Houston, Texas. Dr. Samuel recently joined the board of Mosaics of Mercy, a nonprofit that provides mental health services to the community.
Mosaics of Mercy’s mission is to help families navigate mental health and addiction recovery. Mosaics strives to build a bridge across that gap by providing vetted resources, education, and hope.
Managing stress, anxiety and depression is crucial for preventing and managing cardiovascular disease and improving quality of life. By promoting a holistic perspective to well-being, Dr. Samuel inspires positive change in the medical field, patients’ lives and his local community.
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That’s it for this month. We’ll be back next month with more up-to-date news and insights in the cardiology space, curated specifically for independent cardiologists. In the meantime, you can also find more expert-led insights on our blog.