It’s a pretty common habit in the medical world to declare doom, gloom, and the end of private practice because of changes in the field. It’s also common for some doctors to, while moaning and groaning, resist those changes and decide to wait to deal with them when they come, and not before. Here’s a little flash of reality for you: big changes are not only coming, they are already happening—but it’s not the end of private practice or the world as you know it IF you are prepared.
Now is not the time to put your head in the sand! Now is the time to pay attention to what is happening, then work on making sure your practice is prepared and able to thrive when these changes are fully implemented.
The Big Shift
I’m talking specifically about the switch from the basic fee-for-service model that reimbursements have followed for many years now over to a Value-Based Medicine approach. Up to this point, insurance companies and government programs like Medicare have reimbursed doctors for the services rendered. Basically, you saw and treated your patient, then you billed them and got reimbursed.
This process is already shifting toward Value-Based Medicine. The seeds of change began with meaningful use through electronic medical records, and is only going farther in the future. By 2019-2020, reimbursements will have completely changed over to this new model.
So what exactly does “Value-Based Medicine” really mean? Well, it’s largely based on the idea of reimbursements being tied to the successful outcomes of treatment, rather than simply performing the treatments themselves. The idea is to motivate medical professionals to really focus in on providing patients with options that actually work, as well as have meaningful follow-ups. The hope is that patients will then get better service and not be forced to go through unnecessary tests and treatments.
In theory, this transition to Value-Based Medicine is a good one, particularly for patients, but as any doctor can guess, it’s more than a little complicated in practice. Many, many practices will see a significant drop in their reimbursements—unless they can find a way to make the most of their assets and use data properly to manage their practices.
You simply can’t afford to ignore these changes. And fortunately, making the changes you need to succeed and thrive won’t be as impossible as you might first think! After all, that’s why Top Practices has joined forces with Collaborative Practice Solutions to offer the innovative and unique Virtual Practice Management Institute (VPMI) program. There is no other program quite like this one in existence. With the Virtual Practice Optimization (VPO) Report Card, special interpretation, and coaching from Collaborative Practice Solutions combined with the resource and mentoring-rich Practice Management Institute program from Top Practices, you will finally have all the data and expert help you need to see exactly where you practice stands and what you need to do to improve.
Now is the time to face the coming changes. If you’re looking for ways to make sure your practice not only continues to survive, but thrive, in the next few years, the VPMI program might be exactly what you need. Contact us for more information about the program, or to get started! You can reach us by e-mail at [email protected], or by calling (717) 725-2679.
