Atlantic Health Solutions Partners with Universal Health Network on Radiation Oncology Billing & Marketing Management

What do you get when you combine an innovative marketing and practice management company with an expert radiation oncology billing company? A revenue cycle management and marketing dream team!

Introducing a new business partnership between United Health Network and Atlantic Health Solutions, combining forces to use powerful resources and years of experience to improve your radiation oncology practice’s business.

Our two companies now offer a full suite of management services geared towards radiation oncology practices. In the two companies’ 15 years of experience, they have overcome many pitfalls and opportunities in the radiation oncology industry.  Their knowledge has been fostered while serving as one of the world’s few billing and collections companies focusing solely on radiation oncology.

This partnership will allow AHS and UHN to focus on the following services:

1.     Contact Credentialing: Allowing clients to get on provider plans with fee schedule review, enhancing provider contracts

2.     Billing & Collecting: Ensuring that clients are paid for the work performed, maximizing revenue and cost reduction

3.     Consultations & Guidance: Helping clients maneuver in the ever-changing healthcare environment with competitive market and demographic analysis to provide increased patient volume

4.     Practice Management & Marketing: Improving practice protocols, online reputations and community/physician relations

We are pleased that UHN’s impressive list of services can be implemented alongside of our own suite of services and we believe that by working together, we will be able to make unbelievable differences in the lives of our clients. Their experiences in the world of medical billing and collections, combined with our expertise in practice management, physician relations and unique marketing will make for an unstoppable support team for radiation oncologists across the country. 

UHN is known for providing their nationwide clients with over 15 years of expert radiation oncology specific medical billing and collections services. This niche focus allows UHN to streamline processes for compliance with generally accepted accounting standards, quality assurance and risk management by their auditing specialists. With access to quality information and metrics, UHN is able to assess and improve radiation oncology billing procedures.  This allows them to be prepared for industry changes such as ICD-10, meaningful use and bundled payment options.

AHS specializes in facility management and health care marketing, focusing on physician relations, Internet marketing, social media management, public relations and patient-centered advertising efforts. 

Both AHS and UHN clients are able to benefit from improved protocols for maximum reimbursement, maintained control, full transparency and customized support of each practice’s specific needs.  Seeing the similarities in our two companies’ cultures and missions made fostering this promising partnership simple. In fact, one of our favorite things about UHN is the mantra they live by:

“You probably didn’t get into medicine to become an expert in billing and collections, but we did.”

All too often, physicians attempt to handle things like medical billing on their own, but we have always stressed the importance of physicians focusing on what really matters; practicing medicine, while we take care of the rest.   By helping physician partners delegate portions of their practices’ activities to us, we help physicians focus on more important practice matters.

We look forward to the success of our clients. Stay tuned for information and resources we will be providing for you in the future to improve your practice and be sure to stop by our booth (#735) at ASTRO from September 22^nd through the 25^th. We will be reaching out to you again before then to learn more about your questions, industry obstacles and ways we can provide improved support.

Services:

UHN

• Radiation Oncology-Specific Billing & Collections
• CPT and ICD-9/ICD-10 Coding
• Referral Tracking
• Contracting & Credentialing
• Training & Guidance
• Advanced Reporting Technology

AHS

• physician relations
• Internet marketing
• social media management
• public relations
• advertising
• marketing force training

Press Release here: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/9/prweb11103919.htm

Bob Dylan Sang The Times They Are A-Changin'... Who Knew He Meant In Radiology?

Lending a lesson from the dinosaurs; you must either adapt or go extinct, and with changes on the frontier of medical imaging, there is no time but now.

With the evolution of the radiology industry constantly morphing, it feels like your practice needs to be more on point than ever. Daily you must face hard questions such as:

• Should I sell to the hospital system or keep my independence?
• Do I need to outsource my billing services?
• How do I make sure I have the right people on the job in my center?
• Do I really need to learn social media?

The real question to ask yourself is…
 

What do you choose? Where do YOU start?

Read more…

7 Deadly Sins Keeping Your Practice in the Stone Age

Health care professionals can be stereotypically stuck in their ways, but are those habits and practices leading them down a path to extinction? Ask yourself the hard questions about where you stand and you are already taking your first steps towards evolution.

-       Not marketing your value to patients directly

• With a more significant weight being placed on practices’ and hospitals’ quality metrics, patients are paying more attention to the way health care providers treat their patients. Of course, patients experience a lot of emotions, so helping them see your true value can help them make more educated decisions about their care. Remember to think like them, not like yourself.

-       Not tracking the ROI of your advertisement efforts

Here is a funny little cave-dog. Just for fun.

• Avoid the spray, pay and pray methods a lot of health care institutions adopt when it comes to their advertising efforts. Internet marketing can be significantly more effective than plastering up a billboard, plus you are able to point to the effectiveness of your efforts.

-       Not helping to relieve referring physician work load with unique efforts

• The relationship your practice has with referring physician offices is a delicate thing that you must constantly be working to improve and foster. By assisting their practices in unique ways, helping them to save time and become more efficient is utterly invaluable to them. Think out of the box.

-       Not using pricing as a marketing component

• Patients are becoming more accustomed to shopping around for health care procedures, especially more expensive out-of-pocket services. Using your price to market to patients is helpful, even if you don’t have the lowest price in town. It is better to be a part of the conversation than be left out entirely.

-       Not showing differentiation between yourself and your competition

• It is okay to show patients what sets your practice apart when it comes to quality of service. Of course your mother told you, if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all, and we are not giving you license to bash your competition but a little differentiation never hurt anyone.

-       Passive approach to cancellations and no-shows

• Every practice suffers the frustrations that come along with last minute cancellations and no-shows. It leaves a hole in your schedule and keeps you from helping as many patients as you could have if you had a system for filling those empty time slots with a capacity exchange program.

-       Crossing your fingers and hoping transparency trends will end

• Bad news kids, this whole price transparency epidemic is not going anywhere so it’s time to jump on board. Like we said before, it is better to have a seat at the table than to be on the table. Your patients and referring offices will appreciate that you are taking steps towards transparency and innovation within the industry.

Where are you? Do you need help? Besides if this guy can do it, you can too.

Originally posted on Save On Medical’s Blog.

Metropolitan Ministries' Annual Bridge Builder's Breakfast

The smell of pastries and coffee filtered through the air at Metropolitan Ministries’ Annual Bridge Builder Breakfast yesterday while the essence of hope flourished. Bustling with some of Tampa’s most involved community members, this year we had plenty of reasons to celebrate. Metropolitan Ministries’ quote of the year has been, “Hope can grow anywhere,” which is brought to life in the Miracle Place, their newest addition to their efforts in solving problems even in the most hopeless of situations.

Miracle Place provides a place for 50 new families to live and is home to a new preschool, partnership school for children from kindergarten through fifth grade; new after-school programs and extended dining facilities. The Tampa community has worked hard to build Miracle Place and it will enable Metropolitan Ministries to double their efforts in helping families and individuals in need of assistance and a fresh start.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbdGXPjFv4I

We have come a long way, but the road has not come to an end just yet. The building is built, but the rooms are all empty so Metropolitan Ministries is now turning to the community looking for donations to help furnish the rooms, making them feel like home to those that will live in them. With 50 new units to furnish and doubled operating costs, Metropolitan has a lot of work to do, so we called in the troops… or should we say, the Bucs?

Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Greg Schiano was kind enough to come speak at this year’s Bridge Builder’s Breakfast. He shared some insight on the sense of leadership he hopes to instill in his players and the franchise through their involvement with Metropolitan Ministries including; trust, believe, accountability and leadership. He also referenced a band he wears on his wrist that reads FAMILY, standing for Forget About Me I Love You. This is a mantra he has to remind himself of and teach to his team daily, but he said that is what Metropolitan Ministries does all day, everyday.  “Schiano’s level of passion as a volunteer and advocate for Metro is palpable, it is inspiring to see,” says Chris Christenberry, who serves on the organization’s Board of Directors.

The event was complete with success stories from some of Metropolitan Ministries clients coming to speak.  One man shared a story about the business he owned only a few short years ago until it crashed with the unlucky economy. His story was inspiring and humbling, reminding attendees that anyone can fall on hard times.

In the next year, we hope to see more of the community get involved with Metropolitan’s amazing efforts. The homelessness population grows in triple-digits each year in the Bay Area, which means that we have our work set out for us!

Chris Christenberry is Atlantic Health Solutions’ president and he serves on the Board of Directors at Metropolitan Ministries. Due to his involvement in the organization, Chris has lead Atlantic’s staff to appreciate the work and efforts of Metropolitan Ministries. It is our in-house philanthropy of sorts and we are proud to be such active volunteers.

Radiologist Archetypes & Mythbusters for Healthcare Marketers

Last week our team of experienced healthcare marketers sat down with Jayson A. Lord, MD to get an inside look at what makes radiologists tick.  Dr. Lord, who lives in Tampa, Florida and performs radiology for practices nationwide, discussed ways to understand radiologist motivators, tricks for how to get the good doctors involved with marketing and physician relations and spent time going through “Radiologist Mythbusters” which was a session where marketing representatives were able to state their radiologist assumptions in an open forum and discuss ways to overcome them.

One of the biggest questions Dr. Lord wanted to address was why radiologists often choose their profession. “Radiologists are typically very analytic thinkers, they love puzzles and problem solving. Radiology is the ultimate puzzle,” he said about his profession.  Getting to the root of why people choose certain paths in life intrigues Dr. Lord, and he drew from components of Jungian archetypes to explain physician motivators and the individuals who contribute to a practice’s success. The four quadrants of Jungian archetypes, which most people fall into, are The King, The Warrior, The Magician and The Joker.  As a King; individuals are filled with confidence and authority which can be a very good or very bad thing depending on the individual. The Warrior serves as a dutiful worker, while The Magician is able to utilize tricks and an engaging personality to “make things happen.”  The Joker is traditionally less motivated and looked at as the hopeless romantic of society. So which category does your radiologist fall into?

Lord says that most radiologists identify with the Warrior archetype. They want to show up to work, get through their stack of reads and move on with their systematic schedule.  Most radiologists that own their own independent practices, like Dr. Lord, fall into The King category, which can have both positive and negative influences on their work, but oftentimes responsibility rolls up the hill to the king, and most radiologists do not want to step out of their warrior roles to take on other responsibilities, leaving practices without a leader.

In order to get your radiologists more involved with marketing efforts, Dr. Lord says the key is finding your radiologist magician however. Traditionally introverted, radiologists love regiments and they need to be untrained from the clinical paradigm they’ve adopted in order to step outside of their comfort zone. In a group of radiologists, a magician can usually be found and if they are open to working with your marketing team, it can make all the difference in the world.

The key to getting started is setting up an opportunity for your radiologist to engage in a conversation with a referring physician where they will walk away feeling positive. After having a few encounters that go well, it will be less heartbreaking when they go on more challenging meetings.  It would be beneficial to set up a lunch with a clinical topic in mind to discuss for more introverted radiologists, but as long as the referring physician is engaging, a feeling of positivity can be fostered. We can compare this to someone learning to cook. If all you’ve ever made is grilled cheese, you would not delve into your first cooking adventure aiming to perfect soufflés or prepare a full Thanksgiving meal. You would start with the basics: baked chicken, some steamed veggies and pasta. The same can be said about easing radiologists into marketing efforts.

As healthcare marketing professionals, it is important to be able to read people, understand what their needs and motivators are, and to use that information to grow.  Figuring out what kind of radiologist you work with and finding your internal Magician could lead to exponential levels of success for your center.