Happy New Year everyone!
I hope that you all have been spending some time with your loved ones or relaxing for this holiday season and new year.
End of the year means time for end-of-year updates for the practice and plans for the coming year. It’s an exciting time! Like last year, there will be a hefty number of changes moving forward, so pay attention to the next few paragraphs.
First things first, the general notices that go out every year.
Your health insurance deductible is likely resetting Jan 1st. Thus there’s a good chance I’ll resume charging cards on file for those who have met their deductibles/OOP maxes for the 2023 calendar year. If you need to change your payment on file with me, please let me know.
It’s time to catch up on past due balances! I will be reaching out to those who have current balances with me to talk about catching up for the tax year. It’s important that we keep up with our balances: I do not send past due balances to collections but I may decline to resume services for patients with past due balances.
Your employer may be changing insurance benefits or plans on Jan 1st. Same if you applied for a different ACA Marketplace plan. Please let me know if your insurance is changing ASAP so I can adapt. I take MOST commercial insurance plans by this point that are common in FL. If you do not inform me of any insurance changes and I get denials from insurance claim submissions, then you may find yourself paying my full private fee.
I will be going around getting new ROIs for the year and updating any signatures needed for paperwork. Expect a little admin time during our first session over the new year.
Now for a few small changes in the practice:
I am as of Jan 1st going to be a Medicare provider! That won’t mean much for a lot of you, but I will now be able to see people 65+ who are on Medicare and those with disabilities who are also on Medicare. I am still deciding the extent of Medicare Advantage plans I will take- so far I’m only on United’s Medicare Advantage panel. If you wish to know more, feel free to ask.
Since I increased my rates last year, I’m going to keep them consistent for this year. I am still doing market research to determine how competitive my current sliding scale is in this area, but obviously don’t want to price out everyone. So, for now, the chargemaster will remain the same.
Please, please, please do your outcomes when you receive the link via the reminder text or e-mail! I peek at the trends in them over time and it’s helpful for me to see what your perceptions are on answering those questions. It lets me know if I need to make any tweaks to treatment plans or approaches. I know I am not great all the time at reminding in person, so this is your first reminder of the new year.
Now, for bigger changes in the practice!
Since you are viewing this on the website, you might notice some bigger changes (or not, haha!) to how it is formatted and what buttons are available. I have decided to flesh out the website more. I’ve been doing more consistent blogging throughout the year (you can see all kinds of topics on it in addition to these news articles) and you will notice the “Make a Payment” button has been replaced with a “Login” button! I have now set up a way to create an account directly through me and login to see all kinds of stuff. I will not be storing any medical records through my website (that will stay where it is securely) BUT you will find a link to that site on it, as well as links to all kinds of other things that could be useful. Over time I plan on fleshing out this set of pages and menus more for you, adding in referral lists, all kinds of different forms, worksheets, and the like. In addition, you are going to also see on there over time….
Classes! I’m going to be creating and putting classes on my website for current patients to access as they like or want to. It will be offered free to you and will include lots of basic things that I like to talk about, with some possible nerdier things over time. This part is still in infancy, so I will have more to talk about soon!
In continuing with this technology trend, I have decided to take a deeper leap into the world of AI and healthcare. Let’s be honest: it’s already happening and will just get bigger and bigger each year. I would prefer to be ahead of the curve then left behind, so I am now investing more time and energy into implementing AI technology into the way I work. This will not mean anything different for you, per say: our sessions will not include the use of AI. I plan on using AI to better streamline my backend of things: advertising, formatting and pulling information from my EHR, analyzing data from things like outcomes measures, etc. I have updated my Electronic Consent form to the Electronic Consent and Use of Technology form, which I will be having everyone sign. It directly outlines the security protocols and set-up that I use, so that you can be completely informed about how I use and protect electronic information. Irrespective of how I use AI in my own admin work, I will never initiate the release of any kind of PHI outside of my data banks.
I am heavily, heavily debating moving my invoicing and tracking of payments into Square, whom I already use for payment processing. Over the last 3-4 years they’ve upped their security game to the point that they meet HIPAA compliance, and I’m thinking it may make my (and your) life easier having that information more readily accessible. This is still something I am brainstorming, so feedback is always helpful.
I think that’s all for now. We are rolling right into 2024 and it is moving fast. Let’s see if we can keep up. 😊