Have you updated your Medical Practice Emergency plan?

Every medical practice should be prepared for handling natural disasters and office emergencies. They should have an emergency plan to ensure survival of the practice in case of disasters like earthquakes, fire or tornadoes.

This preparation is as vital as patient care and medical billing because even if your practice is doing good, one emergency situation can affect your entire business within seconds.

Industry Facts :

According to a survey conducted by the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), approximately 30% practices don't have an emergency plan at all

HIPAA requires practices to protect patient records in case of a disaster. If they fail to do so, it will result in penalties and fines

Practices with an emergency plan are more likely to continue offering patient care and run business operations in a smooth manner

How can providers handle emergencies in case of natural disasters:

Practices should know how to prepare for, respond to and recover from the impact of natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, fire or tornadoes.

• A cohesive evacuation plan should be created and one person from each department should be made in charge for handling the same
• Necessary preparations should be done to ensure that patients, staff and technology can be moved to a safer location in case an emergency strikes
• Conduct a meeting with your staff and create a communication plan to let patients know what is happening
• Always be prepared about the fact that no preparation is fool-proof and you might have to change decisions once the emergency occurs
• Keep reviewing and updating the emergency plan periodically because operational aspects of medical practices keep changing with time
• Outsource billing and coding requirements to a billing company so that patient database and other important details don't get damaged in case of fire at your practice
• Keep records of all your bank account information and find out the terms of a line of credit you may have to survive the disaster financially

Preparing for office emergencies:

Practices should not ignore the possibility of an office emergency that can occur due to various factors ranging from lack of physicians and outdated equipment to inexperienced billing staff. If there is lack of staff, providers will have to divide their time between patient care, billing and administrative tasks which will affect reimbursements and quality of care.

• To handle such emergencies, it is advisable to outsource billing and coding requirements to a third party so that the headache of hiring, training, health IT investment, HIPAA compliance, denial management can be eliminated
• Physicians will be able to concentrate more on patient care rather than billing issues
• It will also give them time to prepare better for emergencies

Preparing for emergencies with MBC:

Medicalbillersandcoders.com has been offering effective billing solutions to practices across 50 states in the US. The team at MBC is well-trained and experienced in handling all aspects of the revenue cycle with the help of latest technology. By outsourcing billing needs to MBC, practices can focus more on patient care and prepare for emergencies.

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Published By - Medical Billers and Coders
Published Date - Jun-05-2014 Back