Posts tagged with pediatric practice management conference

Whew, we have finally gotten our ducks in a row and announce our Fall Pediatric Coding and PM conference in Columbus, OH on September 17. It's the usual deal: AAP endorsed and AAP members get in cheaper. The individual class titles include:

• Free Online Practice Management Tools
• Coding Primer
• Give Me the Money: How to Decrease your A/R
• The Codes You Leave on the Table
• Pediatric Physicians' Compensation Models
• Vaccine Coding: Preventive Medicine for a Healthy Bottom Line
• The No Surprises Chart Audit

Please check out the promotional site or register ASAP!

I’m in the midst of some fun RVU analysis and I realized that I’d better get this announcement out stat!  It’s just like our other PM/Coding events, though the AAP endorsement hasn’t happened yet (it should be a week or two).  Sign up quickly, as we expect this one to be a good size.  The proximity to the airport makes this an easy trip for a lot of folks:

http://pedsource.com/events/pediatric-coding-practice-management-conference

Thursday, January 15 2009 — Irving, Texas (Dallas area near the airport)

Put your practice ahead of the curve with PCC’s January 2009 Pediatric Coding and Practice Management Conference. Pediatric coding and practice management experts address key issues during a full day of courses with question and answer sessions designed to improve your coding practices and reimbursement.

The January 15 Pediatric Coding Conference will be held at the Sheraton Grand Hotel in Irving, Texas just outside of Dallas.

This is an intensive, one-day session focused on important pediatric specific coding and practice management issues that affect your practice every day.

You’ll master the coding basics, get answers to your specific questions during Q&A sessions with our pediatric panel, and gain valuable insight on timely topics about immunizations, pay-for-performance programs, physician compensation, and more.

Earn 5.0 CEUs!*

You’ll also earn CEU credit for attending this conference. This conference has prior approval of the American Academy of Professional Coders for 5.0 Continuing Education Units.  Granting of this approval in no way constitutes endorsement by the  Academy of the program, content or the program sponsor.

Our expert panel of instructors includes Richard Lander, MD, Richard Tuck, MD, and PCC’s Chip Hart.

Register Now Admission to this conference is only $325 for AAP members ($379 for non-members)! To receive your discount, enter the discount code PCC AAP.

Download the conference brochure, with complete course descriptions, instructor bios, and an order form.

Event Schedule

As you know, we held our 4th AAP-endorsed pediatric practice management event in the middle of our annual Users' Conference at Disney this July.  I thought it went swimmingly, but of course I'm talking the entire time so I don't give anyone a chance to complain.

I thought I'd share some of the results of our surveys of the non-PCC folks who attended.  I'm glad to share the PCC-client results, too, but those are kind of silly :-)

First, specific questions with averaged answers:

Don't get the wrong impression - I'm not leaving any scores out, these are just the only questions with a 1-10 rating in them.  We asked a lot of questions which require non-numerical answers, such as, "Which courses did you benefit from most and why?
" and we learned that every class got named at least two times - hard to tell what the most popular class was.  

We plan to return to Florida - hosted by the University of Miami - in January.  An announcement here shortly.

And back with the promised well visit data shortly, still working on it.  I promise that it's pediatric benchmark data gold.

A few years ago I passed a church as a wedding party pushed out onto the lawn at the end of the ceremony. My boys were in the back seat and the younger looked out the window and said out loud, "Dad, I don't want to have to get married."

I wasn't too surprised, really, because even then, at the age of4 or 5, he was full of funny exclamations. "Why not, buddy?"

"Because sometimes...sometimes, I just need a day off."

Well, I need a day off from "work" so I can get to the blog. Whenever you see a gap in my posts like I've had recently, it's because there's so much happening in the world of pediatrics that I don't have time to blog it all. Thus, I'm relegated to the shotgun post.

• PCC has another AAP endorsed pediatric coding and practice management event in Miami, FL at the end of January. I know a few of you are already signed up, but we still have room. For non-PCCers who have attended similar events, there are a few new classes. For PCCers who attend everything we do (you know who you are, Lynn Cramer), there's at least one AWESOME new class in here that will make the entire trip worth your while.

  We're about to announce an other event in Virginia any moment now.

• Many of you probably already read the HISTalk interview with Bill Zurhellen, but if you haven't, please do. Bill was the brave soul who stood up at the CCHIT committee meeting and said, "...if our work isn't about improving healthcare, then why are we here?" I don't know if he realizes - and is therefore thankful or spiteful - that I put the HISTalk folks in touch with him or not. I think the interview is excellent, though I am a little dissapointed that he toned it down!
• PCC's world has started to circle around the Meaningful Use drain, though we're doing our best to get caught in it as little as possible. I remember learning about the "Bread and Circus" back in junior high and I can't think of a better analogy. Nearly everyone we speak to these days wants to know if they're going to get their money. I've written about this issue for the AAP before. Pediatricians need to focus on REAL meaningful use, imo. If you want to read the 700+ pages related to the bill - in it's "Preliminary Final" form (what does that mean?), you can get the details here and here.
  You can also find some interesting summaries and helpful documents here and this summary by HISTalk is quite helpful.

How is this not a giant waste of money?

Two vital dates for your schedule:

October 1, 2010

This is the new Medicare fee schedule extension date.  Until then, the 2010 Medicare rate will be maintained at the 2009 levels.  Here's an AMA summary:

This afternoon, the Senate passed H.R. 4213, a bill to extend certain tax policies and stimulate job growth, by a vote of 62-36.  The bill includes provisions that would further extend current Medicare physician payment rates until October 1, 2010. The legislation will now be sent to the House, where amendments are possible.  Consequently, it is not certain if this extension of Medicare payment rates can be signed into law before the current Medicare physician payment freeze expires on April 1.

July 22-23 (and 20+21 for PCC clients) 

Even more important - the PCC Users' Conference and Pediatric Coding and Practice Management in July.  To quote, again:

The next PCC Pediatric Coding and Practice Management conference will be a two day event held on July 22-23 at the Sheraton Burlington Hotel and Conference Center in Burlington, Vermont. Further information is typically published in early April.

The next PCC Users' Conference will be a three-day event held on July 21-23 at the Sheraton Burlington Hotel and Conference Center in Burlington, Vermont.  A pre-conference reception will be held on July 20 from 6-8pm.  The PCC Users' Conference is inclusive of the two-day PCC Pediatric Coding and Practice Management Conference referenced above.

We have some really fascinating speakers lined up - some new, some of the usual suspects - and it doesn't get better than Vermont in July.  Save the date.

The PCC Users' Conference is official for 2010.  Go ahead, sign up...I just really looked at the course schedule myself for the first time and it's amazing.  There will be some speakers from the AAP itself in addition to the typical cornucopia of amazing pediatric practice management knowledge. [I hope to announce a SOAPM-related surprise, as well.]

One of the classes I am teaching is entitled "Your Practice and the Internet, Things You May Not Know!" (look at Friday afternoon).  A key part of this class - which will focus on the dangers and benefits of social media - will feature some sample Social Media Policies to consider for your practice.

You have, after all, googled yourself, right?

So, because it's better when other, smarter people do the heavy lifting, I somehow convinced The Verden Group to share a draft of sample documents that you - yes you! - can use in your own practice.  Let's thank the generous geniuses at Verden (Susanne and Jason.  And me, of course, for giving you this teaser content before coming to the conference :-)  OK, my part wasn't so crucial.

Enjoy.  Click on the links below.  And...thanks, Verden!

Re-edit:

I don't know what I was thinking: I forgot to mention the event for which I actually created this talk: The Pediatric Gurus event at Skytop, arguably my favorite non-PCC event of the year.  Go check it out.