Don’t write off retail health clinics as the natural enemy. Instead, explore opportunities to cultivate partnerships with the increasingly popular clinics if you’re looking to add new patients. Non-physician practitioners (NPPs) employed at CVS MinuteClinics, which account for nearly half the nation’s retail clinics, ask patients whether they have a permanent primary care physician. If the answer is no, the NPP will give the patient a list of nearby primary care practices currently accepting new patients, according to a company spokesperson.

Respond to questions asked through patient portals within 24 hours to increase participation and the likelihood you’ll receive incentives for proposed stage 2 meaningful use measures. About 98% of patients who ask questions through York (Neb.) Medical Clinic’s patient portal receive answers on the same day, says Practice Administrator John Tritt. Timely responses are one way the 10-provider family medicine practice boosted portal participation to 1,500 patients.

Keep your practice from hemorrhaging thousands of dollars after a breach of protected health information (PHI) by encrypting your office’s most used devices – computers, copy and fax machines – for little to no money, experts say. Encryption, which is an electronic way of disguising information that is sent to or stored on a computer, can save your practice the time and expense that breaches have cost other providers.

Practices lost nearly $22 million in 2010 for denied post-operative care claims billed with modifier 55(post-operative management only) – mostly because of a lack of coordination with emergency room and out-of-town providers. The fact that a patient has to receive care from another provider out of state, poor communication between the out-of-town and local providers as well as rapid claims billing contribute to an overall 18% denial rate for Medicare claims with modifier 55 in 2010, experts say.

Is the annual wellness visit (AWV) included in the monthly capitation payment for dialysis patients?