Your time as a medical practice manager is precious. You want - and need - to be spending your effort making life better for your staff, your providers, and your patients. Your daily goal is to smooth the way towards better medical care and increasing the profitability of your practice. So if your goal is to move forward, why live in the technological past?

The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) is a landmark legislation that alters how Medicare reimburses physicians. The ultimate goal of MACRA is to navigate away from the traditional fee-for-a-service model, to a quality-based reimbursement model.

The initial rule, proposed in 2015, was met with criticism from much of the medical community for its stringent requirements and hasty preparation period. However, the final ruling, released October 14, 2016, has expanded flexibility and exemptions.

Healthcare is staring down the barrel of the largest changes to the industry since Medicare was introduced by Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965. The recently proposed Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) has sweeping implications for the way healthcare providers are paid for their services. The ultimate goal of MACRA is to navigate away from the traditional fee-for-a-service model, to a quality-based reimbursement model.

Although MACRA is sure to be an initial headache for clinicians, medical practices need to understand and prepare for the new legislation or suffer significant financial penalties.

Let’s break it down.

• So, what is MACRA? 
• Am I Eligible? If so, what track is right for me? 
• How am I reimbursed? 
• When do I start implementing MACRA? 
• What will MACRA cost me? 
• Who will know my score? 
• What are the actions I can take to prepare? 

Running a profitable medical practice is is more challenging than it has ever been.  Driven by new regulations like the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the Medicare and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA), administrators have to spend more of their time dealing with new tools, reporting requirements and practice guidelines that take away from the time they would otherwise spend focused on running the business of the practice.

Since those regulatory burdens are unlikely to go away anytime in the foreseeable future, practices have to develop new disciplines to ensure they can not only continue to grow, but grow profitably as well.

Here are 6 tips to do just that: 

Text messaging is rampant in hospitals. Instead of relying on pagers, clinical staff are now using their mobile devices to communicate in real-time. As time is of the essence in patient care, this makes sense. Nurses are frustrated with delays from third-party answering services. Doctors are tired of roundabout communication channels to give a simple, one-word approval. Unfortunately, text messaging in hospitals is not without risks.

Here are the 5 biggest risks of text messaging in hospitals: