Week
1 Discussion HSA 546: Physician’s Practice Management: “Group Medical
Practices in the U.S. “
According
to the textbook, a comparison of several countries with different levels of
income shows that quality of healthcare and life expectancy among these nations
are similar. However, the cost of care in the U.S. is the highest among the
nations in the comparison. Analyze the main specific factors that affect the
cost of healthcare services in the U.S. and recommend one (1) way that
physician practices can help reduce the overall cost of healthcare services in
the U.S. Provide a rationale for your response.
Assess
the key different types of physician practices and evaluate three (3)
administrative challenges that practice administrators face in providing
quality services to the communities they serve. Support your analysis with
specific examples.
Week 2 Discussion HSA 546:
Physician’s Practice Management:
“Challenges for Group Practice Administrators and Recruitment Strategy for
Practice Managers”
Predict two (2) external
and / or internal challenges facing today’s medical group practice
administrators. Compose a strategy to manage the challenges in question.
Justify your response.
Imagine that
you work for a medium-sized healthcare organization and the organization is
hiring a medical practice manager.Determine three areas of competency that you
think are most important to effectively manage a medical group practice. Next,
suggest a recruitment strategy that includes the method you would use to
advertise the position and the information you would include in the job posting
to attract qualified candidates. Justify your response.
Week 3 Discussion HSA 546: Physician’s Practice Management:”Aspects of Human Resources
Management and Marketing Strategies” Please respond to the following:
Appraise
the key functions of Human Resources Management (HRM) and state your opinion as
to whether or not HRM should be part of the strategic planning process for
medical group practices. Support your rationale with specific examples.
Evaluate
the importance of effective marketing for medical practices. Recommend three
specific factors that a practice administrator should consider when creating a
marketing plan for a medical group practice. Justify recommendations.
Week 4 Discussion HSA 546: Physician’s Practice Management:”Medical
Group Practices and Public Health” Please respond to the following:
Imagine a life-threatening event or a natural disaster in your
community such as a severe weather event, terrorist attack, or other type of
public health emergency. Propose an overall strategy that medical providers and
public health agencies should include in the response plan that combines the
efforts of both groups. Determine how these groups could work collaboratively
to effectively manage this emergency.
Compare, and contrast the model for an accountable care organization
to another group practice model. State your opinion as to which model you think
is more effective at reducing the cost of healthcare services while improving
the quality of care. Justify your decision.
Week
5 Discussion HSA 546: Physician’s Practice Management:”Financial Planning
for Medical Group Practices Please respond to the following:
Analyze
the fundamental financial and budgeting responsibilities of a group practice
manager. Suggest the most important competency that a practice manager must
demonstrate in order to effectively manage the practice’s financial accounts.
Support your rationale.
Compare
and contrast the main different types of budgets that practice managers use. As
a practice manager, determine two types of budgets that you think would be most
effective for managing the practice’s income and expenses. Justify your
response.
In addition to the above question, please
name 3 criteria you would use and explain why in at least 2 paragraphs,
when hiring a manager for a health care practice that you own
Week
6 Discussion HSA 546: Physician’s Practice Management:”Improving Practice
Management through Information Technology” Please respond to the
following:
Imagine
you areresponsible for purchasing a new health information or practice
management system for a medical practice. Prioritize three (3) system functions
or capabilities that would be most important to when making this purchase.
Support your decision.
Assess
the process of benchmarking as a function of practice management. Suggest one
financial and one (1) operational benchmark that a practice manager could use
to improve business outcomes and the quality of patient care. Support your
recommendations with at least one (1) real-world example.
Week
7 Discussion HSA 546: Physician’s Practice Management:”Legal Liability in
Medical Practice Management” Please respond to the following:
According,
to the text, physicians can be held professionally liable for issues
surrounding their relationships with patients, staff, and other providers.
Select two (2) areas of professional liability that you think pose the most
serious legal threat for a physician in a medical practice. Provide a rationale
for your selection.
Compare,
and contrast the main requirements of the Stark Law and the Federal
Anti-Kickback Statute. Next, analyze the main reasons why it is important for
practice administrators to understand how these laws affect the operations of
the medical practice. Support analysis with at least one (1) real-world
example.
Week 8 Discussion HSA 546: Physician’s
Practice Management:”Applying Labor and Employment Laws to Medical
Practices” Please respond to the following:
Employers sometimes violate employment
laws because they lack knowledge and understanding of how these laws apply to
their workplace. Determine two (2) major employment laws which a practice
manager could unintentionally violate. Next, recommend the main steps that the
manager should take to avoid the risk of breaking those laws.
According to the text,
there are three (3) basic models of physician compensation. Compare and
contrast compensation major compensation models i.e. Individualistic,
Team-Oriented, and Middle-Ground and suggest which model would be most
effective in creating a pay structure that would attract and retain physicians
who would make the practice successful. Justify your recommendation
It
has been stated that sometimes employers violate laws due to lack of knowledge,
do you think that is a worthwhile argument?
Can that hold up in a legal case as a reason?
Week
9 Discussion HSA 546: Physician’s Practice Management:”Designing and
Implementing an Effective Compliance Plan” Please respond to the
following:
The
Office of Inspector General (OIG) has established a set of guidelines (e.g.,
auditing, monitoring, internal controls, sampling, due diligence, and standards
of organizational and employee behavior, etc. Page 508 of the textbook) that
physician practices should follow when creating a compliance plan. State an
opinion as to which OIG guideline would be the single most significant aspect
of a compliance plan for a small practice. Provide a rationale for your
response.
According
the text, the fundamental purpose of a compliance plan is to create an
organizational culture that promotes the prevention, identification, and
resolution of issues associated with risk. Suggest two (2) main aspects of a
management strategy necessary to create this type of culture. Support your
recommendations with at least one (1) real-world example.
In
your own words, please explain what we mean by an organizational compliance
plan and what effect it can have on the overall management of a
practice?
Week
10 Discussion HSA 546: Physician’s Practice Management: “Legal Risks and
Operational Benchmarking” Please respond to the following:
Use
Internet and / or Strayer Learning Resource Center to research articles (no
older than five [5] years) on using technology to prevent
medical malpractices. Next, discuss the overall manner in which using
technology can help prevent malpractices. Speculate on the most damaging
consequences of a malpractice case on a physician practice. Support your
rationale.
Imagine
that you are the manager of a multi-specialty medical practice that is opening
a new office and that you are involved in planning the layout and design of the
new office. Determine three (3) functional areas that you think should be given
priority with regard to the amount of space needed for efficient operations and
patient flow in the new office. Justify your response.
Proper
record keeping is essential in preventing malpractice cases for physicians and
health care institutions. With the advent of electronic medical
records, it should be so much easier now to have better patient
records. What are your thoughts on this? How does that relate to
malpractice issues practices may possibly face?
Week
11 Discussion HSA 546: Physician’s Practice Management: “Putting it intopractice” Please
respond to the following:
Specify
two (2) concepts learned from Physician’s Practice Management that you think
would be the most important for the success of a physician practice. Support
your rationale.
In
your opinion, determine the most What is challenging aspect of a physician’s
role as the administrator of a group practice? Justify your response.
