Attending a medical conference can add value to both your professional abilities as well as your practice. That being said, most of us would probably agree that, on at least one occasion, we have returned from a conference feeling that it did not provide the return we expected. Conferences are an investment of not only your time, but also money for things such as airline tickets, hotel stays, food, registration fees, etc. Therefore, we should expect to come back from a conference with some tangible returns such as new skills, new best practices and/or new strategies to implement.

As the leading cause of vision loss and blindness in the United States, glaucoma is a top concern across the ophthalmology community. Early disease identification, along with proper care management, are essential to limit ocular damage and preserve vision. It is critical for patients who have or who are at risk of getting glaucoma to regularly receive a comprehensive eye exam with dilation. January is Glaucoma Awareness Month, presenting a prime opportunity for ophthalmologists to review their glaucoma care processes and assess whether they are proactive and preventive. Technology can be an asset in this effort. An ophthalmology practice’s electronic medical record (EMR) and practice management (PM) systems, for example, can enable smoother, more reliable care and ensure patients receive the necessary treatment in a timely manner. Here are several ways these systems can elevate a practice’s approach to glaucoma management.

You did it. You survived 2019, which was a tough (but interesting) year, earning a number of “worst year ever for” titles--Worst Year on Record for Data Breaches, Worst Year of the Decade for Job Cuts, Worst Year Ever for Hospital Overcrowding, and the list goes on. Luckily for us, the ultimate title of “Worst Year in Human History to Be Alive” actually belongs to the year 536 CE, and for a number of horrible reasons that we won’t go into detail about in this blog article.

Thanksgiving is upon us once more… and you probably have no idea how much danger we are all in.

Physician burnout is turning out to be one of those problems that never seems to go away. According to the Physicians Foundation’s 2018 Survey of America’s Physicians, medical professionals across the country continue to suffer the negative emotional and psychological effects of issues such as low morale, high pessimism (especially regarding the future of healthcare) and job dissatisfaction. Nearly 78 percent of physicians surveyed declared feelings of burnout “sometimes/often/always.” Unfortunately, many of America’s healthcare providers are overextended, overworked and struggling to maintain compliance while bogged down by an ever-increasing amount of required paperwork.

Halloween is just around the corner, and October started out with some pretty scary stuff. 2019 has already been a particularly terrifying year when it comes to ransomware attacks. Depending on how long you have been following this blog, you may recall the so-called “Ransomware Explosion” of 2016. At that time, five healthcare organizations were hit by ransomware attacks in a single month and the FBI reported a record 321 attacks in a period of only nine months, totaling $57 million in ransom payments.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid services (CMS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) jointly released the official ICD-10 code changes for fiscal year (FY) 2020. This is the fourth such update to occur since ICD-10 was first officially implemented in the U.S. back in October of 2015. These code changes will go into immediate effect as of Tuesday, October 1, 2019. However, it is important to note that any claims with earlier service dates (on or before September 30, 2019) must continue to use the codes from FY2019.

In today's consumer-driven healthcare marketplace, specialty practices must do more than just treat patients. By promoting practice expertise in the community, setting yourself apart from competitors and clearly articulating how well you meet customer needs, you can create a marketing strategy that allows your practice to reach new heights.