AADA Practice Management Center – Designed to help you run a safe and efficient practice

By Faiza Wasif, Associate Director, Practice Management, February 1, 2023

Each month, DermWorld tackles issues “in practice” for dermatologists.

Let’s paint a picture of the “perfect” dermatology practice. What does it look like? Is there a hustle and bustle of patients in and out constantly? Are there lots of administrative staff members? And, how about dermatologists? Is HR in-house or outsourced? Who does the billing? So many details, right? And all those details can look different from practice to practice due to many factors and motivations. But what shouldn’t vary in the “perfect” practice is that it is safe, offers high-quality patient care, and its operations are efficient. How that is achieved may differ from one practice to another, but there are some best practices that can be applied universally. The AADA Practice Management Center (PMC) offers practical tips and step-by-step guidance for the following key areas:

Compliance

Compliance means adhering to the legal, professional, and ethical standards established by various regulatory bodies in health care. For dermatology these include:

• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

• Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)

• Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) Act

• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

• iPLEDGE

You can also find guidance on workplace safety, scope of practice, and truth in advertising laws. Staying compliant not only ensures the delivery of optimal care, but also saves you from unwanted audits and hefty fines. Learn more at our Compliance Resource Center.

Insurance and drugs

One of the top administrative burdens facing practices is prior authorizations, which contribute to delay in care, patient harm, and practice headaches. In addition, keeping up with drug shortages, knowing you are following FDA rules for in-office compounding, and information about step therapy are critically important to practice success and efficiency. The PMC can help reduce some of these burdens with the following resources:

• Prior authorization letter generator for denials which includes more than 50 drugs and dozens of diagnoses

• Updates on private payer issues and an interactive private payer appeal letter tool

• Tips on setting up prior authorization workflows

• Resources to help patients get the medications they need

While we cannot control what hurdle insurers will put up, we can help ensure you have the information you need to keep up with those challenges and useful tools to help alleviate the related burden. Learn more at our Insurance and Drugs Resource Center.

Information technology and teledermatology

If you have been trying to avoid adopting technology into your practice, it has become increasingly difficult to maintain a paper-only practice. To be successful in this day and age, it’s nearly impossible to operate a practice without an electronic health record (EHR) and/or other digital technologies. This adoption and/or expansion does not have to be daunting if you have the right information to support your efforts. The PMC includes easy-to-navigate resources to help you with your EHR, reduce documentation burdens, and streamline operations. Learn more about our resources on EHR and health tech.

And, most importantly in this challenging era of delivering safe and effective health care during the pandemic, digital technologies allow you to continue to serve your patients via telemedicine. The PMC offers teledermatology support on how to get started, develop practical workflows, train staff, submit correctly for reimbursement, and identify appropriate vendors for your practice needs. You can also review the Academy’s Teledermatology Standards, which expand upon the appropriate use of telemedicine and create a core set of standards for the Academy to advocate for responsible telemedicine platform technology and telehealth reimbursement. Learn more about our resources on teledermatology.

Coding and reimbursement

One very important aspect of a successful practice is maintaining healthy accounts receivable. This includes timely and accurate claim submission which results in timely reimbursement and staves off unwarranted claim audits. Our robust Coding Resource Center within the PMC offers practical tips on common dermatologic coding scenarios, which includes typical coding examples to report E/M services, procedures, and medical documentation requirement tips. The website also offers an E/M coding tool, coding quizzes, and coding webinars to help you engage with the content in an interactive manner. To keep up with the latest information about CPT and diagnostic coding, as well as Medicare reimbursement issues in dermatology, members can access Derm Coding Consult at staging.aad.org/dcc. Some would argue that coding and reimbursement is the “backbone” of an optimally functioning practice, so take advantage of these free resources to strengthen your office’s backbone!

Learn more at staging.aad.org/coding.

Managing your practice

To “manage” a practice, there are a whole host of operations that need to be addressed which range from staffing to optimization and everything in between. Here there aren’t necessarily “standards” or “regulations” that dictate how to conduct day-to-day business, but there certainly are some best practices and tried-and-true tips. As one of the largest sections of the PMC, the “Managing Your Practice” content area covers the following:

• Office optimization

• Staffing and human resources (HR)

• Resources to help you evaluate what practice model fits your needs, as well as guidance on selling a practice

• Combatting physician and staff burnout

• Money-saving solutions and vendors

• Access to the dermatology job board

• Direct link to all practice management-related products and webinars

There is a wealth of information organized in an easy-to-understand and implement manner that can help address some of the common operations-related pain points.

In addition to what is highlighted above, the PMC also includes the COVID-19 Resource Center, and guidance on successfully reporting for the CMS Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) program.

All in all, running a safe and efficient dermatology practice is what you want and what patients expect, so learn what it takes to make that happen by reviewing this free member content available in the PMC. If you are feeling overwhelmed about where to start, consider taking one of our short, interactive “check-up” quizzes, on HIPAA, OSHA, CLIA, workplace safety, office optimization, staffing, or financial health to quickly identify areas of strength and those that need improvement. Be sure to keep visiting the PMC on a regular basis as we add new and exciting information to this space as we learn what our members need and value!

Additional DermWorld Resources