Self Practice Exam
Practice Self-Appraisal Quiz
Check to see if your practice is healthy. Take a few minutes and answer the following questions. If you find there are areas in your practice that need attention, please feel free to call us today!
PRACTICE SELF-APPRAISAL QUIZ
- Is the reason for each visit and the phone number of each patient entered into your appointment book?
- Does your staff know exactly how many units you require for each patient?
- Do you block out emergency time?
- Are patient's "information" checked at the time of visit to see if they are correct?
- Do you use a "new patient information form" which specifically asks the name of the party responsible for payments?
- Do you know how many patients you saw in the office last month?
- Do you know how many patients you saw last year?
- Do you know how many new patients you saw last month?
- Do you know how many new patients you saw last year?
- Are your referral letters current?
- Do you have a stock letter for dismissing undesirable patients from your practice?
- Are you currently using RVUs for all commonly performed procedures?
- Do you automatically review your fee each year?
- Are fee schedules available at your receptionist's desk and at the insurance department?
- Are all services defined on your charge slip?
- Does each patient receive a charge slip at the time of treatment with instructions to take it to your collections/billing clerk?
- Are your statements itemized so that patients can understand them?
- Do you print your statements in-house?
- Are you billing on a weekly basis?
- Are you using the most current version of your billing software?
- Are your staff bonded?
- Can your employees effectively handle all billing complaints?
- Do you have a written collections policy?
- Do you have a office policy brochure that explains your payment requirements and, among other things, when you are in the office, what to do in an emergency, and how insurance reimbursements are handled?
- Are your collection procedures rigidly followed?
- Are Co-Pays collected at the time of visit?
- Does your receptionist know the outstanding balance of every patient coming in each day?
- Does your staff in a tactful and courteous way ask for payment before the patient leaves your office?
- Do you have a sign in your office that says "All fees are expected to be paid at the time of visit" ?
- Do you know how much money is collected at the time of visit and how much is mailed in?
- Does your billing system have a method of tagging over due accounts?
- Do you use a telephone reminder system in your collection policy?
- Do you have a policy for patients who say "I'm having trouble paying the bill"?
- Do you use a collection agency or attorney for accounts past 90 days?
- Are you more than three days behind in the processing of insurance forms?
- Are you using the most up-to-date ICD-9 & CPT codes?
- Do you keep an insurance log detailing co-pays, fee schedules and non-covered services for each insurance plan?
- Do you follow-up on every insurance claim that is not timely paid?
- Do you review your insurance contracts every year?
- If you are a group practice are you incorporated?
- Do you project your production for the next 12 months at least twice a year?
- Do you know what your accounts receivable amount is at the end of each month?
- Do you get a monthly aging of accounts?
- Do you actually review this aging when you receive it?
- Do you know the definition of collection ratio or collection percentage?
- At the close of each month, are you given the collection percentage for the last month?
- Do you know what you collection percentage was for each of the last 12 months?
- Is your net collection percentage over 90%?
- Do you balance your daily receipts at the end of every day with the daily deposits?
- Do you know the amount of monthly adjustments being made for each third party payer?
- Do you use an EMR system (Electronic Medical Records)?
- Is your system HIPAA Compliant?
- Do you have a written HIPAA compliant policy?
- If you use lateral files, are your file folders tabbed in the front?
- Are the files color-coded alphabetically?
- Have you cleaned out your patient files within the last two years?
- Do you have a personnel policy manual that contains complete job descrip tions?
- Do you have staff meetings at least once a month?
- Do you review all staff salaries at least once a year?
- Do your employees get written evaluation reports that are discussed with them during annual review?
- Before hiring new employees, do you call previous employers for references?
- Do you provide benefits to your staff (health,life, retirement,etc)?
- Does each employee get a written breakdown annually of all benefits including retirement, vacations, sick leave, social security allocations, etc.?
- Do you use an outside payroll service?
- Do you keep an accurate daily record of all employee absences and lateness?
- Do you know what your overhead percentage has been for the last 12 months?
- Do you know your overhead percentage for your office space?
- Do you know your overhead percentage for Medical Supplies, Lab fees, Malpractice insurance, Staff salaries, etc.?
- Do you know how your overhead percentage compares with that of other practices within your specialty?
- Do you get a monthly profit and loss statement from your accountant?
- Do you carefully review each item on your profit and loss statement at least once a year?
- Do you use a check writing software system?
- Do you have complete faith in your accountant?
- Do you ever spot-check and test-audit for possible embezzlement?
- Do you keep a log on supply needs?
- Do you comparison shop for supplies and equipment?
- Is your OSHA manual up-to-date?
- Is your MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) up-to-date?
- Have all "new" employees received OSHA & HIPAA training?
- Do you conduct OSHA training for all staff every year?
- Has your staff been HIPAA trained?
- Is your computer system secure under HIPAA regulations?
- Do you have a billing compliance manual?
- Is it being used?