The medical landscape is always changing. With the Affordable Care Act, implementation of ICD-10, and penalties for not participating in the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS), practices have a lot of challenges ahead.
To help meet those challenges, orthopaedic surgeon Thomas C. Barber, chair of the AAOS Council on Advocacy, recommends that practices consider expanding ancillary services such as MRI or physical therapy. He also advises that practices should bill for all services rendered and use marketing and enhanced relationships with referring physicians to solidify their business. Finally, astutely observe the trends in your local health care community, such as ACO formation and changes in surgeon/hospital relationships. Barber says that understanding your practice’s economics and local environment will help you see opportunities for merging or collaborating with other practices.