A bi-weekly newsletter from your physician organization
Friday, May 6, 2022
Team-based care training available to members
The Physician Alliance has been approved by the Michigan Institute for Care Management and Transformation (MICMT) to provide the MICMT Introduction to Team-Based Care course training. This course is required to bill care management/care coordination codes.

Introduction to Team-Based Care
June 8-9, 2022 8-11am
Live virtual - attendance is required on both days for credit
Click here for more information and to register.

The Introduction to Team-Based Care course helps the learner better understand how to work in a multidisciplinary care team and in collaboration with the patient. Introduction to Team-Based Care course will include:
  • Why, what, who and how: Team-Based Care
  • Care management process
  • Outcomes and Triple AIM
  • Billing applications

This particular course session is open to and free only for Patient-Centered Medical Home practices participating in the Physician Group Incentive Program through TPA. Attendance is limited!

If you have questions or require accommodations to fully participate in this meeting, please contact micmt-requests@med.umich.edu.
Innovative solutions available to support practice needs
Are you protected from cyber breaches or medical practice claims? Do you have the most up-to-date telecommunication services in your practice? Is your retirement plan ready for you? Are late patient payments hampering your practice revenue stream?

Check out The Physician Alliance's Affiliate Partners program for assistance with these answers and MORE! These cost-effective, innovative solutions help reduce business overhead costs and optimize business performance for practices. The array of available options covers services from clinical to business to meet the comprehensive needs of medical practices. Current categories include:

Cyber Liability Insurance
Legal Services
Medical Answering Service
Medical Debt Collection
Medical Malpractice Insurance
Mortgage & Banking Services
Office Supplies & Solutions
Payroll/HR Services
Print and Office Solutions
Telephone Solutions and Services
Vaccine Purchasing Program
Wealth Management
Take action to protect physician payments, access to care
Many healthcare policies were created or expanded during the Covid-19 pandemic to help make healthcare more accessible to Americans. Telehealth services, increased physician payments and more affordable access to care were a few of these healthcare areas positively affected by these policies.

Now several of these same policies are set to expire by the end of 2022 and can only continue with Congress passing legislation. Physicians can help ensure these benefits continue by asking your elected representative to pass legislation for these important issues. The American College of Physicians created an easy action alert for physicians (and others) to contact legislators on these critical issues:

  • Address harmful Medicare payment cuts that physicians will face as a result of complex budgetary rules and systemic flaws within the physician fee schedule. Many physicians are still struggling with the financial challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Pass H.R. 369, the Health Care Affordability Act of 2021, which would increase the benefits of the premium tax credits under the Affordable Care Act across all income levels and permanently expand eligibility for premium tax credits to people with incomes above 400 percent of the federal poverty level.
  • Extend current telehealth flexibility for at least two years beyond the declared public health emergency. The CONNECT for Health Act (H.R. 2903/S. 1512) and the Telehealth Extension Act of 2021 (H.R. 6202/S. 3593) would remove arbitrary restrictions on where a patient must be located to utilize telehealth services; enable patients to continue to receive telehealth services in their homes; ensure federally qualified health centers and rural health centers can furnish telehealth services.

Click here for more information on these issues and to contact your legislators (note: once you input your address in the form, it will automatically find your representative's contact information.).
Tips to re-engage your workforce
You’ve probably been hearing about the Great Resignation for months now. Even if a practice is not dealing directly with increased turnover, employees know they have options. But what if you could keep current employees engaged and inspire loyalty, and make it easier to attract and hire those that are looking for that next best thing?

Below are a few ideas for both prioritizing current employees and making it easier to attract new ones:
  1. Invite employees to be co-creators of the organization. Empower them to make decisions about how things are done and where the organization is going. People feel more a part of something when they see themselves in it. They’re more engaged when their decisions bring about real change.
  2. Reward success. In fact, reward anything you want to see more of. Whether large or small, the rewards must be meaningful. Ideally, figure out what type of reward speaks to each employee. For some, acknowledgment in a company meeting will make their heart sing. For others, receiving a token of your appreciation, such as a coffee gift card, will be more meaningful.
  3. Conduct “stay interviews.” Don’t wait until people are leaving to investigate what could have inclined them to stay. Talk to employees now about what’s going well, what pain points they’re experiencing, and what could be done to take the relationship to the next level. Stay interviews enable you to address problems and unfulfilled wishes before they drive people out the door.

Source: DynamicHR, a TPA Affiliate Partner, is a Michigan-based single source provider of payroll processing, human resource management, workers compensation and medical benefits offerings. Learn more about this partner.
The latest healthcare news
Ways you can save
Featured Affiliate Partner: MEDICAL DEBT COLLECTIONS: Transworld Systems (TSI) provides diplomatic past due accounts and debt collections services for our member practices at exclusive pricing. TSI offers automated solutions, phone collections and more to help practices recover past due patient accounts and reduce slow pay concerns. TSI programs can also be built into a multitude of medical billing systems.

Learn more about this partner.