What Physicians Can Do to Prepare For the New Healthcare System

There has been a great deal of discussion about the new health care reform and whether or not it will affect the business of medical malpractice insurance. Although it has been said that there will be no changes in the business of insurance, there will be many changes in the healthcare industry as a whole. Regardless, now is the time for physicians to prepare for these changes. It has been estimated that 32,000,000 people will be added to the healthcare system. With such a dramatic increase in people demanding healthcare, there will be an enormous amount of paperwork to process. Likewise, doctors will most likely need to increase their staff because there will be new patients who will have many questions or need help filling out paperwork. One of the things that physicians can do to prepare is to do a thorough review of their policies and procedures to make sure that there is an established system in place to take care of administrative tasks. The more organized an office is, the easier it will be to process patients' billing and paperwork. Another way that physicians can prepare for changes is to make sure every person on their team is properly trained. Everyone has to be on the same page when it comes to caring for patients. This has always been the case, but now more than ever physicians have to be more mindful and conscious of how they are treating people. Providing quality health care will be the determining factor on whether or not a person continues to seek care from a particular physician. Under the new healthcare reform bill, physicians will be rewarded for high quality, efficient care. There will be increased payments to Medicare Advantage plans that demonstrate care and significantly improve quality. The bottom line is that physicians need to be flexible and adapt to the inevitable changes in healthcare that will take place in the following years. Keep an open mind and always be on the lookout for ways to improve patient care.