The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act The SECURE Act changed the landscape for retirement and savings planning. As an accountant to physicians and their medical practices, here are eight important reminders about this new law. You can’t use contributions made in 2020 but applied to 2019 for any SECURE Act provisions that apply to contributions made after December 31, 2019. If you inherit an IRA, you now
The Physician Practice World is Full of Uncertainties We can’t keep up with the regulations, audits, reimbursement changes, meaningful use stages, and so much more, so why would we want to plan? While it is true that there are uncertainties in our world, you can only operate in a reactive mode if you don’t take time for strategic planning. In this environment, reaction equals crisis, which means potentially wrong decisions
Physician Practice and New Overtime Rules On September 24, 2019, the Department of Labor issued its final ruling to increase the minimum salary threshold for executive, administrative and professional exemptions from $455 per week ($23,660 annually) to $684 per week ($35,568 annually). The new rule goes into effect January 1, 2020. The Department of Labor (Department) updated and revised the regulations issued under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to
Building a Financially Healthy Physician Practice As changes continue to occur in the healthcare industry, physicians are taking a hard look at the numbers of a medical practice and gauging whether the year at hand will be economically successful. The ability to analyze the productivity of a physician practice requires accurate and timely information. However, with the focus of most physician practices on delivering quality health care, the financial side
Physician Practices: Here’s what to expect in 2020 CMS (Medicare) issued its Final Rule – This final rule updates payment policies, payment rates, and other provisions for services furnished under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) on or after Jan. 1, 2020. Here’s a sneak peek at a few of the changes that physician practices can expect in 2020: Coding There are 273 additions to ICD 10 CM, 21 deletions,
Communicating with Physician Office Employees It is important for a physician office manager in a healthcare organization to make sure that staff members have a solid understanding of what is being conveyed to them. In such a regulated market, it remains vital all team members are on the same page and possess the same level of understanding. However, when it comes to management, busy physician office managers aren’t always conscious of
Form 1099-MISC With the close of the year, this is a simple reminder that physician medical practices must issue and file with the IRS Form 1099-MISC to each person to whom was paid during the year at least $600 in: Rents Services performed by someone who is not your employee. Payments to an attorney The 1099-MISC must be sent to any person or vendor that does not file their tax
Tax reform has had a significant impact on the tax deductions you can now claim for business entertainment and meals. The new tax law also eliminated business deductions for entertainment. As a result, no deduction is allowed with respect to: An activity generally considered to be entertainment, amusement or recreation; Membership dues with respect to any club organized for business, pleasure, recreation or other social purposes; or A facility or portion
Update from the Medical Group Management Association: Performance Feedback If your group practice submitted 2018 Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) data, you can now view performance feedback, final scores, and 2020 payment adjustments by logging into the Quality Payment Program (QPP) website. MIPS participants that feel there is an error in their 2020 payment adjustment may submit a “targeted review” request by Sept. 30. More information on the targeted
The Way We Talk About Stress Although we are often stressed, overwhelmed, discouraged or worried about outcomes at work we rarely categorize them as mental health concerns. Did you know that the very words used to describe our workplace experiences are the same ones used to define common challenges such as anxiety and depression? While “stress” is often a blanketed expression, it has physical (how we behave), emotional (how we
PECOS Release 7.37 was implemented On June 30, 2019, PECOS Release 7.37 was implemented. This release was prescheduled and designed to bring efficiencies to Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) and providers who use PECOS. While many aspects of the release were successful, a small component associated to changes made to existing and new group reassignments, was found to be problematic post-implementation. As a result, data flows from PECOS to the Multi-Carrier System (MCS)
I sometimes get asked is there a physician absenteeism policy I like. Here is one sample policy but you have to be willing to enforce it for it to be effective. You can insert your own lines of authority/notification. Non-Scheduled Time Off (Call Offs) All employees should notify their direct supervisor (Operations Manager, Surgery Center Clinical Manager, or CEO) when taking a non-scheduled day off (less than 24 hour notice from scheduled