Green Works: Recycling Ink and Toner Cartridges

Every year in the U.S., more than 300 million used ink and toner cartridges from printers, copiers and fax machines are tossed into the trash, destined for a landfill. Because these cartridges are made of plastic, they require petroleum to produce and can take up to 1,000 years to decompose. It’s estimated that fewer than half of all used cartridges are currently being recycled. Would you like to do your part to put a dent in these shocking figures?

It takes only a small amount of effort to create and follow a procedure in your office to ensure that all ink and toner cartridges are recycled. Read the rest of this entry »

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Reminding Patients to Use Year-End Benefits

Many companies now include a Flexible Spending Account option (FSA) in their employee benefits packages. These accounts allow individuals to set aside pre-tax dollars that they can use throughout the year for medical expenses not covered by their insurance plans such as deductibles, co-pays, vision and dental care, prescription drugs and so forth.

Unlike Health Savings Accounts, FSA plans are in the “use it or lose it” category. Read the rest of this entry »

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Using E-mail to Communicate with Patients

It’s almost impossible to imagine conducting business today without having access to e-mail. It only takes a computer glitch or brief power outage to be reminded how dependent we’ve all become on the Internet, and e-mail specifically. And yet, healthcare providers have been slow to jump on the bandwagon when it comes to communicating with patients electronically. Some fear becoming so inundated with e-mail that they’d never leave their desk again. Others worry Read the rest of this entry »

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When Personality, Not Performance, Is the Problem

In a perfect world, every employee in your practice would be not only skilled, competent and confident, but also charismatic, cheerful and an exemplary team player. Sadly, we do not live in that perfect world. From time to time, most offices struggle with an employee who is good at their job but lacking in the personality department. Here are just a few of the traits that can cause problems in a medical office. Read the rest of this entry »

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Creating Meaningful Mission, Vision and Values Statements

Developing mission, vision and values statements for your practice is about more than making up a few sentences so you’ll have something pithy to put on your website and hang in little frames around the office. The process of creating these three statements is a great exercise for your entire team to do together. It will focus attention on the core of what your practice offers, what the organization stands for, and what you hope to achieve moving forward. Let’s explore the three statements: Read the rest of this entry »

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Beyond HIPAA: Simple Ways to Protect Patient Privacy

Thanks to HIPAA, all practices now have policies, procedures and systems in place to protect patient privacy. Because consumers have become sensitive to this issue, it’s good public relations to not only comply with the required privacy regulations, but also to take steps that make the fact that you’re doing so obvious. Here are eight simple steps you can take that will make it apparent to your patients that you take protecting their personal privacy and health information seriously. Read the rest of this entry »

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