Mgma Small Talk

In this episode, we talk with Andrew Swanson, CMPE, MPA, vice president, industry insights and business intelligence, MGMA (www.mgma.com), about the recently announced Medical Practice Excellence Conference, Oct. 18-21 in San Antonio, Texas. Born out of MGMA’s longstanding Annual Conference, the Medical Practice Excellence Conference (www.mgma.com/events) serves as a way to celebrate and spark meaningful conversation among the greater healthcare community – not just MGMA membership. “We’re really excited about it,” Swanson said. “What we’re envisioning for this event is to have all the best and brightest … leaders in medical practices, all around the country, even globally, come and talk about what makes excellence in medical practice. As we’re planning our first, I think it’s started to illuminate not just best practices, but really cutting-edge things that people can learn from and bring back to their medical groups.” Thanks to nThrive for sponsoring this episode. For more information on how nThrive is he

Editor’s note: This episode of the MGMA Insights podcast continues a series focused on COVID-19 and its effects on healthcare professionals and their patients. Keep up with the latest updates by visiting the MGMA COVID-19 Action Center at www.MGMA.com/covid. You can also connect with fellow members and healthcare peers at www.community.mgma.com. In this episode, we’re joined by Dhruv Khullar, MPP and practicing MD at Weill Cornell New York-Presbyterian (www.nyp.org). An assistant professor and regular contributor to such publications as The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, USA Today and The Atlantic, Khullar shares his perspective as a hospitalist in the heart of the U.S. COVID-19 crisis. You can read his New Yorker articles here (www.newyorker.com/contributors/dhruv-khullar) “We’re taking all available precautions that we can, but there’s no doubt that there’s some level of risk. I’m just blown away by the level of professionalism of our nurses and our doctors and respiratory therapis

Editor’s note: This episode of the MGMA Insights podcast continues a series focused on COVID-19 and its effects on healthcare professionals and their patients. Keep up with the latest updates by visiting the MGMA COVID-19 Action Center at www.MGMA.com/covid. You can also connect with fellow members and healthcare peers at www.community.mgma.com. In this episode, we’re joined by Shane Lunsford, MBA, CCT, CST, administrative director; Valerie Krall, MA, LCMHC, director, behavioral medicine; and Allison McCarty, MSW, LCSW, behavioral health care manager – all with Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC, www.mahec.net) in Ashville, North Carolina. The COVID-19 crisis has forced the trio to navigate a quick transition to telehealth and to find new ways to manage the mental health of their patients, as well as their own. “As therapists, we’re not only trying to manage our own emotions around what is happening, but we’re holding the emotions of all of our clients right now that we care for a lot.” – Allison

Editor’s note: This episode of the MGMA Insights podcast continues a series focused on COVID-19 and its effects on healthcare professionals and their patients. Keep up with the latest updates by visiting the MGMA COVID-19 Action Center www.MGMA.com/covid. You can also connect with fellow members and healthcare peers at www.community.mgma.com. In this episode, we’re joined by Kat Olson, RN, BSN, Lutheran Medical Center, Wheat Ridge, Colo. Like so many essential healthcare professionals across the country and globe, Olson’s day-to-day now includes PPE shortages, visitation restrictions and fear of transmission, among other serious concerns. As Olson says, "It’s really hard for the family members, not being able to be there with their loved ones in the hospital. That’s why one of my biggest things is making sure the families are in the loop of what’s going on with the patient. … It really puts the families at ease when you talk to them." Thanks to Midmark for sponsoring this episode. For more on how Midmark

Editor’s note: This episode of the MGMA Insights podcast continues a series focused on COVID-19 and its effects on healthcare professionals and their patients. Keep up with the latest updates by visiting the MGMA COVID-19 Action Center. In this episode, we’re joined by Dan Diamond, MD, author, speaker and coach. Diamond is known as an international disaster physician and was among the first response teams following disasters in New Orleans, Haiti, the Philippines and others. He’s set to help close MGMA20 | The Operations Conference Online April 17 with a keynote session titled, “Unstoppable: Leading Change in a High-Stakes World.” For more information or to register for the online conference, visit www.mgma.com/TOC. To see Diamond’s resources related to burnout, to find his podcast or to browse his content specifically focused on COVID-19, visit www.dandiamondmd.com. You can also connect with fellow MGMA members and healthcare peers at www.community.mgma.com. Thanks to Midmark for sponsoring this episode o

Editor’s note: This episode of the MGMA Insights podcast continues a series focused on COVID-19 and its effects on healthcare professionals and their patients. This crisis has made a challenging role even harder for CEOs and other healthcare executives, but many are rising to the occasion and implementing the necessary steps to maintain operations and -- more importantly -- patient safety. In this episode, we’re joined by Christi R. Siedlecki, MSN, RN, FACMPE, Chief Executive Officer, Grants Pass Clinic and President, Oregon Medical Group Management Association. Siedlecki details the challenges her practice is facing. You can keep up with the latest MGMA coverage by visiting the MGMA COVID-19 Action Center at www.MGMA.com/covid. You can also connect with fellow members and healthcare peers at www.community.mgma.com. Additional resources: www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html www.who.int/emergencies/disease…el-coronavirus-2019 Stay safe and thanks for listening.

Editor’s note: This episode of the MGMA Insights podcast continues a series focused on COVID-19 and its effects on healthcare professionals and their patients. In this episode, we’re joined by Robert Pearl, MD, author, Forbes healthcare contributor, Stanford University Medical and Graduate Business School professor and former CEO of The Permanente Medical Group. Pearl is set to open MGMA20 | The Operations Conference Online April 16 with a keynote session titled, “The Future of American Healthcare: Four Pillars for Transformation.” For more information or to register for the online conference, visit www.mgma.com/TOC. To sign up for Pearl’s monthly newsletter, learn more about his book or browse his latest content, visit www.robertpearlmd.com. MGMA Insights is presented by Decklan McGee, Rob Ketcham and Daniel Williams. Thanks to Biome, Midmark and SR Health by Solutionreach for sponsoring this episode of MGMA Insights.  To learn about how the Biome solution, powered by artificial and augmented intell

In this special episode of the MGMA Insights podcast, we continue our series on COVID-19 and how it’s impacting healthcare professionals and their patients. Experts agree that one of the most promising ways to flatten the curve is through quarantine or isolation. This is especially important with the senior community. To help explain the challenges of keeping seniors safe, we’re joined today by geriatric neuropsychologist Bill Mansbach, who is CEO and founder of Counterpoint Health Services, a multi-disciplinary behavioral healthcare company specializing in geriatrics and dementia care. If you're a healthcare professional and you want to know more information about how COVID-19 might impact geriatric patients, particularly those that are in long term care, email info@thebcat.com. If you’re a family member or loved one and want more information, go to www.enrichvisits.com. You can keep up with the latest MGMA coverage by visiting the MGMA COVID-19 Action Center at MGMA.com/covid. Additional resources: w

In this special episode of the MGMA Insights podcast, we continue our series on COVID-19 and how it’s impacting healthcare professionals and their patients. Experts agree that one of the most promising ways to keep patients and staff safe is through telehealth. To help explain the recent policy changes by CMS, we're joined by Anders Gilberg, Sr. Vice President of Government Affairs with MGMA. Also joining us to discuss the importance and best practices of telehealth and remote health as it relates to COVID-19 are Christian Milaster and Kathy Lentendre with Ingenium Healthcare Advisors. You can keep up with the latest MGMA coverage by visiting the MGMA COVID-19 Action Center at MGMA.com/covid. You can also track the advocacy Anders and his team is doing by typing #MGMAAdvocacy on your social media platforms. And, you can learn more about telehealth education and best practices from Christian and Kathy by following them on LinkedIn: Christian is at linkedin.com/in/christianmilaster Kathy is at linked

In this episode of the MGMA Insights podcast, we continue a series focused on COVID-19 and how it’s impacting healthcare professionals and their patients. Throughout this series, we’ll share conversations with experts regarding challenges such as staffing, communication, emergency preparedness, patient education, advocacy and more. You can keep up with the latest by visiting the MGMA COVID-19 Action Center at MGMA.com/covid. Our guest is Peter Valenzuela, MD, MBA, chief medical officer, Sutter Medical Group of the Redwoods. Here are a handful of highlights from his interview: - (6:54) “We actually have calls every morning at 7 a.m. with the local team, and it includes our managers and our physician leaders. We talk about whether there's any new cases, whether we have any PPE equipment or use that we've had, and then whether there's anybody out on furloughs or out on leave secondary to this COVID-19 situation. I think it's keeping everybody on the same level as far as what we're doing and what our plans

In this special episode of the MGMA Insights podcast, we continue a series focused on COVID-19 and how it’s impacting healthcare professionals and their patients. Throughout this series, we’ll share conversations with experts regarding challenges such as staffing, communication, patient education, advocacy and more. You can keep up with the latest by visiting the MGMA COVID-19 Action Center at MGMA.com/covid. Joining us here is Kelly Ladd, CMPE, CEO, Practice Administrator, Piedmont Internal Medicine. Here are highlights from her interview: * “I just don’t feel like some of these folks understand what’s happening on the frontline of the physician office. They don’t understand that we are not able to get basic protection like surgical masks, gloves are on backorder, and that we cannot do these tests.” * “We don’t have the test, and if we had the test, we can’t perform the test because we don’t have the proper safety equipment to do so. Thus far, I don’t know if I have any huge momentum in getting the atte

Jason Persoff, MD, internal medicine and assistant director of emergency preparedness at University of Colorado Hospital, discusses COVID-19, how to be prepared for emergency response and keeping healthcare workers safe while responding to the pandemic. Audio: "Waltz for Zacaria," Blue Dot Sessions For more Executive View content, visit mgma.com/executiveview. For MGMA's COVID-19 Action Center, visit mgma.com/covid.

In this special episode of the MGMA Insights podcast, we begin a series focused on COVID-19 and how it’s impacting healthcare professionals and their patients. Throughout this series, we’ll share conversations with experts regarding challenges such as staffing, communication, patient education, advocacy and more. Joining us for this episode is Phil Boucher, MD, FAAP, Lincoln Pediatrics Group. For more information from Phil go to lincolnpedsgroup.com/whats-new/coronavirus-tips/ or https://drb.show/coronavirus You can keep up with the latest MGMA coverage by visiting the MGMA COVID-19 Action Center at MGMA.com/covid. Additional resources: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019

In this episode of the MGMA Insights podcast, we’re joined by Joe Ebinger, MD, clinical cardiologist and director of clinical analytics for the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Ebinger is passionate about using data-driven solutions to improve healthcare quality, decrease costs and increase value at a population level. The following are highlights from Ebinger’s interview: • “Data for data’s sake isn’t worth anything. What you want to be able to do is take that and turn it into something that is actionable.” • “The hard part within healthcare systems is there’s no single platform that can handle all aspects of patient care. The EHR doesn’t measure the hemodynamics in our cath lab or run the CT scanners. The EKG machines don’t talk to finance. Registry data is extracted from notes and submitted to external systems. It’s really pulling this all together, which I think is one of the most integral parts of what we do.” • “There’s so much clinically available data that you can look at. Do

In this episode of the MGMA Insights podcast, we’re joined by Heather McGowan, a keynote speaker, author and future-of-work strategist. McGowan is set to close MGMA20 | The Financial Conference with a general session presentation titled “The 4th Industrial Revolution: A New Leadership Imperative.” To see McGowan’s list of recommended reads or to browse any of her articles, visit linkedin.com/in/heathermcgowan. Highlights from McGowan’s interview: • “Only about 27% of people ever work in the field of their undergraduate major, yet we myopically focus on it. And those 27%, I would argue a good percentage of them are faculty. So, most of the people who are telling you about your future are telling you about their own experience, which probably won’t be yours.” • “If you think of all the things you do in a day, how many of them can you point back to because you were good at that in high school? Very small percentage. What we should be focusing on instead is, what are you interested in? What are you curious a

In this episode of the MGMA Insights podcast, we’re joined by Dave Dookeeram and Anne Marie Aponte, of DispatchHealth, a Colorado-based organization offering in-home and on-demand care in 12 states across the country. Dookeeram and Aponte will be co-presenters at MGMA20 | The Financial Conference, delivering a session titled “Driving Financial Results in Consumer-centric, Value-based Arrangements.” Still need to reserve your spot at the conference, March 5-7 in Nashville? Use the code POD20 at registration to save $200 as an exclusive discount for podcast listeners. For more information or to register, visit mgma.com/TFC20. We’ve compiled a handful of highlights from Dookeeram’s and Aponte’s interview for your convenience: • (6:17) “Core to what we do and what you see in a lot of in-home care models is really focusing on our senior population. We certainly have an aging population. We know that nine million seniors are going to be homebound in the next 10 years, and that certainly warrants new solutions t

MGMA Government Affairs' Robert M. Tennant, MA, director of health information technology policy, discusses what he's watching for as medical practices await new interoperability rules and next steps for boosting interoperability, protecting patient data while improving access, and how practice leaders should talk to their EHR vendor about what to expect. For more information, Tennant will present a member-exclusive webinar March 26, "Health IT and Interoperability Final Rules: Implications for Medical Groups." Learn more: https://www.mgma.com/events/health-it-and-interoperability-final-rules-implic. Read the full article for this episode: https://www.mgma.com/resources/government-programs/executive-session-the-road-ahead-for-interoperabi/. Audio: "Street Walk," Paolo Pavan (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) Producer: Chris Harrop, senior editorial manager, MGMA

In this episode of the MGMA Insights podcast, we’re joined by Sara Ross (bit.ly/38CtUmc), a keynote speaker, a leadership strategist and the Chief Vitality Officer at BrainAMPED (bit.ly/2P81UiC). Ross is set to open MGMA20 | The Financial Conference with a general session presentation titled “Welcome to the Energy Revolution.” If you're interested in attending The Financial Conference, we’ve got an exclusive $200 discount for podcast listeners looking to join us March 5-7 in Nashville. For more information or to register, visit mgma.com/TFC20 and use the promo code POD20 to receive your $200 discount. We’ve compiled a handful of highlights from Ross’s interview for your convenience: • (15:37) “I’ve seen leaders create environments where they’ve inadvertently made themselves indispensable. And that I think is a very, very dangerous place for people to be, because that means that they have to be a part of every decision. They have to attend every single meeting. They have to respond to every single email. ”

In this episode of the MGMA Insights podcast, we’re joined by Matt Seefeld, Executive Vice President of MedEvolve. Seefeld has more than 20 years of healthcare management consulting experience and specializes in revenue cycle technology development and process improvement. You can hear Seefeld speak with co-presenter Andrea Vitalich on “Using Analytics to Automate and Streamline Practice Management and Revenue Cycle” at MGMA20 | The Financial Conference, March 5-7 in Nashville. Still need to reserve your spot? Tune in to this week's episode for an exclusive discount for podcast listeners. For more information or to register, visit mgma.com/TFC20. To access Seefeld’s on-demand MGMA webinar on “A.I.-Driven Workflow Automation: Leveraging New Technologies to Boost Revenue Cycle Productivity and Performance,” which is eligible for ACMPE and CEU credit, visit bit.ly/2H6bGxi. To browse the articles, webinars, case studies and other thought leadership content Seefeld referenced in the show, visit MedEvolve.com/

In this episode of the MGMA Insights podcast, we’re joined by Anders Gilberg, Senior Vice President of Government Affairs at MGMA. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., Gilberg and his team recently wrote and released an article (bit.ly/2Up1hVj) on healthcare's outlook for the 2020s, which he discusses in-depth in this week’s show. To sign up for the Washington Connection newsletter or find out how to get involved, visit mgma.com/advocacy. Don’t quite have time to listen to the entire episode? No worries. We’ve compiled an assortment of highlights from Gilberg’s interview for your convenience: • (18:06) “While I personally believe in these predictions … these are not from my personal experience. These are from the experience of the 50,000 MGMA members that can help inform what we do here in Washington.” • (30:34) “It almost sounds overly simplistic. It’s like flying a plane without any data or instruments. But the fact is that that’s what the government has asked our members to do in many respects with these