MedMan is pleased to announce the addition of Brian McLaughlin to the MedMan team as the administrator for our newest managed practice, Krueger & Lenox Oral Maxillofacial Surgery in Bend. Brian comes to us from a large independent multispecialty practice where he was the clinic manager for oncology, hematology, chemotherapy, pulmonology and sleep medicine. Previously he was the supervisor of clinic operations of the behavioral health clinics for St. Charles Health System. Brian has an interest in, and extensive experience with, data analytics and various data analytic platforms. Prior to entering the management side of healthcare, Brian started his career as a licensed counselor. Brian h

Oddly, I was actually uplifted by a recent pilgrimage I made to our nation’s capital. I went there to advocate for improving the lives of independent physicians – to do that by reducing regulations and unfair competition. I wanted to test the anti-regulatory mood of our current administrative and legislative branches. And I found an audience understanding and sympathetic to the plight of private physicians. Expecting divisiveness, I found instead respect for the innovations and quality improvement coming from physician-lead groups. Expect in the future a better, fairer environment in which to practice. Relief will come, not from the strategies of repeal-and-replace, but from reduced adm

While the spotlight has primarily been focused on what to do about the Affordable Care Act, a subtle nod from the new administration was given in moving the MACRA law right along. Right at the end of June, CMS published the CY 2018 Updates to the Quality Payment Program proposed rule. When MACRA first passed, it was done so with a 91% bipartisan support in the House of Representatives. Even with the necessary support from both sides, there has been a lot of interest in seeing what the Trump administration’s take would be on the healthcare law. This proposed rule shows that while MACRA will continue on, we will see areas in which they will attempt to ease the administrative burden and timelin

The “fresh eyes” of a newcomer are an invaluable asset to an organization’s improvement strategy. While this informal input is valuable, there are also structured opportunities to gain similar perspective and results. When we are the “newbie” in a medical practice, it’s often easier to see the challenges and pitfalls than it is after we are entrenched and have grown used to the idiosyncrasies of the operation. Losing that fresh perspective often means staff and leadership are challenged to identify old, worn out processes and practices. A structured assessment of your practice – whether conducted using a best-practice checklist, or an external agency – can help you regain that fresh perspect

So much is being written about physician burnout, and so often authors are needing to qualify the statement with the notion that burnout is not a “personal failing”. True, and my response to that is to reframe the very essence of the subject… it is “depletion” – this is the state of physical and emotional exhaustion that leads to the cynicism and feeling you are not accomplishing anything worthwhile. In the April 2017 Issue of HealthLeaders we are reminded that the “one thing burned-out physicians do is leave the practice.” Why is it so much easier to just leave and start new? Part of the answer is lack of hope that anything can and will change. And this is the challenge of leadership – to l