Practice Management Articles

Administration/HR Tips on Selecting a Reputable Billing Company  Customer Service: The Real Competitive Edge  Managed Care Audit Tips and Checklist  Part-Time Work and Job Sharing  Motivating your Employees Keeping Negativity In the Workplace At Bay	Billing How Your State Insurance Commissioner Can Help  Going For the Gold Financial Management Basics Medicare Publishes Billing Edits to Reduce Payment Errors
Clinical Distribution of Sample Medications in the Practice Setting Health Care Quality Standards	Coding ICD-10 Where is it? When is it?  Close "E"ncounters of the Third Kind Incorrect use of Modifer 25 & 59 The Facts About Consultations"What You Need To Know"  Understanding Physician Supervision Levels Inpatient vs. Critical Care Consult Inpatient vs. Critical Care Consult
Collections Timely Tips for Collections  Finance Charges & Sending a Patient to Collection Making Collection Calls the Right Way Letter to the Editor Patient Collections: Retaining Patients, Even When They Owe	Legal & Compliance Reimbursement. Compliance. Overpayments. Auditing The Watchful Eye of the Government – Understanding The Office of Inspector General Work plan Are You "STILL" in Compliance With the "Hazard Communication Standard"? What You Don’t Know About OSHA Can Hurt You New Red Flag Rules to Target Identity Theft New Standards, Versions and Code Set for Electronic Transactions Begin January 2012. Will You Be Ready? Do The New Red Flag Rules Apply to Your Practice? What you need to know about this fast-approaching deadline
Management E-Prescribing plus PQRI could mean 5.5 percent Medicare pay boost in '09 "E" and Earn: Electronic Prescribing Goes Live in '09 Physician Marketing: Educating Current and Potential Patients PMI Certified Professional Shares Tips for Successful Office Management	Miscellaneous Did I Hear What I Think You Said?  Managing When the Stress Doesn't Go Away What Am I, A Machine? Part 1
Patient Relations CUSTOMER SERVICE: The Other Medical Specialty	Reimbursement Dude - Where's My Money?

Did I Hear What I Think You Said? 
Ione Broussard, CMC, CMIS, CMOM

If any of you have ever attended a PMI seminar, you know that communication is the key?the key to performing your duties assigned, and a key topic in many performance reviews. In this article I will discuss the most important aspect of communicating: LISTENING:

Have you ever been in a conversation with a co-worker, be it your physician or manager or even a co-worker, and walked away wondering what was just said? You are not alone. A lot to times we listen but don't comprehend or we comprehend but don't understand. This could be for several reasons; one being that we zone out?meaning our minds run to other thoughts of the day in progress or re-playing last nights events. Another reason we fail to understand a conversation might be that the person we are trying to listen to just won't get to the point, so therefore we begin to jump ahead with our own thoughts with questions and provide our own answers. Or perhaps the person talking just won't come out and say what he/she is really trying to say, which leaves us scratching our heads and wondering and hoping we are doing correctly what was "talked about".

Listening takes practice and it's an art in itself. Listening is supposed to provide information so that we give can give feedback. When this doesn't happen, we walk away thinking "is it me or him/her". Well, it's both. It takes two to communicate, one talking and one listening.

If you find yourself with these thoughts, stop, drop and roll:

Listening is hard work but with a little practice, you will find that it is the key that unlocks the door to true communication.