October 2011

A Guest Blog by Rich Stagnato, PRMS Accounts Representative Private practitioners who need to keep track of reimbursement for their services and maintain records can find that keeping track of medical malpractice policies can also be a challenge. Some insurance companies promote claims made policies as the only or preferred option but, in reality, there are other choices availa ...

One of the unfortunate realities of practicing child and adolescent psychiatry is the complex legal overlay that affects the practice. In particular, a C&A psychiatrist must have a good understanding of state law related to consent to treatment and release of patient information. Any C&AP practitioner knows that the children of divorce often become “hostages” to the par ...

Be aware — understand the risks to the patient and to the physician when disposing medication samples in the office. Listen to this podcast to learn what you need to know. Podcast: Medication Samples in the Office If you would like a free copy of Rx for Risk with the “Medication Samples in the Office” article mentioned in this podcast, please e-mail us at TheProgram@prms.com. ...

You know it’s here – the ads for school supplies are relentless, and states and municipalities loudly tout their “tax holidays” for school-related items. But what does this have to do with the practice of psychiatry? Those of you who treat children and adolescents may feel the greatest impact. As your patients move from elementary school to middle and high school, the complexit ...

Try this as a way of assessing the adequacy of your own patient records. Pull an “inactive” record from your files (i.e., someone you haven’t seen in 3 years or more). Look through it. – Do your notes bring to mind the patient? – Do you understand what you were doing with that patient, in terms of general medical history, your diagnosis, your treatment plan at the time, and  th ...

The Health Care Notification Network (“HCNN”) is a private network for physicians, PAs and health care professionals that provides immediate electronic delivery of FDA-required drug Alerts, replacing the current process of delivery by U.S. mail.  In the past, these time-sensitive warnings were sent via U.S. mail, typically arriving days or weeks later, and often buried in mound ...

When we at The Psychiatrists’ Program packed our bags for the American Psychiatric Association’s Annual Meeting in Hawaii, we brought our usual arsenal of convention personnel and materials. Of course we brought our most important assets, the PRMS staffers: our team of expert risk managers, underwriters and claims examiners ready to talk with psychiatrists and answer their ques ...