Ray A. Blackwell, MD

It seems that there is a disconnect concerning the financial consequences of MACRA.  My wife is a radiation oncologist with a 40% revenue contribution from Medicare.  Her 9% penalty for bad performance would result in $26,600 in really cash.  Multiple that by three, she has two partners, and you have $64,800.  Now if they perform well and rec…[Read more]

I just wanted to share a personal note.  Your comment makes me think back to when I finished my residency and was stationed at Ft. Hood, a very busy military practice in Texas.  300 – 400 deliveries per month/8 docs.  Carla Hawley my chief resident when I was a PG2, took me under her wing and for two years, guiding my early development.  The deg…[Read more]

This is from Rubeen,

I did not have any formal mentoring but looking back I had to 2 senior physicians during my office hours- I used to bounce cases off them and then I started asking them business questions as well.  I still fondly remember those interactions and only now realize how important they were in my development.  10 yrs into my pvt p…[Read more]

Nice, the biggest complaint I hear is IT systems designed by non caregivers.  The result is that the system works best for the designers, easy to maintain/update, and administrators, easy to grab data, but poorly for those seeing patients and actually interacting with the system daily.  The concept of stakeholders controlling the process of the w…[Read more]

Hey Louis, now that they have you at a certain rate, they clearly do not want to increase it except for the two percent. You have two BATNAs, the two percent or the no call. First, I would complete the homework. You have started it by researching the rates other physicians receive. Who are these guys and why do they get more money? Are there any…[Read more]

This comes in from Louis
Could you send me a digital copy of the negotiation planning instrument. I wish I had this and these courses available during the latter half of my chief resident or fellowship years, great stuff. Unfortunately, (as my better half would admit) I’m not very ’aggressive’ when it comes to negotiation. Mainly for fear of rejec…[Read more]

This comment from Joel.

Valuable teaching points of broad applicability. Impt to know what other side really needs and wants. Prepare an argument for their side and your–like a lawyer would in preparing a case so you can be prepared to counter arguments persuasively but politely. I need to walk in their shoes to effectively negotiate your p…[Read more]

How about I start this one.  Doing your homework is the most important feature.  We were negotiating with another hospital CEO to open a nurse midwife facility in our town in direct competition to our own hospital.  The CEO of the rival hospital came to our office for a 7am meeting and his presence, at that time in our place was a powerful ne…[Read more]

This comment from Katherine,

<span style=”font-size: 13px;”><span style=”color: #32373c; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ‘Segoe UI’, Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, ‘Helvetica Neue’, sans-serif;”>”I was intrigued by the selection of integrity and candor as the prized characteristics of a leader. How were these selected…[Read more]

Great reply.  I would consider creating a flow chart based on what the patient sees.  Then use that as the foundation for your cause and effect.  It may be quite effective to discovering the root cause of the problem.  We all are so busy, that solving a problem that is not the root cause adds to the inefficiency of our day.  Lot of work, for not…[Read more]

You are right Velma, you were actually the first to reply.