Part B Insider (Multispecialty) Coding Alert

2 steps to a more successful practice

Warning: If you-re not using your non-physician practitioners (NPPs) properly, then your practice could be letting go of precious reimbursement.

You can improve your revenue drastically by integrating NPPs, such as physician assistants (PAs) and nurse practitioners (NPs), into your practice properly, says Mary Falbo, president of Millennium Healthcare Consulting in Lansdale, PA.

NPPs can be -indirect and direct revenue boosters if integrated properly,- Falbo says. Here are the steps to NPP success:

Step 1: Figure out your practice's objectives in adding NPPs.

According to Falbo, your practice could add NPPs to:

- increase numbers of patient visits;
- gain more support for your practice;
- give your physicians additional free time;
- increase patient satisfaction as well as access;
- offer more services to your patients and decrease wait times; and
- control and monitor utilization, and provide feedback to the community.

Do the math: PAs and NPs can allow your physician to see an average of three new patients per day, gaining an extra $78 per 99203 visit. With 15 extra patients per week, this adds up to an extra $56,160.00 per year, Falbo notes. Also, the NPP may see on average 18 to 26 established patients per day, netting $43 per 99213. This could add up to $129,000 per year.

Step 2: Decide whether you want to add more services.

NPPs can allow your clinic to add new services such a Protime clinic, lipid clinic or other types of clinic. You could also add a weight-loss program or patient education groups on reducing cholesterol.

Other services include physical therapy; diabetic education; bone-density/osteoporosis screening and education; contraceptive counseling; managing hormone-replacement therapies; performing vulvar and cervical biopsies; and obtaining endometrial samples.

Be careful: If you set up clinics such as coumadin clinics or lipid clinics using your NPPs, you still must show medical necessity for these services, cautions Ron Nelson, president of Health Services Associates in Fremont, MI and past president of the American Academy of Physician Assistants. The services must require the NPP's level of professional intervention.