On Tuesday, January 12, 2010, the country of Haiti was hit by a catastrophic earthquake measuring 7.0 in magnitude. This news is devastating and we, at CollaborateMD, would like to send our condolences to all of those affected by this tragedy.
In times of tragedy and despair, encouragement and support is needed most. To show our support to the victims of the Haiti, CollaborateMD has donated $10,000 to UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief). From our donation, 100% will be used by UMCOR to provide relief in Haiti.
To learn more about this organization, please use the link below:
http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umcor/give/manyways/
Another act of support, orchestrated for our organization by Client Services Analyst, Karen Desanges, is a food and clothing drive. Karen will be collecting food, clothing, and toiletries. These items will be collected until Friday, January 22. The collected items will be sent to a non-for-profit organization known as Help Haitians Live, Inc. This organization has been doing missionary work for 12 years in Haiti. They focus on reaching the people who are on the outskirts of Haiti and have difficulty getting to the help needed.
To get more information on this organization, click the link to this organization’s website below:
http://helphaitianslive.com/default.aspx,
In addition to the above relief efforts, I, along with others, sent a pledge to Yѐle Haiti simply by texting YELE to 501501 to donate $5 to the Yѐle Haiti Earthquake Fund. Yéle’s community service programs include food distribution and mobilizing emergency relief. Grammy-Award winning musician, humanitarian and Goodwill Ambassador to Haiti Wyclef Jean founded Yéle Haiti in 2005.
To learn more about this organization and their efforts, use the link below:
http://www.yele.org/
Please consider providing your own support, as this is a nation in need.
Even though our well-known "Double Your Referral Fee" program launched over a year ago, its holiday popularity shows that CollaborateMD customers are giving their industry contacts a big holiday gift by recommending our proven solution. (And though we know the motivation stems from benevolently wanting to help industry colleagues save time and money, we are equally sure our $400 referral fee goes a long way when paying off those holiday bills!)
Thanks to YOU, your colleagues and industry associates have begun using CollaborateMD to optimize their clinical and financial workflow. YOU are saving them time and money. (Did they at least send you a Happy Holidays card in the mail?!)
Medical Billing Software Referral Program
Do you know of anyone who may be interested in improving their net profit while streamlining office operations? Of course you do! So be a good friend and talk to your contacts about switching to the #1 hybrid SaaS practice management and medical billing software system in the country. Not only will you save them time and money, but we'll show you how thankful we are by sending you a $400 check for a single referral!*
Please call, email, or send a CMD message to our sales team to get the ball rolling, and then be sure to tell your friend to contact us for a one-on-one demo with an expert member of our team.
Don't forget to check out all the referral program details on our site. Please be sure to familiarize yourself with our terms and conditions as well.
How Will You Spend YOUR Referral Earnings?
As a reminder, our annual user conference is coming up in May 2010! Past referral fee earners have used their $400 referral fee toward to cover attendance, hotel, and travel costs--you can, too! Of course, there are many other ways to spend your fees, such as reinvesting them in P2P+, adding ERA and eligibility to your monthly plan, or paying off holiday bills! Spend it however you like--you've earned it!
*Only those who are eligible via the terms and conditions outlined on our website will receive a referral fee. Please read our T&C thoroughly.
The American Medical Association published a great article a while back on tardy patients and how they can affect a practice and its other patients. There were several key points that we felt were worthy of some special attention, so below is a brief synopsis of the advice proffered in the article (and of course, we threw in a few thoughts of our own).
Make 'Em Wait
Late patients should only be seen by their doctor AFTER all on-time patients have been seen. Otherwise, you're only rewarding the behavior by accomodating the tardy patient while penalizing the on-time patients by making them wait.
Make 'Em Pay
Late patients should be assessed a late fee, but it's vital that you be clear and consistent about the late fee policy from the patient's first interacion with your practice. Post your policy in your waiting room, and train your staff to announce the policy when setting new appointments. Draw a clear line between what is considered acceptably late (5 minutes? 10 minutes?) and what warrants a late fee assessment (15 minutes? 30 minutes?).
Use The Tools Available
CollaborateMD customers who elect to use our phone notification system can easily remind patients of the importance of promptness and can clearly communicate penalties for being late. What is most important here is to use positive language. For example, you can tell your patients, "We value our patients' time and will always see prompt patients as quickly as possible. Tardy patients will need to wait until all on-time patients have been seen." As opposed to, "Late patients will be charged this fee...period!"
According to the AMA article, "appointment reminders reduce the number of no-shows by 20% to 25%, and could work for late-shows, as well." Use these tools to your advantage, and you could see a significant impact on patient satisfaction and your bottom line.
Practice What You Preach
The AMA article calls attention to another key factor in reducing patient tardiness a success, stating "...experts suggest the practice look at its own late record." A practice that fails to keep their internal operations running smoothly enough to keep on schedule cannot realistically expect patients to practice promptness.
Source: American Medical Association article, "How to Handle Patients Who Are Always Late", published April 13, 2009.
It's no secret. Our Founder and CEO Douglas Kegler has a big heart, and he has always made giving back to the community a top priority. This year, he kicked things up a notch.
2009 Philanthropic Campaign
CollaborateMD has just completed our 2009 employee-supported philanthropic contributions campaign. Since October when Doug announced the program, our team has been hard at work spreading awareness, donating personal funds, and volunteering for the charities that matter most to us as individuals. Though many of us were already involved in various charity work, a brand new motivating monetary factor came into play with this new program: Doug committed to make a donation on behalf of every single employee to the charity of that employee's choice! Though some team members opted for their donation to go to a charity that CollaborateMD has consistently supported throughout the years (such as Habitat for Humanity and St. Jude Cancer Research), several new charities have been added to the growing list of organizations our team now proudly supports.
CollaborateMD Team Members Proudly Support:
A BIG Team Effort
CollaborateMD also offered 100% matching on all team member contributions. In total, this program raised over $10,000 within just over a month! And this number only represents a fraction of the total donations made by CollaborateMD for the year.
As H1N1 continues to get press attention in both our industry and amongst patients and peers, CollaborateMD wants to make you aware of a new reimbursable P2P+ webVisit® that will keep infected patients away from healthy patients, improve overall patient care, and even bring in revenue to providers!
About webVisits
A webVisit consultation - powered by RelayHealth - guides patients through an interactive symptom- or condition‐based questionnaire. These questionnaires have been authored and reviewed by academic and community‐based physicians who are experts in their fields of practice. It is a quick, convenient and effective way for patients to report their non‐urgent symptoms, such as those associated with Swine Flu, and enables physicians to deliver a fast, informed response.
Getting Started
CollaborateMD is now offering a simple configuration guide (courtesy of RelayHealth), which will walk you through the set-up of the new influenza and H1N1 webVisits for use by patients, physicians and the practice. To request a guide, please call 888.348.8457 or drop us a line at Sales [at] CollaborateMD.com.
Who Can Use webVisits?
If you are already using one of the CollaborateMD P2P+ services listed below, we can send you the configuration guide referenced above and have you up and running in no time! If you are interested in adding secure physician-to-patient communication to your CollaborateMD system, there are several options available to you:
- P2P+ Option 3 (Secure Physician-to-Patient Communication)
- P2P+ Plan 1
- P2P+ Plan 2
We also invite you to contact us to receive our complimentary patient education literature, also courtesy of RelayHealth, which defines and explains H1N1, prevention & protection, symptoms, treatment and other pertinent information. We look forward to helping you help the patients and providers you serve!
As I am wrapping up some last minute projects and preparing for a traditional Thanksgiving with my family, I can't help but appreciate the holiday buzz around our office. This is a time when lending a hand to a co-worker comes even more naturally; when smiles are more prevalent even in routine meetings; when stories and laughs are passed around, and festive food and decorations become part of the standard operating procedures. These are just some of the things for which I am most thankful.
Just yesterday, we enjoyed a delicious potluck, hosted by our very gracioius client services team, in which we sampled some of the homemade employee dishes that have become "fan favorites" around here. Next week, we will enjoy our annual Christmas party which can only be trumped by the long-awaited secret santa festivities and yearly award ceremony. And while I am quite sure I have a pretty good idea of the things CollaborateMD offers for which my team members and I are most thankful, I know they can do a far better job of personalizing their appreciation.
So without further ado, I am opening up the floor for EVERYONE -- team members, partners, customers, and anyone else who feels moved by the spirit of the holidays -- to take a moment to share with us the things for which you are most grateful. Gobble Gobble!
Medical Billing Software Conference: Save The Date!
We have officially secured the dates & location for User Conference 2010! Please save the date and plan to spend this time with the CollaborateMD team, users, and industry experts.
Event Details
Where: The Rosen Centre Hotel on International Drive (Thanks to such a successful Conference '09, and based on attendee feedback, this is the same hotel as last year!)
When: Monday, May 17th - Wednesday, May 19th (That's right! It's a three-day event this year.)
Who: Both current and future users, administrators, vendors and affiliates of CollaborateMD.
Why: To collaborate with one another, learn more about current product features and services, and discover what we have planned for the short- and long-term future here at CollaborateMD.
We will be sending out formal invites directly to your email inbox before the end of the year, so mark your calendars and get ready for an incredible event!
If you've visited our website in the past couple of days, you've probably noticed that it looks a bit different. We have just launched a refreshed version of our site, and wanted to point out a few of the changes to you.
- A horizontal blue bar now serves as our main navigation bar. From here, you can get wherever you want to go! We have even added some new sections:
- Track our team throughout the country on our Events page.
- Keep up-to-date on User Conference information on our Conference tab.
- Read our blog highlights in our monthly eNewsletter called "The Monthly eBlurb" which is now available in our Press Area.
- Learn how to become part of the team and find out what positions are available on our Careers tab.
- Get to know our Service Partners! They can help you start a new practice or improve your current operations.
- Meet our Business Partners, Affiliates, and Associations with whom we are proud to do business.
- Find out about the different Users of CollaborateMD
- Watch CMD TV or listen to our creative radio spots
- Connect with CollaborateMD by following us on Twitter, becoming our fan on Facebook, and subscribing to our Blog!
- For current customers, the green User Portal button remains prevalent in the upper-right corner. The Portal gives users access to items previously found on the old website which are no longer available:
- Training videos
- Pricing and volume discounts
- One-click access to download our software
We certainly hope you like the refreshed site. Feel free to leave us a comment, suggestion, or your "two cents"!
This past Thursday (October 22, 2009), I had the privilege of attending the Workforce Central Florida "State of the Workforce Summit '09" at the Rosen Centre Hotel in Orlando, Florida where CollaborateMD was presented with an Award of Excellence for Employee Value.
The judging criteria were quite extensive, and though we will never know exactly why the panel selected us to win this prestigious award, I have a sneaking suspicion as to why we are deserving of it. I'll share a little excerpt from our application with you, and you can decide for yourself!
"While we have made many improvements to our core product--proprietary medical billing software our owner built from scratch over a decade ago--it is more likely the fundamental organizational changes toward leveraging the Company's greatest asset--our people--to which we attribute our rapid growth and overwhelming success."
That's right. You've heard it before, and you'll hear it again (a lot) here at CollaborateMD. It's our TEAM that gets us where we want to go. So, whatever it takes to train, encourage, measure, and reward our team, that is exactly what we are going to keep doing. (And if organizations want to keep recognizing us for our team successes -- just as Workforce Central Florida, the Orlando Sentinel, and the Orlando Business Journal have done -- well that's just fine with us!)
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 Jenni Smith on stage accepting the award. |
Go CollaborateMD!
The March of Dimes is the nation's leading nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality. Last Wednesday, October 21st, CollaborateMD joined the March of Dimes in their efforts at the annual Signature Chefs Auction event that was held at the Church Street Station Ballroom in downtown Orlando. More than 330 guests -- including CEO Douglas Kegler, Vice Presidents Eric Rosselot and Patrick Mann, and sales & marketing managers Jennifer Wilson and Jenni Smith -- enjoyed exquisite food and wine for the evening and, along with CollaborateMD, helped the March of Dimes raise more than $80,000 that will go toward their educational campaigns, neonatal programs and services.
As a GOLD sponsor for the event, our full page ad was placed in the program, which gave CollaborateMD the opportunity to spread the knowledge about being a certified Florida Shots software vendor. We offer free enrollment and data transfer for all Florida physician customers who choose to enroll in the Florida Shots program, so we encourage each of you to take advantage of this free Florida Shots interface! More info can be found below.
We had a great time at this event (and Table #3 caused quite a commotion when Douglas Kegler and Eric Rosselot practically started a bidding war over a hot live auction item!) and we were thrilled to be involved in such a worthy cause.
