News

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This past Saturday marked the 2nd Annual Saving Private Practice Consortium. With nearly 200 physicians, practice administrators, and partners in attendance, the event marked yet another pivotal turning point for physicians in solo/small group practice. The event opened with a powerful keynote from Paul Merrild, Senior Vice President of Sales at athenahealth, who shared some eye-opening data about private practice practitioners in California and ways technology can play an important role in helping struggling and overburdened independent physicians.

Attendees spent the morning moving between 4 different breakout sessions and individual consults with nearly 20 different partners to gather information and advice on issues doctors in private practice are facing. Reimbursements, collections and billing, marketing, concierge medicine, and electronic medical records were all popular areas of interest, but all of our industry partners, including those covering healthcare IT, healthcare and employment law, clinical communications, malpractice coverage, real estate, business insurance and more, were busy with back to back appointments.

I would like to thank our lunch panelists, Dr. David H. Aizuss, Dr. Hector Flores, Dr. Srinivas Sarma, and Janus Norman from CMA, for delivering an empowering discussion on how physicians of all practice backgrounds can work together to improve access to quality care and stand as the leading voice for the future of healthcare in California. The common denominator among all physicians, after all, is the patient and that is what unifies physicians in organized medicine. The key takeaway was that no other organization can provide that unity or shared voice, like LACMA and CMA.

Throughout the afternoon, physicians and practice administrators continued their participation in private consults and/or attendance at 8 more breakout sessions. There was a wide variety of sessions to choose from, including those addressing the impact of tax reform, how to be a better advocate for yourself and your patients, and how to collect unpaid monies and increase your revenue, plus more!

Physicians had the chance to tell their stories, share their struggles, connect with other physicians and most importantly, get free assistance with everything pertaining to a private practice operation.

By the end of the day, there was unanimous feedback from many physicians who felt like they got real help in areas they needed and were thrilled to learn about what LACMA and CMA have to offer. One physician joined on the spot and told us: "With the partners present and the connections made, it has paid for the membership. Why didn't I do this earlier?"

There are so many to thank for helping to make this event a success, including our sponsors: Comerica Bank, CAP, Mercer and 1st Century Bank; our exhibitors, partners, our Leadership and all those who attended. We thank you for your participation and look forward to your feedback!
 

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  As always, this work must continue. It is important that physicians and medical staff receive the service, support and guidance that so many experienced at the Consortium.

We will be starting our new weekly broadcast series this Friday, March 9. Doc Matters is a new effort to better inform and continuously engage our physician community. Through this weekly 30 minute call in program, physicians can ask questions and talk to experts on a variety of issues. This Friday, we will review tax law and its impact on physicians. The call will begin at 12:15 PM. Click on the image above for more information.

Call in details are as follows:  

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