Education

Although there are educational opportunities available for continuing medical education credits in Northern Michigan, most are either sponsored by insurance companies and geared to their own particular product or sponsored by the hospital and are medical in nature rather than legal or administrative. Many people have to travel downstate to get the continuing education credit topics they need.

Through Michigan State Medical Society (MSMS), NPO brings a wide variety of educational opportunities to Northern Michigan at no charge to our membership The valuable information for physicians and their administrative staff will focus on topics that directly relate to the management of private medical practices, with particular focus on regulatory issues as well as current topics that arise in the health care environment. Many of these units are directly from the Medical Society and from entities that control the methodology structure of the administrative and clinical aspects of the medical field. These programs are on the caliber of those found at national specialty conventions, however will be presented locally, saving NPO members travel time as well as all fees and travel costs.

Previous education topics include the following:

Investing in You

These workshops were designed to help medical office staff better manage the daily challenges of their career.
2 Hour Workshops Include:
  • Work-Life Balance
  • Leadership 101
  • Conflict Resolution
  • Stress Management
  • Building and Keeping Business Relationships

Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI)

Multiple presentations on PQRI given in Traverse City; also available via Webinar, compliments of NPO's partnership with MSMS.

Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH)

Presentations on ensuring that your practice is a high-functioning PCMH and what it means to doctors, administrators and patients to have a PCMH.

Risk Management

Some of the topics included in this presentation were proper charting, chart security, patient information security, and what to do in the event of an electronic security breach.

June 4th Educational Practice Management Seminar

The subjects covered in this seminar included healthcare reform and how it affects Medicare reimbursement for physicians; Evidence Based Care/Quality Care; Patient Centered Medical Home, ACO and meaningful use; and billing and reporting.

Update on Health Care Law Issues

Subtopics include:
  • Health Care Reform
  • Personal Health Records (PHRs)
  • Medicare Administrative Contractor's (MAC) and Recovery Audit Contractor's (RAC) Plan to Curtail Unnecessary Hospital Admissions
  • Increased Enforcement Under HIPAA/HITECH
  • Importance of compliance Plans to avoid Medicare/Medicaid fraud allegations in light of new laws expanding employees' ability to act as whistleblowers

Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA)

Title II of GINA became effective on January 10, 2011. NPO offered instruction on what GINA includes and how it effects practices.
Topics included:
  • What GINA means
  • Who GINA protects
  • Explanation of and exceptions to the rule that employers cannot request, require or purchase "genetic information" about their employees
  • What constitutes a violation of GINA regulations
  • Specific steps to be taken to assure compliance with GINA