Practice Preserver Program - FAQ's

 

What is the Practice Preserver Program and how will it help me?
The Practice Preserver Program is a monitoring, support and maintenance program for practices that want to keep their finger on the pulse of their business, but don't have the time, interest or know-how to do it themselves. Subscribers will receive:

1. A monthly analysis of key practice benchmarks based on requested monthly data. These reports allow us to monitor the monthly fluctuations of your practice performance and provide you with actionable recommendations to leverage opportunities and minimize practice weaknesses.
2. Email access to all three SOS principals, from the varied perspectives of a physician, assistant and entrepreneur. Their consulting and combined 90 years experience in the podiatric medical field will allow them to share their knowledge with you and help guide you through some of the “trouble-spots” that every practice goes through.
3. Our quarterly SOS e-newsletter, “Success” which will keep you abreast of successful practice management tools, strategies and resources.

What are the terms and conditions of the Program?
When you sign up for the SOS Practice Preserver Program, SOS will invest a considerable amount of time getting to know your practice. As a result, a minimum six month participation commitment is required. All payments will be made by credit card via “signature on file” privileges. You will be charged $129.95 (or $99.95 for AAPPM members) upon receipt and acceptance of your signed Agreement. Each month on the anniversary of the accepted Agreement, SOS will automatically charge your credit card the monthly fee. If you choose to discontinue your participation in the Practice Preserver Program prior to the initial six months, SOS will bill your credit card the remaining monthly amounts. After the initial six month commitment has been met, you will continue to subscribe on a month-to-month basis with no cancellation fees. Monitoring your data for six months permits us to create realistic benchmarking trends for your practice.

What if I require a greater level of involvement from SOS?
SOS offers clients a wide variety of consulting services. The Practice Preserver Program provides podiatrists with basic monitoring and benchmarking tools and offers actionable recommendations based upon data analysis. Some practices may need a more in-depth analysis of their practice which would include a SWOT analysis strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats), an efficiency review of operations, or a marketing analysis. For these clients SOS offers several different Practice Report Card products (click here for more detail). Each of these provides a more detailed analysis and direct telephone access to project managers (consultants).

If you want SOS consultants to become involved in the implementation of any practice initiatives, either onsite or via teleconferencing, SOS charges a flat rate of $175.00 per consulting hour, plus any approved out of pocket expenses (click here for more information). There is no minimum number of consulting hours and no penalties for discontinuing this service.

So, whether you need practice monitoring and benchmarking, a complete practice analysis, or ongoing direct access to professional resources for program implementation and staff training, SOS has an affordable solution.

Yes, I want to participate…what’s next?

You will receive a formal confirmation and welcome letter via email that will outline specific participation information. Additionally, you will receive a comprehensive questionnaire that we will need you to fill out to better acquaint us with your practice processes. To provide an accurate report, it is important that you are honest and objective in your answers. Lastly, in order to create your analysis, we will require practice data each month. In return, SOS will provide you with a monthly practice report of your procedure utilization, payroll ratio, per visit value, collection ratios and practice trends.

What kind of data do I have to send you? Will you be sending me            reminders?

The data we request involves specific reports such as Profit and Loss statements, total new patients seen, total patient visits, 30-60-90 day aging reports, and CPT and ICD9 report summaries for the current and past year. In some cases, you may have to ask your accountant for help with these, but generally, your practice software should easily be able to generate these reports.

We will ask (and will send you a reminder) to begin gathering this information on the first of every month and send it to us within one week. As this will occur the same time each month, we recommend marking your calendar in preparation and after only a couple times, it will become a routine for you.

What does the e-newsletter contain?

The SOS e-newsletter “Success” will be sent to your registered email address and can be printed and shared with your entire office. It will contain pertinent practice management information on a wide variety of topics in addition to useful tools and resources. Because SOS has helped hundreds of practices like yours achieve higher levels of performance, chances are that those experiences conveyed via the “Success” e-newsletter, will provide your practice with solutions to common problems.

What is the benefit of having my practice analyzed? What can I do            with the information?

SOS will track key statistical information about your practice and recommend strategies that will improve practice performance. Similar to the diagnostic tests that you perform on patients, the data analysis will help to ascertain the overall degree of practice health, shed light on specific practice weaknesses and provide the information necessary to develop management initiatives that will help you achieve or maintain a higher level of practice success. We can help you study and react to discernible trends within your practice and will provide time tested strategies designed to enhance your success.

You can just review what we give you and do nothing or you can learn from the reports we prepare and utilize the Preserver Program as a means of having SOS help you through them. We will be available to you as a resource via email for any and all questions you have concerning your practice - whether they be related to these reports or any other areas of concern. (e.g. treatment plans and protocols, staffing, marketing, in-office dispensing, referrals, efficiency....etc.)

How soon after I email you can I expect a response?

We are committed to sending you a response within two business days; and when possible, we will get them there sooner.

Can I have my staff email questions?

We have no objection to answering your staff’s questions; however your practice will be registered under one email address which will serve as our ONLY contact with you. Therefore, if they wish to submit a question, they would have to either use your email address or relay the question to you and have you send it. The reason we do this is to avoid breaching any potential internal confidentiality issues by communicating with your staff instead of you.