For Physicians
Allergy Partners welcomes physicians approaching the next milestone in their careers, retirement. Allergy Partners can assist you with developing an orderly transition for your practice and ensure continuity of care for your patients while you begin to slow down practicing medicine.
Allergy Partners will work with you to find the perfect practice location for you and your family. We offer a competitive initial salary and a clear path to partnership.
Allergy Partners understands the current and forthcoming challenges faced by practicing allergists. As an organization led by our own physicians, our resources are dedicated to ensuring we have the infrastructure in place to stay ahead of the curve.
At Allergy Partners, our goal is simple. We want to work within our specialty to become the recognized leader in the delivery of high quality care for the treatment of asthma and allergic disease. We believe the pathway to success lies in our commitment to providing a supportive, innovative and caring environment for our physicians and staff which will allow them to deliver the best possible patient care.
Historically, allergy practices have run as a cottage industry comprised of independent practices made up of one or two physicians. The “do it on your own” model worked well for many years but increasing pressures from managed care companies, regulatory agencies and our consumers have challenged us to rethink the traditional care delivery model. Creating a platform for change is not easy – but it is necessary for the future of our specialty.
New physicians who join our practice join a system with considerable built-in efficiencies and a proven track record of success. Our physicians have immediate access to all we have done to optimize the delivery of patient care and to all the business efficiencies we have instituted. Physicians who join one of our practice locations will be able to avoid the losses that are ordinarily incurred when starting a practice due to start-up expenses, poor negotiating position, decreased economies of scale, lack of referrals, and the lack of expertise that comes from experience.
An additional advantage of our practice is the process by which we develop new and existing physicians. We at Allergy Partners have long recognized that the key to our success and a measure of our value is the success of our individual physicians. One of the primary functions of the administrative team is to support, monitor, and enhance the development of our physicians. Through an initial orientation process, on going mentoring and timely and relevant reporting, we believe we provide unparalleled support to our physicians.
Being part of a large group practice is not for everyone. While a larger group is better able to organize around a different set of technological, behavioral, and market factors, the desires of the individual physician may not always be considered as a first priority. As physicians, we place high value on independence and autonomy. For this reason, some physicians find it uncomfortable operating in a team decision-making environment. As part of a larger medical practice, each physician must first be willing and able to see themselves as part of the larger organization. By working along side other experienced and knowledgeable professionals, each must be willing to share and accept the operational and governance responsibility to the betterment of the entire organization. To that end, it is critical that we, as a group, create a network of compatible, like-minded physicians and, more importantly, that physicians within each hub be driven by similar “lifestyle” values. Before joining any medical group practice, one should first give serious consideration to the question: “How well do you play with others?”
The accounting and finance department provides services for both the administrative departments and the physician practices. Our staff includes a controller, assistant controller, staff accounts, cash manager, and accounts payable personnel.
The staff is dedicated to properly recording revenue and expenses and maintaining the general ledger and chart of accounts. The staff prepares and distributes monthly statements including a statement of revenue and expenses, financial analysis, accounts receivable aging, and a charges, receipts and adjustments report. In addition to monthly activities, the accounting department is responsible for preparing and coordinating payroll taxes, federal income taxes, state income taxes, sales and use tax, and state unemployment. We strive to relieve you of the numbers part of the business so you can focus on patient care.
Other duties include fixed asset tracking, cash management, business licenses, vendor relationships/contracting and First Data credit card processing. We publish the financial reports on an intranet-based platform where physicians and hubs can access their financial information both in real-time and as static reports.
Allergy Partners provides billing and accounts receivable management through our Central Billing Office (CBO). Physician/professional fee billing is not always straight forward. Many steps must be taken to ensure that health care services are translated accurately in order to reach the desired result of reimbursement.
Our experienced and professional team uses the latest reimbursement strategies to optimize revenue cycle performance. The CBO coordinates eligibility and benefit verification, billing, electronic claims transmission, payment posting and reconciliation, insurance follow-up, and patient balance collections. The staff of the CBO provides centralized charge entry of extract and coding support, along with the latest updates on payer rules and regulations to our practices.
By centralizing reimbursement management, the CBO is able to exceed industry benchmarks for days on A/R, track contract compliance, and provide the support and information our practice locations need to meet compliance standards for the capture and charge of services.
We are particularly proud of what we have been able to accomplish with our extract lab. Early in our development, we realized there was a tremendous need for standardizing the process of formulating extract and that our size would enable us to make great strides in this area. Standardization of the formulation process would help our physicians more easily implement current recommendations in achieving optimal dosing. By implementing this over such a large practice, we could obtain data that would help consensus based practice progress toward evidence based medicine. Additionally, we recognized that production at one facility would create a “focused factory” where increased efficiency and safety of production would be made possible. Initially, we gathered data from our then existing practices and analyzed some 60,000 skin tests. We combined that information with known cross-reactivity data, our own pollen counts, and available pollen-zoned maps. We then reviewed data on volumes necessary to deliver the appropriate number of biologic allergy units per injection as well as data on the potential degradation of extract due to protease activity present in certain allergens. From there we developed recommendations for extract formulation to be utilized across our practice. Today our lab, which is located in Asheville, North Carolina, produces over 319,000 vials of extract each year, with fewer than ten full-time equivalent employees.
We now have the largest group of immunotherapy patients treated using a standardized formulation process that currently exists. Allergy Partners collects data related to allergy injections and reports this annually to the AAAAI. Within Allergy Partners, this data collected is used in quality improvements related to immunotherapy. . In our offices, we administer some 1.9 million injections per year. We want to expand this to track efficacy data in the future. This standardization is one of our most important practices, combined with tracking safety and efficacy, and represents what we hope will be a huge contribution to our entire specialty.
We are currently utilizing an online extract ordering system and an electronic medical record for the immunotherapy in ordering and administering. This software allows our physicians to transmit extract formulation instructions real time while keeping accurate records on shot activity and reactions. This is yet another step in improving safety and gathering data that results in improved practice.
The Human Resources Department provides employees with services that include maintenance of employee personal information, payroll, benefits administration, policies and procedures and keeping in compliance with federal and state laws.
Allergy Partners uses Information Systems and Technology to improve the quality, safety, and efficiency of patient care through a centralized data center that houses both physical and virtual servers. We are very proud of our state of the art technology and highly trained staff that supports the physicians’ practices in a timely and efficient method.
We use centralization to provide a consolidated approach to managing data that keeps evolving and growing. By maintaining the large amounts of data concentrated in one place, we provide a more efficient system reducing the Information Technology costs assessed to single practices. Our computers and electronic devices make it easy for the physicians to store, share, and access health information. Our network is focused on producing a stable cost-effective infrastructure that adds to patient care.
Our Information Technology goal is to provide access and use of health information while managing the complexity of the IT investment which can go beyond acquiring that technology. We deliver quality Information Technology services and infrastructure that integrates with the practice and adds to the equality of health care provided by the physicians.
The Managed Care Department is staffed by a dedicated and experienced team of managed care specialists. We are recognized as the primary point of contact to maintain and manage all provider contracts. We conduct all contracting negotiations to include working with our Credentialing Department to transition your practice into our organization. We coordinate contracting activity with payers and networks, analyze contract terms and conduct a thorough impact analysis of reimbursement rates. We strive to improve contract performance and increase actual/expected revenue. We achieve this by promoting our clinical excellence and advantages of our vast network of providers to payers. The Managed Care Department continuously reviews contract performance data, identifies specific revenue enhancement opportunities and renegotiates contracts to promote improved contract performance.
The Marketing Department supports our physicians and practices in all marketing and advertising initiatives to help build branding, awareness and ensure you stand out among your competitors. They work hand in hand with the physicians and managers to help build the practice by providing resources, tools and collaterals that ultimately drive new patients to your door. Using the latest trends, the Marketing Department will manage the following as well as many other services:
It is the Marketing Departments goal to help ensure you are successful!
One of the strengths of Allergy Partners is the Regional Operations Management (ROM) Team – a team of healthcare professionals qualified by academic, practice training and work experience to consult with physicians and practice managers in achieving excellence in practice performance. These individuals are dedicated to specific hub locations to provide consultation and recommendations for best business and operational applications in the medical practice. The ROM’s have extensive experience in managing physician groups, excel in communication and leadership and exhibit strong problem solving skills. The Regional Operations Managers work closely with the hub leadership to promote a successful practice and maximize hub and individual performance.
Most allergists in small practices would appreciate the opportunity to have an outside consultant become familiar with their practices, provide advice on potential improvements and be available as a resource for unique situations that may arise from time to time. Because of our size, Allergy Partners can cost effectively employ our own team of practice management professionals to provide assistance in making your practice all that it can be.
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