Practice Management/Improvement
Mar 14, 2024
Simulation-Based Training Prepares Practitioners for High-Risk Events
SIM-based learning benefits clinicians in a variety of specialties, but it is especially important for those who work in high-acuity, high-risk areas like anesthesia.
Mar 04, 2024
Combating Workplace Violence in the Healthcare Office Practice
Attorney Julia Goldman outlines strategies for implementing an effective plan to combat workplace violence.
From
The Doctor’s Advocate
Mar 04, 2024
Proactively Manage Patient Expectations With a Conditions of Treatment Agreement
Protect your practice with a plan to proactively manage challenging patient behaviors.
From
The Doctor’s Advocate
Feb 27, 2024
COVID-19 and Patient Safety in the Medical and Dental Office
As COVID-19 persists across the spectrum of healthcare, medical and dental practices must remain mindful of new variants, infection rates, vaccines, protocols, and resources.
Jan 26, 2024
Maternal Health Closed Claim Review: Preparing a Facility for Emergencies
This case study highlights risk reduction strategies facilities can use to prepare for and address maternal health emergencies.
Jan 05, 2024
Patient Experience Surveys
Use our patient experience surveys to measure satisfaction and uncover areas of concern in your practice.
Dec 27, 2023
2024 Prediction from Robert E. White Jr.
Robert E. White Jr., President, The Doctors Company, part of TDC Group, offers his prediction for how social inflation will impact practices’ medical malpractice premiums in 2024.
Dec 19, 2023
Patient Safety Predictions for 2024
Robert E. White Jr., President, and Laura Kline, MBA, CPCU, Senior Vice President of Business Development, The Doctors Company, part of TDC Group, offer their predictions for what will happen in patient safety and healthcare quality in 2024.
Video Dec 18, 2023
Is American Healthcare in Crisis?
Richard E. Anderson, MD, FACP, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Doctors Company and TDC Group, discusses the current state of the American healthcare system.
Dec 11, 2023
Thwart Abuse: Consider Opt-out,Training in Chaperone Policy
Richard Cahill, JD, Vice President and Associate General Counsel, The Doctors Company, part of TDC Group, provides policy suggestions for healthcare providers to implement that can help defend against sexual harassment allegations.
Dec 05, 2023
Set Expectations for New Patients With a Conditions of Treatment Agreement
Consider developing a plan to preemptively manage challenging patient behaviors when they are first identified.
Nov 09, 2023
Recording Residents' Patient Exams Raises Skills―And Privacy Concerns
Richard F. Cahill, Esq., Vice President and Associate General Counsel, The Doctors Company, part of TDC Group, provides strategies for healthcare providers and clinics to avoid legal trouble surrounding patient recording.
Oct 26, 2023
Documentation Can Prevent Litigation: Patient Safety Impact Story
Our Patient Safety INSIGHT Services and extensive library of resources and tools take a data-driven approach to help you reduce adverse events while increasing patient safety and satisfaction. Here is one story of how our Patient Safety/Risk Management team reduced risk in a member practice.
Member Exclusive
Oct 26, 2023
Guided Risk Self-Assessment Exclusively for Member Practices
The Guided Risk Self-Assessment contains risk mitigation strategies to assist healthcare professionals in medical or dental offices. This program will help practitioners and their staff develop a comprehensive understanding of practice risks and learn specific actions to prevent patient injuries and professional liability claims.
Sep 01, 2023
AI Can Lift Administrative Burdens and Restore Joy in Practice
Aaron Neinstein, MD, explores artificial intelligence technologies that can streamline mundane administrative tasks and give clinicians more time to focus on patients.
From
The Doctor’s Advocate
Sep 01, 2023
Head Off Problem Patients With Signed Agreements, Legal Review: Expert
Richard F. Cahill, Esq., Vice President and Associate General Counsel, The Doctors Company, part of TDC Group, discusses the rights and responsibilities of practice managers who wish to remove or stop admitting troublesome patients.
Professional Education
Artificial Intelligence: Harnessing AI to Augment Care
Artificial intelligence offers tools that can enable us to regain time to focus on our patients and restore joy to the practice of medicine.
Aug 18, 2023
Limited English Proficiency (LEP) Patients: Frequently Asked Questions
To help you understand LEP requirements, we have compiled a list of frequently asked questions with strategies to ensure compliance.
Aug 09, 2023
Quick Check Tools: Improve Your Practice Processes
Our easy-to-use Quick Check tools can help your practice identify processes that need to be updated. Each printable checklist also includes a resource list and contact details for additional guidance.
Jul 28, 2023
Quick Check: Telehealth Care
Using our Quick Check tool can help you minimize potential liability risks associated with telehealth care.
Jul 28, 2023
Quick Check: Patient Dismissal Process
Our Quick Check tool can help you improve your process for dismissing patients from your practice.
Jul 28, 2023
Quick Check: Informed Consent Process
Using our Quick Check tool can help you improve your informed consent process and documentation.
Jul 28, 2023
Quick Check: Dissatisfied Patient Management
Our Quick Check tool can help you improve how your practice identifies and manages dissatisfied patients.
Jul 28, 2023
Quick Check: Appointment Management
Using our Quick Check tool can help you improve your practice’s appointment management process.
Jul 25, 2023
Pediatrics: Consider Car Window Hammers for Your Office Emergency Response Kit
Seconds count if an infant, toddler, or young child is accidentally locked inside a hot vehicle. A car window hammer can be a lifesaving tool to include in an emergency response cart or kit.
Jul 06, 2023
What Your Practice Can Do About Medication Safety
David L. Feldman, MD, MBA, FACS, Chief Medical Officer, and Richard F. Cahill, JD, Vice President and Associate General Counsel, write about the risks from medication errors and offer best practices for medication monitoring and management.
Jul 05, 2023
Realistic Reasons Why Stakeholders in the Medical Device and Technologies Industries Need to be Prepared for Legal Challenges
David L. Feldman, MD, MBA, FACS, Chief Medical Officer for The Doctors Company and TDC Group, discusses the importance of understanding and evaluating medical devices and technology prior to utilization.
Jul 01, 2023
Are You Prepared for a Medicare Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) Audit?
RAC audits can be triggered by innocent documentation errors. These strategies can help you assess your risk for coding and billing errors and establish compliance and practice standards.
Jun 12, 2023
As Gun Laws Loosen, Prepare for Possibly Armed Patients
As gun laws grow more permissive across the country, clinicians should be aware of the possibility that patients may attend medical appointments armed. Richard F. Cahill, Esq., Vice President and Associate General Counsel, The Doctors Company, part of TDC Group, provides guidance how to prepare for untoward events.
May 30, 2023
Americans with Disabilities Act: Frequently Asked Questions
Practitioners can face steep penalties for failing to comply with federal mandates that protect individuals with disabilities.
May 22, 2023
Laboratory and Diagnostic Test Tracking in Ambulatory Practice
Managing patient test results in ambulatory practices can pose a significant challenge. Establishing a standardized workflow to track results is a successful strategy for avoiding missed or delayed diagnosis that can lead to patient injury.
Apr 25, 2023
Nonadherent and Noncompliant Patients: Overcoming Barriers
Nonadherent or noncompliant patient conduct (whether intentional or inadvertent) can adversely affect clinical outcomes, undermine the practitioner-patient relationship, and disrupt the operation of practice.
Mar 20, 2023
Sexual Harassment Allegations in Healthcare: Rising Risks
Healthcare practitioners are not immune from the growing number of reported incidents of alleged sexual harassment in the workplace. This article provides risk mitigation strategies.
Mar 07, 2023
Building a Culture of Safety in Healthcare, Part Three: Human Factors Engineering
In the third installment of his four-part series on safety culture, Dr. David Feldman discusses the benefits of human factors engineering.
From
The Doctor’s Advocate
Mar 07, 2023
Primary Care Innovations Can Deepen the Specialty
Dr. Megan Mahoney outlines ways that team-focused innovations in care models and technologies can help preserve depth in primary care, even as it faces a physician shortage.
From
The Doctor’s Advocate
Member Exclusive
Feb 21, 2023
Risk Management Fundamentals for the Practice Manager
Our complimentary program is exclusive to all member practice managers, both clinical and nonclinical, who are new to the role or seek further education regarding the application of risk management and patient safety measures (or principles) in an office-based medical or dental practice.
Jan 18, 2023
Healthcare Staffing Shortages: Decrease Practice Risks
Ongoing staffing shortages negatively influence the quality and depth of many primary and support roles throughout the healthcare workforce. The scarcity of employees has also contributed to elevated levels of stress and burnout.
Dec 15, 2022
The Clinician Voice Post-Roe: Speaking Up for Standards of Care
The spillover effects of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade, mean that many clinicians face uncertainty regarding which treatment practices are still legal in their state. Accordingly, they may be unsure how to communicate with patients, or uncertain regarding their role in their institution’s planning conversations.
Dec 09, 2022
Training Shortages Post-Roe: Medical Careers, Accreditation, and Patient Safety at Risk
The short-term disruptions faced by many medical professionals in the wake of the Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade, have partially obscured a looming crisis in access to training.
Dec 01, 2022
Building a Culture of Safety in Healthcare, Part Two: Teamwork
Teamwork and communication are essential components of patient safety. In the second installment of his four-part series on safety culture, Chief Medical Officer David L. Feldman, MD, identifies best practices in communication to facilitate teamwork.
From
The Doctor’s Advocate
Dec 01, 2022
The Patient Safety Risks of Burnout—and the Path to Professional Fulfillment
While burnout manifests in individuals, it originates in systems. Guest author Christine Sinsky, MD, highlights resources that can help clinicians improve practice efficiencies and ease administrative burdens.
From
The Doctor’s Advocate
Professional Education
Burnout: Spotlight on Improving Practice Efficiencies
In this CME program, Christine Sinsky, MD, highlights practice redesign strategies to help clinicians improve practice efficiencies, recover professional fulfillment, and improve patient safety.
Nov 30, 2022
Healthcare Inequities Post-Roe: Clinician Perspectives
Many states with abortion bans are also states with higher proportions of people of color, increasing the uneven impacts of the Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade.
Nov 17, 2022
Financial and Workplace Well-Being for Doctors: Lessons for Life After Medical School
This free, academic lecture series is designed to help doctors take control of their financial and workplace well-being, so they can focus on what they do best—providing superior patient care.
Oct 20, 2022
Job Shadowing: Observers, Volunteers, and Students in Clinical Settings
Create guidelines to prevent practice risks, eliminate patient harm, and protect patient privacy.
Sep 19, 2022
Building a Culture of Safety in Healthcare, Part One: Mutual Respect
Mutual respect is the foundation of patient safety, risk reduction, and professional satisfaction. In the first article of a four-part series, Dr. David Feldman outlines strategies for fostering respect in healthcare.
From
The Doctor’s Advocate
Sep 14, 2022
Recording Office Visits and Procedures: Pros and Cons for Healthcare Professionals
As smartphones have become ubiquitous—giving patients a video and audio recorder that’s always at hand—the question of whether or not these devices should be allowed in the clinic or hospital setting is becoming increasingly more common. The issue of allowing patients to record their appointments requires balancing potential privacy and liability risks with the potential benefits of improved patient recollection of instructions and treatment adherence.
Aug 30, 2022
Telephone Triage and Medical Advice Protocols
Telephone triage requires an accurate assessment of the patient’s concerns without the benefit of a face-to-face visit.
Jun 16, 2022
Patient Billing Challenges: Frequently Asked Questions
Our experts answer common billing questions and provide strategies to help your practice address issues proactively.
May 31, 2022
The Role of the Medical Assistant in Your Office Practice
A medical assistant (MA) can be a valuable addition to an office practice, but MAs should not perform tasks outside their scope of practice.
Video May 24, 2022
How Is Amazon Changing the Healthcare Industry?
Richard E. Anderson, MD, FACP, Chairman and CEO of TDC Group, explains that as Amazon move into healthcare, they will have significant credibility in claims they make about providing better service, better access, better prices, and better convenience. Traditional healthcare will struggle to match them.
Video May 24, 2022
How Will Corporate Entities Entering Healthcare Affect How Clinicians Provide Care?
Richard E. Anderson, MD, FACP, Chairman and CEO of TDC Group, believes the trend of patient-centered care morphing into consumer-driven care will accelerate, but there will remain a distinction between medicine’s definition of “patient-centered care” and retail’s perspective on “customer service.”
Video May 24, 2022
What Will Be the Impact of Corporate Entities Playing a Greater Role in Healthcare?
Richard E. Anderson, MD, FACP, Chairman and CEO of TDC Group, explains how the involvement of large non-legacy corporate entities in healthcare is growing and is challenging—and while this trend brings some benefits, it will also impact how all clinicians provide healthcare.
Mar 22, 2022
Reduce Clinician Burnout and Improve Well-Being With People-First Leadership
Solving burnout requires a comprehensive organizational commitment and people-first leaders who have the tenacity to change systems and deliver solutions.
Professional Education
Burnout: Spotlight on System Changes
There is a national movement to address the systemic causes of clinician burnout. Read the article "Clinician Burnout: From a Crisis to a Movement" to learn ways that clinicians can create system change in their own work environments.
Feb 23, 2022
Pediatrics: Addressing Social Determinants of Health and Adverse Childhood Experiences
The role of the pediatrician, which encompasses the management of a child’s physical, behavioral, and mental health, is critical in preventing and mitigating childhood adversity and trauma.
Jan 27, 2022
As Corporate Entities Enter Healthcare, Practices Can Respond via Patient-Centered Care
Corporate entities have always been involved in healthcare, but now mega corporations—from outside the medical space—are entering the field. The involvement of these large non-legacy corporate entities in healthcare is growing and is challenging—and while this trend brings some benefits, it will also impact how all clinicians provide healthcare.
Dec 15, 2021
Telephone Communication for Healthcare Providers: Safety Strategies
When casually or carelessly conducted, telephone communications can lead to diagnostic errors and misunderstandings that can culminate in professional malpractice claims
Sep 08, 2021
Terminating Patient Relationships
If it becomes necessary to end a patient relationship that is no longer therapeutic or appropriate based on patient behaviors, it is critical to end the relationship in a manner that will not lead to claims of discrimination or abandonment.
Professional Education
Patient Relations: Spotlight on Challenging Situations
The Doctors Company’s dedicated patient safety risk managers deliver a wide range of expert services and resources to our members—including personal telephone consultations to help guide members through challenging situations. A recent review of our call data shows that “patient relations” and “patient termination” consistently appear as the top reasons that members request assistance. The following strategies can help prevent challenging patient situations and provide guidance if one occurs.
Professional Education
Risky Practices: Hidden Liabilities Identified by Medical Office Assessments
Office practice assessments by The Doctors Company's patient safety risk managers uncover hidden liability risks, often exposing areas where patients can "fall through the cracks" and leave the practice vulnerable to a malpractice claim. Our Practice Risk INSIGHT, an assessment tool customized by specialty, zeros in on problematic areas. The assessments have been completed across a range of practice environments around the country—from small offices to practices that are part of large integrated delivery systems. In this course, we analyze the results of the Practice Risk INSIGHT assessments, highlight problem-prone areas and offer strategies to minimize liability.
Nov 26, 2019
How Healthcare’s Transformation Affects Physicians and Patients
Richard E. Anderson, MD, FACP, chairman and CEO of The Doctors Company, discusses some of the most pressing issues facing providers today, including rising healthcare spending and hospital mergers.