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Members Member Resources AAAAI News AAAAI eNews AAAAI Job Placement Center Promoting your Practice Order Public Education Materials Disease Management/ Ask the Expert Teaching Slides Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Education and Research Trust (ART) Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 2007 Accomplishments Annual Meeting Executive Staff Contacts Online Membership Directory AAAAI Organizational Structure » Members Contact Members Town Hall Message Board AAAAI: Professional Home for the Practicing Allergist Grants and Awards Hot Topics Joint Council of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (JCAAI) ST*AR Program AAAAI Assembly overview Allied Health Federation of the RSLAAI Societies International Military Allergy New Allergist/Immunologist Assembly Program Directors Organizational Chart Board of Directors Interest Sections Committees Fellows-in-Training Allied Health Professional Assembly Federation of RSLAAIS International Assembly Military Allergy Assembly New Allergist/Immunologist Assembly Program Directors Associates		Academy News: October 2004 FITs praise AAAAI Practice Management Workshop By Laura J.B. Davis, MD For the first time ever, the AAAAI sponsored a conference dedicated solely to the business aspect of the practice of allergy. It was universally acknowledged that this aspect of the practice of medicine is ignored during medical training. The July conference in Chicago covered issues that are truly crucial to our livelihood. Many view the business side of medicine with fear, or worse, disdain. Like it or not, even if you are going to pursue a career in academic medicine, I highly recommend learning about these issues during fellowship, as the period of time where you are “sheltered” from the business aspect will likely someday end. I attended this workshop while I worked through the process of starting my own practice. I found the material covered to be immensely valuable. On Friday, we received an overview of various issues from management consultant, Keith Borglum. This session touched on topics such as cost controls, managing staff, medical record management and legal issues. Saturday led to more specific sessions. We saw how at least one big group had created a budget, and followed it by using financial software and a customized Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. The session highlighted the need to track expenses in order to control them. One issue that incited quite a bit of interest was that of physician compensation. It is not a straightforward topic. There are many ways to calculate compensation, so when it comes time to interview, be sure you have your own lawyer and/or accountant to help evaluate a contract. The recruitment of allergist/immunologists is a highly heterogeneous process that will likely take up a large amount of your time—if it hasn’t already. Remember, the most important thing is to establish mutual respect between the existing practice members and the applicant, and determine “fit” before moving on to any other issues. If this step is missed, the relationship is doomed to failure and everyone loses. It also became clear that both practices and fellows often did not have adequate information during the “courtship” process, often leading to inefficiency and frustration. Fellows wanted complete information, as this decision affects their personal as well as professional lives. Many practitioners did not want to open the books, as the person they are hiring could become a future competitor. This was a tough issue to resolve. There was a significant amount of variation in staffing patterns across the country. This varied from the employment of all nurses, partly due to state laws, to employment of mostly medical assistants to perform ancillary tasks. What was consistently advised was to create a friendly environment for staff, with clear, consistent expectations. Employees are immensely valuable in an allergy practice, but mismanagement can lead to difficulty firing a poorly performing employee, or worse, litigation. Saturday night we heard about what Richard Wasserman, MD, PhD, FAAAAI, a very computer savvy physician, was able to do with electronic medical records in his office in Texas. It worked very efficiently for him, and led to many added benefits in terms of tracking patients for medication recalls, or finding research subjects. I applaud the AAAAI in addressing these key issues. If you have the opportunity to attend this workshop in the future, I highly recommend it. This year, the registration fee was waived for a limited number of fellows graduating in 2004. Hopefully this support will continue in the future.   <back>
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