According to practice consultants and administrators,  we will see a large increase of veteran physicians retiring in the coming months.   These veteran physicians will choose to retire instead of having to deal with the practice altering changes that are coming in the near future, such as electronic medical records (EMR) and ICD-10 coding. Specific challenges will arise for practices who bring new doctors to replace the leaving ones.

A 4 step checklist for physician transition: 

1. Make Your Expected Notice Known - Check your physician’s contracts to see where you stand on the notice they need to provide before leaving. No matter what the contracts say, you can let your staff know what is an acceptable period of notice is before leaving the practice. Make sure all new contracts reflect this new precedent.   
2. Credentialing and Enrollment - One of the toughest challenges to hiring a new physician is getting them credentialed to bill both private payers and Medicare. Let new physicians know that you need documents and information for credentialing immediately.  Don’t let new physicians see patients until the effective date on their enrollment applications.  Some practices use a line of credit to cover the cost of starting doctors before their applications are fully processed, since delayed credentialing was impossible to avoid for every single payer in most cases.
3. Continuity of Care - Prepare your patients and referral partners about any physician transition. The best you can help your patients and partners see that the torch is being passed from one physician to the another, the better off you will be. Try to have outgoing physicians review and sign a letter that introduces the new physician. Introducing the new physician in person at the end of a visit is even better.
4. Financial and Ownership Changes - Some physician departures will require the need for a health care attorney. Most practices buy out the shares of the departing physician and put the new physician on a track to future ownership. Don’t change business type lightly because a change will require a new tax ID. A new tax ID will require every payer you deal with to update your enrollment and all that pertains.

TCI/ECP and its partners can help you every step of the way.   We have credentialing and enrollment specialists to help assist you make sure all physicians are properly credentialed and all payers have been successfully enrolled.