Merriam-Webster’s Medical Office Handbook, Second Edition is a complete guide to running an efficient .and effective medical Office. This practical and comprehensive volume provides essential and up-to-date information on every aspect of keeping a health care office running smoothly.

Today’s medical office workers want to focus on providing quality health care for their patients--not on searching for information about efficient office procedures. Merriam-Webster’s Medical Office Handbook, Second Edition gives medical professionals all the information they need about medical office administration in a convenient, easy-to-use volume that’s bound to become the most widely used reference in the medical office.

This fully revised and updated edition was written by a team of experts in the field of health care administration, in consultation with Joseph Hamburg, M.D., Sc.D., L.H.D., a physician and dean emeritus of the College of Allied Health Professions at the University of Kentucky. This single volume brings together the accumulated wisdom of these respected profes.sionals and offers their advice and practical, step-by-step instructions on using proven office techniques and procedures.

All of the most essential topics for the modem health care office are covered: medical ethics, medical law, quality of care, managed care, computers in the medical office, personnel policies, records management, dictation and transcription. There is even a guide to medical writing that will help office workers generate clear, easy-to-understand documents and correspondence. And a wealth of special sections, covering everything from career development to medical abbreviations to poison-control centers, makes this one of the most comprehensive medical office references available today.

Preface

1. Medical Ethics

 Understanding Professional Responsibilities, 1 · Respect for

 Persons and for Their Autonomy, 6 · Beneficence, 12 ·

 Justice, 14 · Additional Ethical Responsibilities, 17 ·

 Emerging Issues in Medical Ethics, 20

2. Health Law

 Introduction, 23 · The Physician’s Relationship with the

 Patient, 24 · Regulation by Government, 29 · Certification and

 Accreditation, 32 · The Relationship with Payers, 34 · Handling

 Medical Information, 36 · Leases and Other Contracts, 38 ·

 Liability, 38 ·Conclusion, 44

3. Quality of Care

 The Importance of Quality in Medical Care, 45 · The Definition

 of Quality, 47 · Measuring Quality--Historical Background, 48 ·

 Implementing TQM in the Medical Office, 53 · Integrating

 TQM and QA Activities, 65 · Conclusion, 68

4. Managed Care

 An Evolving System, 69 · HMO Models of Managed Care, 73 ·

 Other Models of Managed Care, 76 · Specialized Managed-

 Care Models, 79 · Managing Utilization in HMOs, 82 ·

 Managing Health Benefits, 85 · Provider System

 Models--Future Potential, 86 · Integrated Health Systems, 91 ·

 Managing the Health of Populations, 96

5. The Computer in the Medical Office

 Introduction, 99 · General Principles and Operational

 Techniques, 100 · Good Computer-Related Work

 Habits, 107 · Computer Networks, 111 · Configuration of

 Office Computer Systems, 112 · The Computer-Literate Asset

 to the Practice, 119 · The Future, 120

6. Medical Office Components

 Business Office Design, 124 · Clinical Office Design, 130 ·

 Medical Office Personnel, 141

7. Personnel Policies

 Introduction, 150 · Personnel Policies Manual, 150 ·

 Recruitment of Medical Office Staff, 153 · The Hiring

 Process, 156 · The Working Relationship, 161 · Terminating the

 Working Relationship, 165 · Legal Requirements of a Working

 Relationship, 169 · Benefits of a Working Relationship, 174 ·

 Death or Disability of a Physician, 176 · Conclusion, 177

8. Human Relations in the Medical Office

 Introduction, 178 · Patient Service, 178 · The Telephone, 184 ·

 Human Relations among Staff Members and with Patients, 195 ·

 Conclusion, 200

9. Health Information Management

 Components of Health Information Management, 201 ·

 Collecting Health Information--Appointments, 206 ·

 Patient Registration Information, 210 · Health Records

 Information--Format, 212 · Health Records

 Information--Content, 217 · Releasing Health

 Information, 226 · Using Health Information for Insurance

 Billing, 233 · Managing Health Information, 237 · Filing

 Systems, 239 · Health Records Retention, 246 · Health Records

 Disposition, 250 · Computer Use in Health Information

 Management, 253

10. Financial Management

 Introduction, 256 · Physician Fees, 257 · Billing and

 Collection, 263 · Banking, 273 · Internal Financial

 Controls, 277 · Budgeting, 279 · Taxes for Medical

 Practices, 280 · Insurance for Medical Practices, 281 ·

 Retirement Plans, 284 · Conclusion, 286

11. Medical Transcription and Correspondence

 The Transcriptionist in the Medical Office, 287 · Dictation/

 Transcription Equipment and Reference Material, 290 ·

 Transcription in Practice, 29 · Medical Correspondence, 302 ·

 Proofreading and Editing, 305

12. A Guide to Punctuation and Style

 Punctuation, 325 · Capitals and Italics, 359 · Plurals and

 Possessives, 380 · Compounds, 388 · Abbreviations, 400 ·

 Numbers, 410 · References, 427

Appendix A. Career Development

 You as the Job Applicant, 431 · Sources for Jobs, 436 ·

 Interviewing, 440 · On the Job, 444

Appendix B. Supplementary Information

 Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, 446 · Schedules of

 Controlled Substances, 449 · Glossary of Managed Care

 Terms, 451 · National Practitioner Data Bank, 453 ·

 Immunization Schedule, 454 · Poison Control Centers, 454 ·

 Selected References, 461

Appendix C. Medical Abbreviations

 and Vocabulary

 Abbreviations, 466 · Frequently Confused and Misused

 Words, 486

Index