Office managers saw the largest one-year compensation increase on record-with total average compensation up to $65,428 in 2005 from $60,882 in 2004, a 7.5% increase, according to the 2005 PAHCOM salary survey. Based in Pensacola, FL, PAHCOM is a leading association for healthcare office managers specializing in physician practice management. PAHCOM President Kelly Dietrich, MA, CMM, attributes the record increase to the increasingly pivotal role office managers play in maintaining a successful practice.

In part one of this two-part look at contracts, we review which clauses in your payer contracts should raise red flags. In part two, we'll examine how to respond if payers fail to keep up their end of the contract. Although it is potentially one of the most difficult responsibilities of your job, understanding and negotiating payer contracts is integral to the ultimate success of your practice. Think you need a legal degree to be contract savvy? The good news is that in most instances, that's not the case, said Sherri C. Staat, CMPE, administrator for Orthopaedic Associates Medical Clinic in Visalia, CA, who offered her in-the-trenches advice about contracts during a two-part seminar at the 2006 MGMA Financial Management Society-Managed Care Assembly in San Diego.

Undetected silent PPOs may be cashing in on your patients One of the most financially dangerous yet least talked about problems facing providers today are silent preferred provider organizations (PPO). A basic form of managed care, silent PPOs offer patients your practice's reduced rates without your physicians knowing and without exchanging those rates for the normal benefits of PPO participation. Of course, not all PPOs are bad. A legitimate PPO consists of a network of providers and hospitals that agree to accept a discounted fee schedule in return for being a preferred provider. When a provider joins a PPO, that provider's organization enters into an agreement with the payer.