Editor's note: This is the first in a two-part series on dealing with poor performers. This month, we tackle identifying the cause of the problem and talking to the employee. ext month, we'll touch on conducting better performance appraisals and disciplining, and we'll include a free 20-page special report on human resources (HR) challenges. In vaudeville theater, a poor performance led to a giant hook coming across the stage and yanking the actor back into the wings. Although you may sometimes feel like your underperforming staff deserve this type of treatment, there are other solutions that can get you the same results. If you're feeling lost, start with these two steps (suggested by HR consultants, not Vaudevillians) to better manage employees and improve the performance-appraisal process

Editor's note: This is the second in a two-part series on how publishing a newsletter can help your practice. Last month, we explored how to use an internal newsletter to communicate with and educate staff and physicians. This month, we show you the benefits of sending a newsletter to patients. Open up the Spring Health & Wellness News, the patient newsletter published by Massachusetts-based Lahey Clinic, and you'll find useful health information, such as warning signs for a stroke, as well as questions and answers about painful bladder syndrome. The newsletter provides a valuable community serv-ice for its readers, informing them of potential health threats and information about possible medical treatments, says Scott Hartman, director of communications and marketing at Lahey Clinic. But it also serves another function-to help the clinic communicate with patients on a regular basis and market its services.

Receiving proper reimbursement and staying within compliance guidelines are two of the most important responsibilities of your job. Consultant Ruth Dolby, president of Dolby Healthcare Consultants, LLC, in Stoughton, MA, says office managers ask her more questions about how to code accurately than they do about any other topic. If you're like many coders and office managers, you likely have a list of coding questions that's a mile long. Below, Dolby and Joe Rivet, CPC, CCS-P, revenue manager for Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, answer a few frequently asked questions.

This month, thousands of physicians will head to the polls to vote for candidates whom they believe will improve the healthcare system and best represent physician interests. For many, that's where participation in the political process ends-at least until November of the next even-numbered year. But a handful of doctors, such as Richard Neubauer,1 MD, FACP, a private practice physician in Anchorage, AK, take their involvement to the next level, advocating year-round on behalf of physicians-one of the most efficient ways to effect change in the healthcare system, he says.