Practice Management Education in Orthopaedic Surgical Residencies

Abstract

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) is an independent accrediting organization that works in conjunction with each medical specialty's governing body to provide quality education for resident physicians. In 1999, the ACGME identified six core competencies that are important to the practice of medicine. They are: (1) patient care, (2) medical knowledge, (3) interpersonal and communication skills, (4) professionalism, (5) practice-based learning and improvement, and (6) systems-based practice. One of the core competencies, systems-based practice, enables a physician to interact effectively with the health care system, utilizing resources properly without compromising care. This competency is not well delineated; thus, the specific skills needed are not well understood. The systems-based competency does, however, incorporate practice management. Practice management skills are becoming increasingly important in navigating the health care system. A physician can no longer be concerned only with the clinical aspects of his or her practice but must also be able to interact with multiple health-care entities such as insurance companies and hospitals. Additionally, physicians must develop the skills needed to run a business (a practice) as well as know how to code and bill correctly for their services. The purpose of this article was to review the current trends in practice management training during graduate medical education that have been reported in the literature. Furthermore, we wanted to gain a better understanding of how graduating orthopaedic residents are educated with regard to one aspect of practice management, coding and billing issues, during their residency training program. Coding and billing issues are largely overlooked in residency training programs, and it is often left to the institution's graduate medical education office to provide training in this area. Unfortunately, this education is often inadequate because it is not reinforced with practice activities. Finally, we wanted to compare our practice management education …