Why Neurology Residents Join First Choice Neurology

FCN Starts Neurology Practices: FCN has Practice Administrators experienced in establishing an outpatient practice. They know the basic building blocks necessary to create an infrastructure that will grow with your business. They listen to what you want; advise what you need; then work with you to make it happen.

FCN has Experienced Colleagues: There are over 90 neurologists, 35 Office Managers, licensed coders and auditors, a contact center that can act as your front desk, IT specialists for your network needs and EMR specialists to help you establish your system and structure for documenting your work with patients. All are just a phone call away. Most can be made available to visit you in your office.

FCN Reduces Uncertainty: Because of the experienced staff, knowledgeable colleagues, and a desire for you to be successful, the uncertainty of outcome is reduced to zero. We execute the plan for onboarding, edit it each time we find a more effective way to proceed, and share what we learn from you with others who face similar issues.

FCN’s Website is a Magnet for New Patients: FCN will create a bio for you, add it to our website and you will begin getting exposure quickly. FCN will add any interviews, publications, lectures, etc. to the website, social media, and Google which helps FCN have a stronger presence as you get the direct benefit of the exposure.

FCN has a Menu of Support Options: FCN has a Contact Center filled with capable and experienced operators who answer phones, schedule patients, verify benefits, extract authorizations, confirm appointments, capture signatures on registration documents, connect patients to foundations for funding patient responsibilities on high-cost drugs, and other duties required of your office staff. All of this is available to you and is done outside of your office which reduces the freneticism otherwise associated with a busy office. This leaves your office staff to attend to the needs of your patients and you.

FCN Ancillary Services: FCN has a PT/OT outpatient rehabilitation center with certified LSVT therapists. We have 4 infusion centers to provide patients treatments within the physician’s own practice. FCN has been, at times, the first practice in Florida to administer new drugs once they are released and FDA-approved. We also have an MRI center that is ACR accredited with board-certified neuro-radiologists or orthopedic radiologists interpreting and reporting.

Therapy with Protocols by Condition: FCN offers physical and occupational therapies with protocols developed for specific conditions such as: Memory Disorders, Stroke, Multiple Sclerosis, and Balance. The staff is eager to develop protocols for new disease states requested by the physicians.

FCN Offers Infusion Services within Your Practice: FCN has four sites for Infusion Services. Staff is trained and certified in delivering each medication prior to its administration. FCN is an early adopter of new infusion drug therapies and has an effective relationship with Pharma to acquire drugs and access co-pay support for patients. We find patients prefer to be treated in our centers versus alternative sites.

FCN has MRIs with Unique Sequences: FCN has control of the sequences used on MR imaging. Standard sequences are established by the physicians and can be altered by physicians for purposes specific to condition or physician preference.

FCN Has Images and Documentation in EHR: Access to MR images, therapy notes, infusion notes, and schedules are all available in the electronic health record you use to capture your encounter data.

FCN Performs Benefits Verification and Prior Auths: FCN ancillary services are already established and fully staffed, with verification, authorizations and billing done by the corporate office, not your office.

FCN Prepares You for Success & FCN Prevents Failure: All of the service and support listed above greatly reduces the time from “start-up” to sufficient revenue to operate your practice and fund your life choices. FCN’s structure does not lend itself to soliciting patients for your office. Offices can be geographically proximate and so each office must generate its own stream of patients. We have found that even offices very competitive with each other prior to joining FCN have found it better to collaborate with those who were once competitors instead of fighting them once all are inside FCN. There are not enough neurologists in the world to serve all the patient's needs. There is a need to find better ways to provide that service.

FCN Fights Audits: One of the banes of private practice is the “audit”. Insurance companies are notorious for reviewing claims and taking back payments. Many practices do not have experienced staff or maybe they do not see the value of fighting an audit, but FCN both sees the value and has staff experienced in overturning the take-back of money from audits. Physicians join FCN, follow our guidelines and stop giving money back. This is one of the less obvious perks of being a part of FCN.

FCN has Favorable Malpractice Rates: FCN pays attention to risk and takes steps to keep physicians and office staff sensitive to safe practices. We have risk assessments of offices to review practices to ensure we are doing what we can to prevent adverse outcomes. The result of this is that our rates for medical liability insurance remain lower than the community rate. In addition, if a letter of intent is received, FCN supports the physician by helping select qualified defense attorneys, attending all meetings and depositions, and making sure the physician’s questions are answered to limit surprises inherent in the process.

FCN Assures Compliance: FCN pays attention to the details. We know the rules. We establish templates for documenting patient care so that compliance is more likely than not. Each template follows your workflow which is reviewed by licensed coders to assure each code you select, both CPT and ICD-10, are supported by the documentation. We also review notes prior to submitting claims to, again, make sure that the notes support the claim. The coders learn from the doctors. The doctors learn from the coders. It is a collaboration in effort and process.

FCN Reports Required Quality Metrics: FCN has earned the “exceptional” performance designation in every year of quality metric reporting. We have a system of making sure that the data are captured in a way conducive to reporting. Again, we try to have the data we need to be captured in your ordinary workflow. We may have your office staff capture some of the data not specific to you but critical for reporting.

FCN Completes Practice’s Tax Return: Payroll is done through a service so all of the requirements for reporting payroll taxes are completed by the service. The Partnership return is completed by our CPA. The result of this is that you will get wages through payroll and a K1 from the Partnership which is used to file your personal taxes.

FCN Does Not Interfere with What Works, Your Staffing, or Impede Your Preferences: FCN allows you to function in your office with your preferences. Frugal or extravagant is your choice. Few or many staff is your choice. Décor in the office is your choice. Efficient or inefficient office processes are your choice. We are happy to help with anything in your office that you request, but we respect your choices and try not to engage in/with your office without a request.

FCN Does Not Impose on Your Schedule, Control your Patient Volume or Patient Preference: FCN receives no additional value if you see more patients or a particular type of patient. Who you see, how many you see, and what circumstances they arrive with are all your choices.

FCN Does Not Require You to Cover Hospitals: Whether you provide on-call coverage for hospitals is your choice. It may be to your advantage to take call initially in order to introduce yourself to referring physicians on the floors and in the lunchroom and to let them see your skills with patient care. However, whether you take call is your choice.

First Choice Neurology is Your FIRST CHOICE to Success!