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THIRTY-YEARS FEATURED ARTICLES

 

FEATURE #1 of 30: . . . a bit of history . . .

Neurology Consultants, Chtd. was founded in 1979 by Dr. Arthur Allen and Dr. Michael Ryan. At that time, Dr. Allen's wife, a Registered Nurse, served as the Corporation's first Office Manager. Shortly thereafter, Dr. Gordon Kelley joined them in 1983. Thoughout this time, the physicians of Neurology Consultants, Chtd. served as "active staff" of 10 area hospitals. By 2003 Dr. Kimberly Cochran came on board, making this one of the largest neurology physician groups in the area. Our four physicians have many years of experience in the field of neurology and are dedicated to providing expertise and comprehensive care in a compassionate environment. The staff at Neurology Consultants is highly trained to assist the neurologists in providing outstanding patient care services. Our staff members have worked for Neurology Consultants, Chtd. for over 20 years, which shows dedication and loyalty to the community in which we serve. Neurology Consultants, Chtd. continues to be one of the most well-respected and busy neurology practices in the region.

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FEATURE #2 of 30 - About National Stroke Awareness Month

In 1987, National Stroke Association initiated and received a presidential proclamation to annually celebrate National Stroke Awareness Month in May. The goal of the annual campaign is to raise public awareness about the full continuum of stroke by managing stroke risk factors, better understanding of stroke symptom recognition and response and improving the quality of life during stroke recovery for millions of stroke survivors in the United States.

Our neurologists, Dr. Arthur Allen and Dr. Gordon Kelley serve as the Medical Directors for the Stroke Centers at Shawnee Mission Medical Center and at St. Joseph Medical Center. These State-of-the-Art Stroke Centers have outstanding programs that include prevention and awareness education, rapid diagnosis, thorough treatment, and comprehensive rehabilitation.

In celebration of National Stroke Awareness Month – Neurology Consultants, Chtd. wants to do our part to raise public awareness about the continuum of stroke by educating our readers on managing risk factors to reduce stroke risk and promoting a better understanding of possible stroke symptoms. Look next week for a chart of how to quickly recognize possible stroke symptoms.

To find out more information right now on Stroke go to www.stroke.org.

Did you know?

• Stroke is a "BRAIN ATTACK."
• Stroke requires emergency treatment.
• Fewer than 5% of stroke patients receive t-PA, a life-saving treatment.
• You only have 3-hours from the onset of stroke symptoms to receive t-PA.
• To receive the best care for stroke, you should request transport to a certified Comprehensive Stroke Center, such as the Stroke Centers at Shawnee Mission Medical Center and St. Joseph Medical Center.

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FEATURE #3 of 30: May is National Stroke Awareness Month

Act F.A.S.T. to increase recognition of and response to stroke symptoms!

Want to help reduce the impact of stroke? Spread awareness about stroke symptoms so everyone quickly recognizes them and immediately calls 911. Use the F.A.S.T. method for recognizing symptoms.

F = FACE	Ask the person to smile. Does one side of the face droop?
A = ARM	Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?
S = SPEECH	Ask the person to repeat a simple phrase. Does the speech sound slurred or strange
T = TIME	If you observe any of these signs, it's time to call 9-1-1.

Time Is of the Essence

According to the American Stroke Association, every 45 seconds someone in America has a stroke. Every three minutes someone dies of one. When it comes to treatment, time is of the essence. The longer you wait, the more damage you may have.

Warning signs of stroke include:

• Sudden numbness or weakness in the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body
• Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
• Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
• Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
• Sudden, severe headache with no known cause
• If you or someone you know has any of these symptoms, call 911 immediately.

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FEATURE #4 of 30:

Meet Our Staff

Since 1979, Neurology Consultants, Chartered has been serving the Greater Kansas City Area with our commitment to excellent medical care. An important element of a patient's experience is the office staff.

Our highly trained staff is dedicated to helping our patients find solutions to their neurologic needs. The medical assistants, front desk staff, accounting, and other departments understand that they are essential in helping to provide a positive experience for the patient.

Below is a list of the individual departments and the corresponding team members:

Medical Assistants Dr. Allen - Brenda Dr. Cochran - Cindy Dr. Kelley - Kamysha Dr. Ryan - Diane Dr. Seeley - Judy PR/Marketing Kara Privacy Officer Megan

Front Desk Lorraine Nancy Kara Megan Transcription Jo Anne Johanna Sue Scheduling Keli

Office Manager Diane Office Manager Assistant Angela Clerical Assistants Lauren Karen Norm

Billing Manager Jane Billing Brenda Mary EEG Technicians Maura Kim

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FEATURE #5 of 30:

Meet Our Staff!

Our Medical Assistants are:

Diane, Dr. Ryan's Assistant
Kamysha, Dr. Kelley's Assistant
Judy, Dr. Seeley's Assistant
Cindy, Dr. Cochran's Assistant
Brenda, Dr. Allen's Assistant

The Medical Assistants at Neurology Consultants, Chartered serve as the liaisons between the patient and their physician, often-times triaging the most urgent health care needs while working with the neurologist to address each issue in a professional and compassionate manner. Medical Assistants handle an average of 50-100 individual patient requests per day and are responsible for seeing that all patient needs are met and that the physician is well-informed about each unique situation.

The responsibilities of a Medical Assistant may include:

• Welcoming and escorting patients to examination rooms
• Taking the patient's vital signs and medical histories
• Setting up and cleaning examination rooms, including changing linens and setting up instruments/equipment for specific procedures
• Maintaining inventory of supplies in examination rooms and replenishing as required
• Scheduling new patient and/or follow-up appointments
• Scheduling diagnostic tests and communicating with patients throughout the process of testing, diagnosing, and explaining test results
• Precertification of procedures and tests as needed
• Educating patients and/or families as to the nature of disease and providing instruction on proper care and treatment based on physician's direction
• Documenting all conversation with patients timely and accurately
• Completing all paperwork associated with patient care
• Updating medical charts to reflect the most recent health care activity
• Maintaining confidentiality of all patient and office information
• Triaging phone calls for physicians
• Completing prescription refills
• Maintaining quality, safety, and/or infection control standards

At Neurology Consultants, we value our Medical Assistants tremendously and know that they play a crucial role in providing outstanding health care to our many patients.

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FEATURE #6 of 30:

Meet Our Staff!

Front Desk Receptionists

(From left to right):

Nancy, Check-in @ Antioch
Kara, Check-out @ Antioch
Megan, Check-out @ Carondelet
Lorraine, Check-in @ Carondelet

As the face of Neurology Consultants, Chartered, the Front Desk Staff is responsible for giving every patient a warm, caring, and professional first-impression. Since each visit begins and ends with the Front Desk staff, we recognize the lasting impressions that are made and take this responsibility sincerely. Below is a list of the daily activities for each of the front desk positions:

Check-in

• Opening and preparing office for the upcoming day's activities
• Responding to Waiting Room needs
• Answering phones and routing calls
• Greeting and receiving patients
• Collecting any co-payments and/or balances
• Assisting with filing and patient look-ups
• Scheduling and/or rescheduling patient appointments
• Maintaining adequate office supplies
• Logging films in and out
• Mailing out medical record requests and x-rays to be returned

Check-out

• Answering phones and routing calls
• Scheduling future appointments
• Assisting with paperwork associated with tests to be scheduled
• Looking up appropriate information on patients being seen in the next 2 days, including checking balances, chart location, ensuring the patient is in our insurance network, and verifying appointment type.
• Reviewing the automated appointment reminder system reports and calling any patient not reached to confirm appointments
• Obtaining information from hospital sources and physician offices for upcoming appointments.
• Providing backup for check-in and scheduling staff
• Assisting with filing charts

Check back throughout the next few weeks for answers to these questions and more as we feature each department and reveal more about their individual functions.

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FEATURE #7 of 30:

Meet Our Staff!

Transcription

(From left to right):

Johanna
Sue
Jo Anne

With a combined 111 years of experience, the medical transcriptionists here at Neurology Consultants, Chartered make medical transcription look easy.

Using a headset, they listen to the dictated recordings of each doctor, transcribing them into medical reports, correspondence, etc. A foot pedal is used to stop and start the dictation while reports are keyed into a word document. If needed, reports may be edited for grammar and clarity. In order to perform their job accurately, medical transcriptionists must have an understanding of medical terminology, which includes: human body systems, anatomy and physiology, diseases, diagnostic studies, and medical procedures. In addition, knowledge of laboratory values and ranges, generic and brand name drugs, and punctuation, grammar, and composition are required.

Below is a brief list of the medical transcriptionists' day to day activities:

• Transcribe dictation and type reports, records, test results, and miscellaneous correspondence from rough drafts, corrected copy, dictated notes, or transcribing machine records
• Proofread medical reports to ensure accuracy and completeness
• Prepare and maintain files, keep records, and perform other routine clerical tasks
• Answer telephone, take messages, and provide information relating to transcription
• Support the organizations mission, vision, value statements, standards, policies and procedures, operating instructions, and confidentiality standards
• Maintain database of referring physicians and backup data from reports

Even though their job is mostly behind the scenes, our Medical Transcriptionists know that they play a crucial role in providing outstanding health care to our patients.

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FEATURE #8 of 30:

Meet Our Staff!

Scheduling

Scheduling may sound like an easy task, but keeping track of five physicians at three different locations has its challenges.

Everyday, our scheduling department must balance incoming scheduling calls with answering messages to ensure that all patients are contacted for an appointment. Whether the patient has been directed to call and schedule their own appointment or the referring physician's scheduling department contacts our office, we do our best to find the first available appointment that best meets the needs of each patient.

Our highly innovative scheduling software allows us to specify appointment type, physician, location, etc. to determine the first available opening. Once an appointment is scheduled, an automated reminder system calls each patient two days before their appointment to confirm both the date and time.

Below is a brief list of the schedulers' day to day activities:

• Schedule and reschedule all appointments effectively
• Accurately insert schedules at the end of the year for the following year for each location and doctor
• Accurately obtain all information required to make appointments and inform each patient of our policies
• Schedule and confirm office lunches
• Accurately manage doctors' vacations, meetings, and call schedules for each location

With ten years of experience in scheduling for Neurology Consultants, Chartered, Keli knows that her role is crucial in making sure that every patient is given the highest level of care possible. Her greeting is often the first impression one has of Neurology Consultants. The level of professionalism and friendliness offered by our scheduling department is fundamental to our overall mission statement, "Deliver outstanding service to our patients and physicians."

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FEATURE #9 of 30:

Meet Our Staff!

Office Manager

Here at Neurology Consultants, Chartered, the office manager has a wide variety of responsibilities. Her chief concern is to oversee the running of the business by ensuring that all of the day-to-day activities run smoothly. This job requires her to give direction to employees so that everyone in the office functions efficiently. Working closely with the physicians, our office manager carries out or delegates any tasks relating to the practice's organizational needs. With over 42 year of experience, our office manager possesses the leadership, communication, and organizational skills that are required to take on such a complex role.

The daily activities of the Office Manager include:

• Hiring, training, and evaluating staff.
• Scheduling appropriate staffing for all sites.
• Maintaining accounts payable, receivable cash flow, bank reconciliations, payroll, and insurance policies.
• Profit sharing administration.
• Completing month-end and year-end reporting.
• Ensuring adherence to all laws and regulations.
• Ensuring that patient records are accurate, complete, and that confidentiality is maintained.
• Overseeing maintenance of the facilities and equipment.
• Overseeing financial aspects of the business.
• Ensuring correct coding is used to designate the diagnosis/procedure performed.
• Communicating with attorneys, CPA's, and hospital administration.
• Contracting with outside services as needed.
• Providing patient education materials.
• Maintaining an appropriate office environment.

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FEATURE #10 of 30:

Meet Our Staff!

Assistant to the Office Manager

Webster's Dictionary defines the word multitasking as "The performance of multiple tasks at one time." With nearly 12 years of experience with Neurology Consultants, Chartered, the Office Manager's Assistant is no stranger to this concept, and is highly capable of standing in for most any position. Not only is she considered the resident computer technician, but she also creates the hospital call schedules, alleviates stressful situations by maintaining a solution-oriented focus, and keeps the office running like a well-oiled machine.

The daily activities of the Assistant to the Office Manager include:

• Researches accounts payable invoices assuring correctness and pays bills in a timely manner.
• Compiles and inputs data for miscellaneous projects such as licensing, credentialing, equipment updates, dues and subscriptions, etc.
• Assists with computer purchases and maintenance.
• Compiles timecard information and updates personnel attendance records.
• Assists in all office areas as needed.
• Assists with any projects assigned by the office manager.
• Compiles year-end production reports.
• Trains staff members.

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FEATURE #11 of 30:

November is National Alzheimer's Disease Awareness Month

The Alzheimer's Association's 2009 Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures report indicates that there are over 5 million Americans with Alzheimer's disease. This disease causes healthy brain tissue to degenerate leading to a steady decline in memory and mental abilities. This November, the Alzheimer's Association is providing a list of 10 warning signs for Alzheimer's. Along with the advice of a doctor, these signs are key in detecting Alzheimer's disease.

Click the image below for the 10 warning signs for Alzheimer's (pdf):

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FEATURE #12 of 30:

Electroencephalography (EEG) Technician

(From top to bottom):
Maura
Kim

An electroencephalogram (EEG) is a test that identifies and documents brain cell activity. Since normal brain waves are easily recognizable, this test tries to identify any abnormalities that may imply the following:

• Alcohol or drug abuse
• Attention deficit disorders
• Cerebral hemorrhages
• Encephalitis and other inflammatory diseases
• Hallucinations
• Head injury
• Migraines
• Seizure disorders
• Sleep disorders
• Stroke
• Syncope
• Tumors or abscesses in the brain
• Vertigo

Patients are asked to arrive for the test with clean, dry hair (i.e., no conditioners, gels, sprays, or styling products). In addition, they are asked to avoid caffeine for at least 8 hours prior to the test, and are instructed to have no more than 5 hours of sleep the night before. The patient should continue taking all medications prior to the test unless otherwise directed by a physician.

In order to begin identifying and documenting brain waves, the EEG technician attaches 18 to 28 electrodes onto the scalp using a conductive paste. Wires connect these electrodes to a machine that records and converts the brain's electrical signals into a tracing on a computer screen.

An EEG, lasting approximately 1 to 2 hours, is performed as an outpatient procedure. If a patient has any suspected or known seizure disorders, an extended recording may be required. In some cases, patients are admitted to the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU) for further testing.