Business of Medicine

Business of Medicine

Have questions about the business of medicine? Learn more about proper billing procedure and how to close a practice.

There’s more to running a medical practice than providing patient care – understanding the business of medicine is complicated but essential.

Discharging a patient

If, for whatever reason, a physician is considering discharging a patient from their roster, they must ensure they meet their professional obligations. Download this guide to understand these obligations outlined by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia (CPSNS) standards, “Ending the Physician-Patient Relationship” and “Reducing the Size of a Medical Practice.”

Billing information

Ensuring that you are billing properly for the medical services you provide is essential to receiving appropriate remuneration. It’s important to be familiar with the MSI Physician’s Manual and to be signed up to receive MSI Physician's Bulletin updates by email.

Subscribe and review new MSI Physicians’ Bulletins, which provide updates on changes to billing rules and fee values. Search the 2014-present bulletins for key words related to fee codes. Open the document (click here), then:

On your keyboard:
-Click <Ctrl+F> to reveal the search box
-Type a key word or phrase into the search box and press enter

Please note: Physicians are responsible for all their claims, even when those claims are entered by someone else, such as billing staff. MSI is the ultimate authority on physician billing. If you have questions about billing, email MSI and save the response for audit purposes.

Billing seminar recordings

Family medicine billing seminar recordings are available to watch online, on-demand from the MSI website.

Learn more

Understanding payments received

MSI payments can be difficult to understand, making it difficult to know when you’ve been paid for services. Did you know you can access MSI pay statements online? Go to www.msielink.ca and log-in with the six digits of your provider number as your username, you will then be able to compare your business arrangement number(s) with work completed on each pay statement to reconcile your payments with your billings.

Closing a practice toolkit

Choosing to close your medical practice is a big decision, and it comes with a to-do list that can be just as daunting. Whether you’re retiring, relocating or changing careers, there are lots of details to take care of to ensure your patients and their personal health information are taken care of appropriately. Download and use this guide to help make the transition as smooth as possible. Watch this video for the highlights.

Contact

Physician Advisory Team

Next steps