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IV Hydration Therapy! All You Need to Know!

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The benefits of IV hydration therapy are vast. To most people, it is a luxury to get intravenous fluids when feeling under the weather or after surgery. But at Vivify Hydration Lounge and Medispa in Batavia, NY vitamins provided intravenously can also be used to help prevent inflammation and dehydration in athletes, busy moms with toddlers running around their feet, patients with chronic illness in need of supplementation, or someone who just wants to look better and feel better!

Our recent Tune in Tuesday interview was with Michelle Maniace, owner of Vivify Hydration Lounge and Medispa. In the video below, she will tell you all about IV hydration therapy so you can decide for yourself if this is something that would benefit you or someone you know. In the video, she makes an interesting point regarding the benefit of receiving vitamins intravenously versus orally. She says that an issue with taking vitamins orally, is that when processed through the digestive system, your body is not always absorbing them, and therefore not receiving the intended benefits. However, with IV vitamins, they go directly into your bloodstream, allowing for 100% absorption.

When asked who the ideal candidate would be for IV Hydration therapy, Michelle said it could essentially be anyone, although she emphasized the significant benefits for patients with chronic conditions, as well as bariatric patients. She said patients with Cancer undergoing chemotherapy, benefit from intravenous vitamin C, among others. Additionally, she spoke about other infusions that can benefit patients with autoimmune disorders for example, such as one IV pack that assists in the detoxification of the liver.

IV therapy isn’t just for those who are sick though. It also benefits athletes, as well as those who are looking to improve the appearance of their skin through some biotin, and other intravenous vitamins. And, lest we forget…did you drink a little too much last night? No worries, Michelle has you covered with her hangover package.

Interested to learn more? Listen to the video below.

IV Hydration Therapy! All You Need to Know

Need help opening your medical or wellness practice? Click here to learn more!

Fighting to Lower Health Plan Costs!

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From the humble Buffalo suburb of Cheektowaga to the owner of a large health plan, consisting of 400,000 members and clients such as the University of Notre Dame, Dunkin Donuts and Fisher-Price Toys, Ron Zoeller knows all there is to know about health insurance.

Similarly, his business partner, Kevin Gannon, one of eight children raised in Lackawanna, New York, rose from his beginnings as a broker of life insurance, to owning and selling his own brokerage, to joining Ron in the development of Azeros Health Plans in 2019.

As the only Managing General Administrator in the Self-Funded health insurance industry, Azeros is about more than selling employer health plans. Using their combined years’ worth of experience, they are seeking to partner with employers to seek solutions that improve their bottom line and positively benefit their employees. Companies possessing 100+ employees will benefit in becoming self-funded by removing the “fat” that goes toward health insurance admin and brokerage fees. Instead, they will pay dollar-for-dollar toward their expenses, ultimately saving significantly on their health plan costs.

Transitioning companies to self-funded health insurance isn’t the only way Ron and Kevin are saving money for their clients. Additionally, they employ the practice of Reference Based Pricing (RBP), as well as a prescription benefits management program that is saving employers as much as 30% on prescription costs! Never heard of RBP? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Typically, in-patient charges can result in charges that are 250-400% of Medicare. Through Reference Based Pricing, Azeros works to obtain charges that are 150-200% of Medicare, half of what they typically would be!

Interested to learn more about what Ron and Kevin and the Azeros team can do for your company? Listen to this video to learn more, as well as head to their website at www.azeros1.com There, you can use a tool they have named the “Under-Righter”, to see what savings you may be able to achieve. Under 100 employees? That’s okay, they can still assist your organization as a fully insured employer, including still being able to assist with the significant prescription medicine savings! And yes, even if your company has already renewed their annual plan, they can assist you at any time!

Listen in as Ron and Kevin discuss their backgrounds, what they’re working on now, and how Azeros and Cornerstone are collaborating to help both employers and physicians! Also, stick around for the end, when Ron tells us the story of when the Bills almost left Buffalo, and how he influenced them staying.

Physician-Centric Consulting Services!

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Independent physicians need an ally.  Provider practices are consolidating everywhere.  Hospital systems are assuming control and purport to represent the physician perspective.  In a two-year period, the 2,800 U.S. hospital systems have bought 8,000 medical practices.

National health insurers are also in the fray, now buying regional medical groups.  United Healthcare has purchased the largest independent medical practice in Massachusetts.  United, Aetna, and Cigna aren’t yet a significant presence in Buffalo or Rochester, but when that occurs, relationships will change.

In this new environment, Cornerstone Healthcare Consulting and Management represents group practices, sole practitioners, and hospital – employed doctors.  Working as an employee for a healthcare system does not eliminate the need for an independent brand identity.

We are the physician’s “agent” – whatever is needed, we provide analysis and insight.   As important, we implement our recommendations.  Our functions can include marketing, branding, medical billing, the opening of a new practice, or a merger with another.  All services are confidential, of course.

Being aware of industry trends is essential to our business.  The rising cost of medical care to Medicare, Medicaid, and Commercial (employer) budgets has put pressure on payer/provider relationships.

Western New York is not immune to the dynamic.  Why did UPMC/Pittsburgh, itself both a hospital system and health insurer, buy WCA Hospital in Jamestown?  Why did HealthNow Blue Cross allow itself to be taken over by Highmark/Pittsburgh and what will it mean to Buffalo providers?

The ultimate healthcare goal is to serve the patient; their needs get lost in the typical shuffle.  Health plan deductibles have increased dramatically, and some medical groups perform front-end credit checks on new patients.  Access to primary care is a major problem.

As Cornerstone moves forward, it has partnered with Azeros Health Plans in developing an Exclusive Provider Organization which offers visit capacity while eliminating co-pays.   The EPO model offers much needed physician independence, access to primary care, and cost control.

We want to be the trusted advisor of the medical practice.  No job is too big or too small.  Schedule a consultation via our website at www.cornerstonehealthcareconsulting.com.

Physician-Centric Consulting Services

Making Private Medical Practices Sustainable

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In today’s world of big corporate health care systems, private medical practices are a space for patients who want a different experience and physicians who do not want to work in a big system structure. Private medical practices often face sustainability issues, many physicians find themselves looking at the possibility of selling or ceasing operations. Melissa Starowitz, the founder of Cornerstone Healthcare Consulting and Management, is an expert in healthcare administration and management, specializing in guiding private physician practices into a more sustainable future, increasing business and quality of patient care.

Starowitz has a long history of successfully running multiple practices of her own and was offering telemedicine well before the COVID-19 pandemic made it so popular. Now, she is working to help private practice physicians turn their business around with her unique and highly effective turnaround consulting method. Her goal is to keep private practices in business and allow practitioners to focus on their area of expertise, treating patients.

Starowitz‘s approach is distinctly different than most, setting her apart from other healthcare management consultants. Most consultants come in, review the practice, identify problem areas, develop a plan to address them, then leave. Starowitz explains that she takes a whole-picture approach, she is not just going to give a practice a once over and some suggestions. Instead, she conducts a thorough, very in-depth examination of the business, getting into the details about literally everything to gain a full perspective of how the business operates, and where things can be improved. Her goal is to reduce both operating costs and overhead, once she is done identifying areas and methods of improvement, she sticks around to implement them.

Starowitz focuses on areas that are often overlooked when practitioners are trying to figure out why their business is not sustainable. Part of the process is in-depth, confidential interviews with every member of the staff, and determining if personnel are in the right positions for their education and skills. It is often the case that someone who may not have the right skill set is making decisions about things like benefits packages, vendors, supply chain contracts, and more that end up costing the practice money. Starowitz goes through the practice top to bottom with a fine-tooth comb, then develops a detailed plan, specific to that practice’s needs, to move forward.

One of the areas that showcases Starowitz as a changemaker is that she is willing to do whatever it takes to help a private practice turn around its business and has the skills to back it up. She will do everything from implementing websites and marketing, doing social media, rebranding, engaging the staff, and more. A big part of the work is improving outdated technology, Starowitz is hands-on, she will install phone systems herself if need be!

Starowitz is passionate about high-quality medical care and is a shining example of an independent woman in business. She always had an entrepreneurial mindset, starting a lawn mowing business in college to support herself. Originally, she planned to study clinical medicine, eventually realizing her skills were better placed in management, where she made her passion for providing the best possible care for patients come to life. As an only parent to her young son, Starowitz is an amazing example of a driven businesswoman who has made her mark, building a business to meet her own needs as well as those of her clients. Learn more about Starowitz and her impressive model of turnaround consulting on her website, and connect with her on LinkedIn and Facebook!

Making Private Medical Practices Sustainable

New Physicians Choosing Private Practice Again

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As the workforce evolves and younger generations are entering into the mix, there has been a big push for independence and working for oneself. This is true in every industry, and especially so in the healthcare world. Many younger physicians and medical specialists are looking for options involving private practices, not wanting to be tied down or restricted by big hospitals and healthcare systems.

Melissa Starowitz, Founder of Cornerstone Healthcare Consulting and Management, specializes in helping practitioners make the jump into private practice and expects to see a lot more of them popping up in the next few years. This is in part due to patterns she sees that resemble what happened a few decades ago, and due to the business and healthcare management environment of today.

As Starowitz explains, this draw towards opening private practices stems in part from younger generations entering the workforce, and not being satisfied with the status quo. Many people now want to go into the entrepreneurial space, while still working one-on-one with patients.

Some physicians feel reluctant to get into a contract with a big healthcare system because they are limited in how they can practice, these systems often have patient quotas, specific treatment timeframes, and treatment limitations. In other cases, it is simply a practitioner wanting to focus on a more customer-centric model, and wanting the freedom of owning their own business.

Start-ups of any kind are easier now more than ever, without the requirement of a brick-and-mortar space there is no limit to how practitioners can connect with patients. Cornerstone Healthcare Consulting and Management has a turnkey solution that can get private practices up and running quickly, with everything they need to provide the best patient care.

They also work with practitioners looking to purchase or partner into an established practice, going through all the pros and cons, helping them decide which route forward best serves their needs.

Starowitz has been in the business a long time and has herself started multiple successful private practices in the Greater Philadelphia Region and New York area, so she knows what it takes both from the management side of it and the owner side. She is not a practitioner, she is an expert in healthcare systems management, and knows the industry inside and out.

Because part of her business is working with practices looking to sell, or improve their sustainability, she knows all the different areas where things can go wrong or need improvement. Her company helps with every single phase of the process, she will do everything from the ground up, including scouting out retail space, coordinating the website, installing the phone system, literally everything.

Starowitz is so successful because she never loses sight of the objective, providing the best care and making things better for the patient. She strives to be cutting edge and on top of trends in the industry, looking at all the new methods and business models that are working.

An example of that is telemedicine, which she was offering well before the COVID-19 pandemic made it so popular. As an entrepreneur herself, she knows exactly what struggles and challenges these practitioners will face and has a ready-made way to approach it.

Starowitz is an incredibly positive and insightful person, deeply committed to helping both physicians and patients. As a single mother, and woman in business, she understands how important work-life balance is and incorporates that into everything she does.

Visit the Cornerstone Healthcare Consulting and Management website to see how they can help get your private practice started.

New Physicians Choosing Private Practice Again

Dr. Praba Jeyalingam – Gynecologic Surgeon

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Dr. Praba Jeyalingam -Gynecologic Surgeon

We all have a story. What’s yours? In this Tune in Tuesday episode, Dr. Praba Jeyalingam shares about her unique journey that started in family medicine, that has ultimately landed in gynecologic surgery. A fellowship trained surgeon in urogynecology, Dr. Jeyalingam is a rockstar in her specialty, with skills that include the ability to operate robotically.

Until recently, Dr. Jeyalingam has been working as an OBGYN in a private medical practice located in Buffalo, New York. Although very skilled in obstetrics, her true love is in the operating room. Having built a large patient following, we know her patients will be disappointed in no longer being able to see her, however she provides a recommendation for patients to transfer to former colleague, Dr. Marsi Cloud, who has recently joined local private practice, Buffalo OBGYN.

Don’t miss this great interview, as Missy Starowitz, owner of Cornerstone Healthcare Consulting asks Dr. Jeyalingam the following questions:

1.) Tell us about your journey to get where you are now, and where you’re headed next.

2.) Why OBGYN?

3.) Going from private practice to a hospital employee is a big change. Do you think it is helpful to have an attorney review your employment agreement?

4.) What is something you’d give as advice to a med student or resident?

5.) Who was Praba Jeyalingam in high school?

6.) Favorite place to eat in Buffalo?

What an honor it is to know and work with Dr. Jeyalingam. We are excited to witness all that is in store for her in this next chapter of her story.

Be sure to click the link below to watch the interview! Want to learn more about Dr. Praba Jeyalingam? Click here to visit her website!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ac8hu2On4E