OSSA

General Services

23 March 2011

Dear doctor

PRACTICE ADVISORY SERVICES

We have pleasure in providing the following information regarding services available to OMG Members:

As an OSSA/OMG member you will also be a member of the South African Private Practitioners Forum (SAPPF). SAPPF has replaced the defunct South African Medical Association (SAMA) Specialist Private Practice Committee (SPPC).
Access to all preferred provider agreements negotiated by OMG on behalf of its members, eg Global Fee arrangements with Transmed, Prime Cure and Discovery Key Care.
HealthMan Helpdesk to deal with practice related queries, eg medical scheme issues, PMB’s, rejections of accounts or codes, etc. These queries have been dealt with and resolved effectively over a period of years. All queries should be referred to Ernst Ackermann at omgqueries@healthman.co.za.
HealthMan is a major role-player in the practice cost studies conducted on your behalf and in the RPL process. Studies have been completed for all Specialist groups and are available on request. An excel model is available that will allow practitioners the opportunity to set fees based on practice costs.
HealthMan plays an important role in protecting the interests of members with regard to legislative issues. In this regard submissions have been made on the National Health Amendment Act, the HPCSA Ethical Rules dealing with Doctor’s ownership in hospitals, the RPL application against the DoH, the BHF attack on Regulation 8 for full payment of PMB’s and the latest DoH policy document on Price Determination in the Private Sector.
As an OMG Member you also have access to the following commercial services:
- Reduced premiums on medical malpractice insurance via Glenrand MIB
- Reduced merchant rate on credit card terminals via ABSA bank (2.4% on credit cards and 1.15% on debit cards. Monthly rental R120)
- Discounted price on Healthfocus practice management software
- A review of your personal investment planning, insurance exposure and staff employee benefits. A HealthMan associate company Prosper Financial Services (Pty|) Ltd is FSB registered in this regard. Contact Lodi Jordaan at 011 340 9000 or email lodi@prospergroup.co.za.
- Practice advisory services to assist with other practice management issues, eg buying and selling practices, partnership agreements, financial arrangements, etc.
The OSSA website www.ossa.co.za is sponsored by Alcon and hosts a variety of functions designed to assist you within your practice. We have recently moved to a new platform for the secure section of the OSSA website. This new platform ensures more flexibility and offers access to additional communication tools, richer content and the ability to market a range of value added services. Once online simply log into the secure section using your username and password in order to access the following services:

My Community:
News room	View the latest news articles
Community address book	Find colleagues throughout the country
Ask the Exco	Post a question to the executive board
Email Archives	View your email archives
Online Poll	Participate in the latest polls
Calendar	Update an online calendar
My Practice:
SMS	Send individual SMS communications - maximum of 400 SMS's per month
Update Details	Update your profile details
Hospital Search	Search hospitals throughout the country
ICD10 Codes	View full ICD10 codes by chapter or by code blocks
Medical Schemes	View information, benefits and contact details
PMB’S	View PMB's by diagnosis or by revisions
Classified	Place, view and manage adverts at no cost - Adverts remain active for 2 months
Employment	Post an employment opportunity free of charge - postings will remain on the system for 30 days
My CPD:
Ethics Articles	View CPD accredited articles and gain additional CEU's by answering the associated multiple choice questions
Normal Articles	Gain additional CEU's by reading and completing the multiple choice questions with a minimum pass rate of 80% within 2 attempts
My Points	View your current point allocation & print certificates
Add CEU’s	Add CEU's to the CPD vault. CEU's are valid for 24 months from the event date
Contact the MYCPD team	Contact details of the CPD team
HPCSA guidelines	View CPD guidelines & criteria
Directory:
Journal Room	View online journal articles
Guidelines	May vary according to each community/society's needs
Consent Forms	May vary according to each community/society's needs
On Promotion:
Internet Access	View details on an ADSL Internet deal via e2 Solutions
Email	Communicate with your patient database using e2's bulk email system
Practice Websites	View details on creating a practice website to market services to patients

If you have not yet joined OMG, please complete the attached Share Application and ACB authorisation and fax it back to us on 011-782 0270.

Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have any further queries.

Kind regards

DR LOUIS P KRUGER
CHAIRMAN
082 551 7730
lkretina@mweb.co.za

DR WILLIAM M EARL
CEO
083 467 9350
willearl@worldonline.co.za

FOR QUERIES OR TO ARRANGE AN APPOINTMENT CONTACT US: MARDI ROOS - OMG NETWORK MANAGER ON 011 340 9000 or roos@healthman.co.za MANAGEMENT GROUP
	Johannesburg: Mr Casper Venter on (011) 340 9000 or fax (011) 782 0270 Cape Town: Mr Ernst Ackermann on (021) 864 2542 or fax (021) 873 7440 E-mail the HealthMan offices at healthman@healthman.co.za