The Medical School Letter of Intent How to Write a Compelling One

A medical school letter of intent is a notice to an institution explicitly stating ones continued interest in the school. An applicant might write a letter of intent after interviewing or in response to a waitlist notification. Why write a letter of intent? Medical school admissions have become increasingly competitive of late especially in this weaker economy. Competitive applicants who would have considered business or law school are now recognizing the stability of a medical career. The bottom line: The number of medical school applications has again increased this year.

Here are some tips for writing a noteworthy letter of intent:

1.Keep it brief. Do not write more than one page.
2.Write in a formal style with proper syntax, format, organization, grammar and spelling.
3.Focus on your fit with the institution, rather than using bland platitudes about the school. Be specific about what you saw and liked during your interview day.
4.Reiterate what makes you a distinctive candidate. Highlight your accomplishments to distinguish yourself. This section will be the most important part of the letter.
5.Be explicit about your enthusiasm. If the school is your first choice say so. If not, you should still make clear your zeal. (Remember: The institution may yet be your first choices if it turns out you have no other options!)

Finally, consider working with a professional medical school admissions consultant who can substantially improve your letter of intent. Medical school admissions consulting companies come in a variety of forms. Some are bigger businesses that focus on admissions to several types of graduate programs not just medicine. Others are smaller and provide a medical focus, but have a pool of consultants of varying quality. Finally, elite companies offer both the medical focus and a highly experienced consultant who works one-on-one with clients. These professionals are ex-admissions officers from highly respected medical institutions. They have the inside knowledge of how medical admissions work, providing individualized guidance to optimize applicants personal statements, medical school application and interview skills.

When choosing a medical school admissions consulting company, a candidate should verify the companys references and research its consultants. It is best if the company does not assign written materials to outside editors who cannot be evaluated. Elite companies that offer both the medical focus and a highly experienced consultant who works one-on-one with clients offer a large advantage for pre-medical applicants, especially during these competitive times.

What is a Medical Coder

The medical coding career is indispensable to the health care industry. A medical coders job is to report services and products provided by health care providers (such as doctors offices, hospitals, etc) to the health insurer of the patient. It is necessary to report this data in a very organized and specific manner. This is why it is important for the coder to have some sort of medical coding training.

With medicine not always being an exact science, medical coding gives it a way to be more cut and dry. In an attempt to make it more exact, the coder will convert the doctors notes, laboratory tests, requested imaging studies, and other tests into code that is usable and understood by the health insurance companies. It is vital that the medical coding specialist know enough about anatomy and medical terminology to be able to convert these notes into code. It is also vital that the coder be familiar with different types of insurance policies and companies, as the protocol of coding will be slightly different for every company and policy.

The codes used are very important for multiple reasons. One reason being that in order for there to be a system that health insurance companies can comprehend, there has to be a set standard. With this set standard they can then charge the appropriate amount to the patient and to the health care provider. Along with this responsibility, a coder may also have the responsibility to be an advocate for the care provider and patient in times that the patient requires necessary medical assistance. If the claim submitted by the coder is denied by the insurance company, it is also their job to re-file and audit those appeals.

Another reason the codes are important is because the data will eventually be used by both local and federal government for research. As a medical coder your job will help governments and researchers develop treatments for conditions that may not have enough information to make accurate conclusions on yet.

Medical coding is a profession that is absolutely vital to the health industry, because ultimately it cannot survive without someone handling the finances. The demand for jobs in the medical coding field seems to be increasing, along with the average salary which is strong despite the countries current financial uncertainty.

What are the Top Medical Schools

Every ambitious and aspiring medical student wants to be accepted into the top medical schools. While it may make no difference which medical school you attend to get your license as an M.D., it does matter in the career and networking opportunities you have after graduation. In this article, we will discuss some of the top medical schools in the United States.

Harvard Medical School — this one tops the list, especially when it comes to research, but is also strong for primary care.

John Hopkins University — as far as US news is concerned, John Hopkins Hospital has been the best in America for the last 17 years in a row.

Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis — with 115 years of experience and research, education and patient care. Its rich history and in-depth research is sure to help you in your professional career.

Oregon Health and Science — while it’s the only health research university in the state of Oregon, it presents an excellent opportunity to learn about patient care, both for in-state and out-of-state students.

University of Pennsylvania — with an equal commitment to being a leader in patient care, research and education, Penn medicine is an excellent choice for any aspiring doctor. In fact, their goal is to be recognized nationally as the most accomplished and respected school of medicine.

Duke University School of Medicine — Duke University boasts a community of scholars, who are devoted to teaching, research and patient care. In addition, they’re graduating classes averaged 60% less debt than other private medical schools in the nation. In fact, the debt was even less than public medical schools, on average.

Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons — the main focus of the College of Physicians and Surgeons is on medical education, which they pour all their resources into. They are an excellent choice for both general and special practice, as well as offering advancement in research, teaching or even administration.

University of New Mexico School of Medicine — the US news, 2007 addition, ranked the University of New Mexico school of medicine as a number two program in the nation for rural medicine, as well as number 10 in the nation for family medicine. In fact, five departments were also ranked in the top 40 in the National Institutes of Health.

In conclusion, consider this list of top medical schools when you consider who to send your application into, it also worth building strong credentials to increase the chances of being accepted into one of these top medical schools.

Advantages of Medical Related Technologies

What are EMRs? EMRs or electronic medical records are technologies widely used in the US today which aims to improve medical practices in different health care providers or institutions, such as in a hospital, by giving them a way to quickly and efficiently store, access, and modify their patients medical records.

Advantages of EMR over the use of Paper-Based Records
EMR was introduced to eliminate the use of paper-based records in different health care institution, which is still a widely used form of recording a patients health and medical information. According to experts, by eliminating the use of paper-based records, EMR also eliminates the usual adverse effects of using pen and paper, such as:

Storage Costs
Patients health and medical records are normally stored in a secured storage facility for 7 years. The cost of storing these records is usually expensive, particularly if stored in a secured storage facility normally found outside a hospital or other health care institutions.

Digital storages, usually in a Hard Disk Drive, normally cost lesser compared to the use of storage facilities. And this digital information produced by an EMR can be storage not only for 7 years, but for more than that time.

Medical Errors
The use of paper-based records also posed a number of problems which caused a number of medical errors. Handwritten paper medical records can be associated with poor legibility, which can contribute to medical errors. Pre-printed forms, the standardization of abbreviations, and standards for penmanship were encouraged to improve reliability of paper medical records.

Electronic records help with the standardization of forms, terminology and abbreviations, and data input. Digitization of forms facilitates the collection of data for epidemiology and clinical studies.

According to a number of studies, the use of EMR software can verall efficiency by 6% per year, and the monthly cost of an EMR may (depending on the cost of the EMR) be offset by the cost of only a few “unnecessary” tests or admissions.

Difference with EHR
EMR and EHR are said to be similar with each other. However, there are several differences that separate both types of electronic records. The EMR can be defined as the legal patient record created in hospitals and ambulatory environments that is the data source for the EHR.

Medical Marketing Tips How to Use a Blog to Promote Your Medical Practice

If you are a doctor and youre not blogging, the question is: why not? Blogging is a powerful method of medical marketing that helps you get your name out there, connect with potential patients, and generate more business. You might be wondering why on earth you would take time out of your busy schedule as a physician to write for free. Well, heres why.

For one, if youre far too busy to blog yourself, you can always hire a ghostwriter to write your blog posts for you, and then review each blog post to ensure that you approve of its content and request changes if necessary. Secondly, blog posts arent difficult to write. Even if you just take 30 minutes out of your day, you can write a pretty decent blog post. Blog posts tend to be shorter than other kinds of online articles, and they are written in a casual tone.

Surely, you already have a website for your medical practice. If not, you absolutely need to get one. In this day and age, in order to attract new patients, its essential for a portion of your medical marketing campaign to be conducted online. The majority of adults search for health information online and when they need to go to the doctor, they do a quick online search to find doctors in their area. You need to make sure that you have a search engine-optimized website that people can find when they search online. People are more likely to trust you and choose you as their doctor if you have a presence online. Blogs help you expand that presence and give your practice more credibility.
The main purpose of having a blog is to connect with your patients and potential patients. Now, clearly, you wouldnt use a blog to talk about what happens in your practice or how your day was. However, you could use a blog to discuss the latest treatments in your field, recent medical breakthroughs, and other general information. When people browse online for medical information and find your site, they are likely to trust you as a good source of information since you are a doctor. This helps you build authority within your medical field as well as online.

Another important benefit of blogging is that you can connect with your readers on a personal level. Your blog readers will comment on blog posts you write that they find interesting, and you can then respond to their comments. As a result of blogging, you can connect with your patients and potential patients. People will think of you as a friendly, approachable doctor rather than one who is too busy to give them the time of day. This personal connection is important because it helps you attract more patients to your practice.

Blogging is also beneficial because it gives your online presence a major boost. People arent the only ones who love blogs; search engines do too. Blogs are constantly updated and the search engines like content-rich sites that are fresh and frequently updated. Furthermore, a blog connected to your main website makes it easier for search engine robots to crawl and index your site. And most importantly, content is considered king online. Both people and search engines love great content. Great content attracts links on other relevant sites and blogs, which then leads to a higher search engine ranking. Search engines judge the popularity and relevance of your site based on the number of links back to your site that accumulate on other websites.

Blogging also makes it easier for you to participate in social media because you have something that you can immediately share and use to attract attention to yourself and your practice. By joining a site like Twitter, you can post updates, or “tweets,” each time you write a new blog post. If the blog posts are good, other Twitter users will “re-tweet” them and spread them across the twitterverse. Social media marketing is like word-of-mouth on steroids, and when used properly, it can catapult you to both online and offline fame.

So, what are you waiting for? If your medical marketing plan doesnt include blogging, consider adding a blog to your current website. The more you update the blog, the better, but you can even update it as little as once or twice per week if you are too busy to dedicate any more time to it than that. There are a number of doctors and hospitals that have used blogging and social media to generate publicity and attract new patients, and you can do the same. Start a blog today if you want to increase awareness about your practice and generate publicity both online and offline.