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John B. Pinto, consultant, appointed Practice Management Section Editor
Mr. Pinto hopes to introduce more voices from industry, as well as physicians with management expertise. Expect to see views from the new and the seasoned physician.
John B. Pinto, the new Practice Management Section Editor for Ocular Surgery News, comes aboard with plenty of new ideas. His plans for the section include vendor perspectives on practice management, financial planning advice for practitioners and increased coverage of patient accounts management and compliance issues.
New OSN Practice Management section editorJohn B. Pinto has been writing for OSN since 1984. He has written numerous books on practice management and lectures regularly around nationwide. He hopes to add articles from physician administrators, industry experts, compliance professionals and financial planning advisors. He also would like to have complementary columns from new and retired physicians to show their perspectives of the field. “I’d like to widen the circle of who’s involved with physician management issues,” Mr. Pinto said. |
Mr. Pinto is president of J. Pinto & Associates, Inc., an ophthalmology practice management firm in San Diego. He has been writing articles for Ocular Surgery News since 1984.
“I got into consulting through a series of well-placed accidents,” Mr. Pinto said. “From the third grade to the middle of college, I was headed for a medical career. I was a pre-med student, and then I decided that being a clinician myself was not going to be it.”
Work with vaccine pioneer
Mr. Pinto graduated from the University of California with a bachelor of science degree. Soon after graduation, he worked as a research assistant for Nobel Prize winner Dr. Robert Holly at The Salk Institute. It was here that he suddenly switched career paths and found himself in the public affairs department. At age 23, he became the worldwide publicist and traveled Europe representing Jonas Salk and The Salk Institute.
At age 26, he began J. Pinto & Associates, an advertising agency. In 1985, he cofounded Vision Surgery Centers to open radial keratotomy clinics around the country. At this time, he realized that many ophthalmology practices were not well managed, and he could be of value offering clinical management services to physicians.
“I think the work I do as a consultant parallels the environment that most ophthalmologists are in,” Mr. Pinto said. “At this point I’m very happy doing what I’m doing, and I can’t imagine doing anything else.”
The future
Mr. Pinto said he foresees future articles in the Practice Management section from physicians who have become successful administrators and from industry representatives with strong physician relationships and valuable perspectives on what makes a practice run well. There will also be periodic contributions from new ophthalmologists, discussing what they expect from the field, along with columns from retired ophthalmologists with advice from their postcareer perspective, he said.
“I’d like to widen the circle of who’s involved with physician management issues,” Mr. Pinto said.
Other potential topics will include financial planning and regulatory and coding compliance.
Financial planning columns, complementing the advice from current columnist Fred Dowd, will target physicians’ personal financial affairs in addition to their practice finances, Mr. Pinto said.
Compliance articles will help physicians deal with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and its implications for clinical practice.
The past
Mr. Pinto hopes to follow successfully in the path begun by his predecessor, Herve Byron, MD, with whom he has worked for 20 years. He also has admired and worked alongside David Schneider, MD, of Cincinnati, John Corboy, MD, of Hawaii, and other senior surgeons who, he said, “paved the way for fellow surgeons, managers and consultants to enhance the business environment for the profession.”
“They’ve taken me in 25 years from a real greenhorn to someone who halfway understands how surgeons think and live, and what’s important to them,” he said. “I’ve been able to do some very interesting experiments on their practices and find out what works and what doesn’t.”
Mr. Pinto has written several books on practice management and countless articles in ophthalmic trade publications, and he lectures regularly around the nation. He was the founding president of the San Diego chapter of the National Association of Science Writers and a founding sponsor of the San Diego Big Brothers Business Connection. He is a member of the American Society of Ophthalmic Administrators and the Southwestern Yacht Club.
For Your Information:
- John B. Pinto can be reached at J. Pinto & Associates, 1576 Willow St., San Diego, CA 92106; (619) 223-2233; fax: (619) 223-2253; e-mail: pintoinc@aol.com; Web site: www.pintoinc.com.