1. Letter and check from a patient. 2. Announcement of a medical society meeting. 3. Advertisement for an x-ray machine. 4. Mail-order gardening catalog. 5. Letter from patient, Charles J. Conway. 6. Check from patient Mr. Bill Owen. 7. Advertisement about a new tranquilizer drug. 8. Journal of the American Medical Association (current issue).

JOB SKILL 12-1 Process Incoming Mail Performance Objective Directions with Performance Evaluation Checklist You will be opening today's mail and determining what action needs to take place for each piece. Some of the mail will be placed on the physician's desk; please designate its importance by indicating “top,” “middle,” or “bottom” of the mail stack. You may need to read and annotate some mail, route mail to other office workers, pull a patient's chart and possibly place the chart on the physician's desk (if the office does not use electronic medical records [EMRs]), record items on the physician or medical assistant's calendar, or set up a file folder. All money received needs to be posted or recorded on the patient's ledger or account, the daysheet or journal, and the bank deposit (you can simply check “record payment”) and then put in a safe place (locked drawer or safe). You will need to verify the address on all checks received against the office records to make sure each address is current. You have the ability to write checks if an invoice needs to be paid and you may simply file or discard an item. Study the following list of mail items and use critical thinking skills to determine what action needs to be taken. Refer to the headings in Workbook Figure 12-1 and indicate with a checkmark (?) how each piece of mail is to be handled (check all that apply). 1. Letter and check from a patient. 2. Announcement of a medical society meeting. 3. Advertisement for an x-ray machine. 4. Mail-order gardening catalog. 5. Letter from patient, Charles J. Conway. 6. Check from patient Mr. Bill Owen. 7. Advertisement about a new tranquilizer drug. 8. Journal of the American Medical Association (current issue). 9. A request for a reprint of an article written by Dr. Practon. 10. Letter marked “Personal” to Dr. Fran Practon. 11. A drug sample. 12. Letter referring a patient to Dr. Gerald Practon. 13. A piece of pornographic literature. 14. Letter announcing an evening professional meeting in 2 months. 15. License tax-due notice. 16. Charity solicitation letter. 17. Insurance query about patient Mrs. Dorothy Ranger. 18. Medicare payment for patient Beth Cook. 19. Lab test results on patient Mary Murdock. 20. Consultant report on patient Bill McKean. 21. Check from Aetna Insurance Company for service rendered to Samantha Boatman. 22. Prudential insurance questionnaire on patient Tom Patten. 23. Invoice from V. Mueller Supply Company. 24. Letter from patient Clarice Stark without date or return address (these do appear on the envelope). 25. Letter from Dr. Lees concerning a research project. 26. Letter about cancellation of appointment by a patient who is on vacation. 27. Time magazine. 28. Mutual funds investment letter. 29. Local medical society agenda for monthly meeting. 30. Ad for new filing equipment. 31. Mail-order medical instrument catalog. 32. Gift parcel from Mrs. Gaspar Whelan (patient). 33. Letter notifying Dr. Fran Practon of the death of a colleague. 34. Telegram from Dr. Perry Cardi congratulating Dr. Gerald Practon on his election as vice president of the local medical society. 35. Personal letter, opened by mistake.