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When it comes to end-of-life issues across all ages, the primary care physician(s) who know the family best should have an integral role in the formal bedside decision-making process. Furthermore, primary care physicians should be compensated for the time it takes at the bedside to assist in directing the best care for these patients.

A recent report released by the Association of American Medical Colleges forecasted that the U.S., will face a physician shortage of somewhere between 61,700 and 94,700 doctors over the next decade.

Primary care physicians commonly screen their patients for depression, but still underuse established and effective care management practices compared to other chronic illnesses like diabetes, asthma, and congestive heart failure, according to a recent study published in Health Affairs.

DOWLING Contributing authorGETTING PAID FOR HOME VISITSRenee Dowling is a billing andcoding consultant with VEIConsulting in Indianapolis, Indiana.Send your coding questions to:[email protected] am in private practice and recently did a home visit, one-hour evaluation for the first time. What is the code for the initial home visit and then subsequent visits?

Until they’ve opened a letter from the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) notifying them that their practice is being audited for HIPAA compliance, many physicians don’t realize the gravity of the situation their practices may be facing.

The current form of the program ends in 2019, but physicians still should try to meet its requirements.

The United States faces an unenviable paradox: the healthcare sector is an important source of job growth and economic output, but healthcare costs-now comprising nearly one fifth of economic output-are dramatically higher than those in other developed nations, and continue to rise.

Awareness of, and preparation for, coming changes should begin now, according to Robert Doherty, senior vice president for governmental affairs and public policy with the American College of Physicians.

The cloud revolution has many wonderful advantages such as lower costs, faster ROI and more powder in the hands of customers. However, when using cloud services your company data is no longer hosted on your physical IT infrastructure so there are some new legal and technical issues that have to be addressed.