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With the new high-deductible health plans requiring more out-of-pocket contributions from patients, it's essential for your practice to optimize time-of-service collections.

Slightly more than half of physicians have changed their retirement plans since the recession began.

Is it possible to charge interest on late payments?

The Medicare sustainable growth rate formula remains in place, despite efforts by numerous physicians and their associations to get it repealed during negotiations over raising the nation's debt ceiling.

When to consider giving up on the stock market.

Know your options for paying back student loans during residency.

Being short-staffed has become an accepted way of life in this particular practice.

Care for patients with diabetes improved appreciably when their physicians use electronic health records extensively.

Should physicians consider treating their own staff?

The author discusses the fine art of negotiating and offers 6 tips.

Patients treated by hospitalists spend less time in the hospital and incur lower costs than those treated by primary care physicians, but they are more likely to be readmitted and visit the emergency department, according to a new study.

Major healthcare organizations are lining up against proposed changes to federal privacy rules that would make it easier for patients to see who has viewed their medical records.

You may want to take off the white coat when you make hospital rounds each morning to avoid bringing more than your expertise to hospitalized patients. Some 60% of the time, traditional doctors? garb harbor dangerous bacteria, a recent study says. If you can?t bear to leave the coat behind, here are some tips on making it safer.

The incentives driving electronic health record adoption could be affected if health information technology falls victim to cuts by the Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. Here?s what the experts have to say.

Compensation for ?physician extenders? continues to rise as practices scramble to expand capacity and maintain already slim operating margins. Find out what pay packages are being offered and if your practice is staying competitive.

The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) is urging a new congressional ?supercommittee? to repeal the despised Sustainable Growth Rate formula and stipulate a reimbursement system for the next 3 to 5 years that will give primary care physicians a 3% higher payment rate. Read on to find out why AAFP argues that spending more healthcare dollars on primary care will likely save money in the long run.

Does medical liability reform help you financially, regardless of whether or not you?re ever sued? The experience in Texas suggests that the answer is Yes. Since tort reform was passed in 2003, insurance rates have dropped an average of 27% for all physicians. Read more to find out about other ways physicians have benefitted.

If you failed to meet the June 30 electronic prescribing deadline, you've got an extra month to avoid a cut in next year's Medicare payment. Here?s more information on the exemptions and how you might qualify.

Remote locations make adopting electronic health records a unique challenge for rural physician practices. The government has recognized that and is earmarking specific funds for those initiatives. See if you qualify for those grants and loans.

One reason for an empty waiting room is the ailing economy, according to a recent report. Monthly indices compiled by Standard & Poor suggest that office-based physicians may see a drop in patient visits, if they haven't already. Economic analysts also found that revenues for treating Medicare patients were at their lowest annual growth rate since at least 2005. Keep reading to find out what is likely to turn the trend around.

Annual influenza vaccination rates for physicians often are significantly higher than for their office staff members, even nurses, according to a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report. That could be a problem when your waiting room is filled with sick patients this winter. CDC offers four easy-to-implement recommendations to get your practice employees to line up for the vaccine, without your actually having to require it.

Should selecting a physician really be more like online banking or searching for real estate on the Internet? The Illinois legislature apparently thinks so. See what this new law requires to be included in all physician and surgeon profiles for online public inspection.

Hospitals and primary care physicians (PCPs) may benefit from the growing numbers of PCPs employed in hospital-owned practices, but patients and third-party payers may be harmed by the trend, at least in the short term, according to a recent study.

The government?s new flexible bundled payment initiative allows practices to largely define their own terms of participation. But will the array of models resolve issues with undervaluing evaluation and management work and negotiating fair payment rates with hospitals? Find out how the definition of ?episodes of care? might make a difference.

Learn the pros and cons of incorporating.

Discern whether currency trading is a viable way to make money.

The demand for ancillary services that combat the signs of aging has exploded with the aging of the American population.

If you look closely at the airline industry, there's much to learn from the leading airlines and steps they've taken to rebound from a point of weakness to a growing financial stability.