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Find out whether gift cards are acceptable for insurance co-pays.

The author reflects on the possibility of being paid what you're worth.

Learn whether life insurance is subject to estate tax.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act gives new impetus to form accountable care organizations to better coordinate the care of their patients, especially those with chronic diseases, and to ensure a continuum of care.

Know how to protect patients' information with billing companies.

To many physicians, the current healthcare environment is complex and overwhelming. From accountable care organizations, global capitation, and value-based purchasing to episode payments, episode groupers, and bundled payments, the terminology seems to be addressed to larger organizations than small primary care groups.

Federal pilot programs established to use health information technology to improve patient care and reduce costs are having a hard time meeting the latter goal.

The author reflects on a Consumer Reports article about doctors and patients.

What do you do if you realize that your records actually may do harm to a patient's lawsuit?

Relatively few Americans consult online rankings or reviews of hospitals and physicians.

Letters discuss encounters with a rock legend and grocery store visits.

Since the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services asked for comments on the much-anticipated regulations for accountable care organizations in late March, the proposed rules have been under constant attack.

The author did not retire in a hurry. He had read many articles about the planning for, and timing of, retirement.

The proposed accountable care organization regulations arrived on March 31 and have caused much strife and speculation in the medical and legal communities in recent months.

Twenty-seven percent of the hospital departments in urban and suburban areas have closed in the past 20 years, according to a new study.

Understand how to make profitability and efficiency work effectively in practice.

What do you do if you realize that your records actually may do harm to a patient's lawsuit?

If you are a primary care physician, the good news is that your median compensation probably increased from 2009 to 2010. The bad news is that you still are making substantially less? sometimes less than half as much? as some of the higher-paid medical specialties. Now, the AAFP is seeking to do something about who determines the relative value of physician services.

When it comes to clinical transformation, information really is power. And if you don?t share enough information to empower staff, you probably won't get the results you want. That was the lesson from a recent study by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and McKesson, the health care technology company. Your practice can plan now to avoid those problems.

An innovative new program is providing abbreviated medical education to New York judges so that they can quickly dispose of frivolous malpractice suits and speed settlements of others. The ?judge-directed negotiations? concept, which began in the Bronx and is being expanded with a $3 million grant, offers some significant benefits to physicians facing the ordeal of a lawsuit.

Diagnostic issues are most likely to get you sued in the outpatient setting, according to a new analysis of reports to the National Practitioner Data Bank. The analysis published in JAMA also noted that the number of paid malpractice claims originating in the outpatient setting is catching up to the inpatient setting, but that the mean payments remain much higher for inpatient claims.

Are the days of solo and small physician practices numbered? Very likely for most practices, according to two recent surveys that indicate the trend of hospitals employing physicians is continuing unabated and raising new issues for all parties. Make sure you know how to protect your interests in negotiations with a future hospital employer.

If you aren?t e-prescribing today, you?re facing a 1% cut in Medicare Part B payments next year and a 1.5% penalty in 2013?but there?s still time to squeeze in the required 10 e-scripts before June 30 if you act quickly. With days to go before the deadline, use these tips to implement what you have or choose an e-prescribing program you can start using right away.

When patients request copies of their electronic health records from your practice, the clock starts ticking. This Q&A gives you the new information on the minimum information required and how quickly you must provide it. Also find out why you soon may have to inform patients when their health information is viewed.

Location, location, location doesn?t just apply to real estate; it also is a factor in how Medicare calculates payments to your practice. But how accurate and consistent is that process? Not very, according to a recent Institute of Medicine Report. Find out what the IOM recommended and what they?re proposing to improve accuracy.

Likely coming to a state near you: Medical malpractice reform. Why have malpractice case filings dropped more than 45%?nearly 70% in Philadelphia?since two significant rule changes implemented by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court? And what has been the effect of a Texas proposition that put a cap on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice claims?

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) wants to publicize data about the care you?re providing as a primary care physician so that consumers and business could compare your cost and quality to other providers. The claims data would be derived from both Medicare and private sector insurers. Find out more while there?s still time to influence the final rule.

Recent congressional testimony makes it clear: The government?s health IT initiative will stand or fall on the ability of small practices to adopt EHRs and demonstrate meaningful use. The problem is that small practices, where nearly 60% of office-based physicians work, face significant financial, administrative, and legal barriers to technology implementation. What is being done to solve the problem?