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Good news from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services: The agency has decided to drop a rule that would have required you to sign requisitions for lab tests for your Medicare patients.

A majority of medical groups stated that critical software upgrades to comply with new patient privacy standards have not been made and testing with health plans has not been scheduled.

As an independent practice owner, your revenues, and therefore your livelihood, come almost exclusively from insurance reimbursements and direct payment from your patients.

Weight loss services can produce new revenue streams that may offset, at least partially, stagnant or declining income from existing services, while helping patients with type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular risk, high levels of cholesterol and other medical issues tied to obesity.

Your patients belonging to a racial or ethnic minority, and those with the lowest annual incomes, may be less likely than others to adopt personal health records (PHRs), according to the results of research, titled ?The digital divide in adoption and use of a [PHR],? published in the March 28 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

Where does your group stand in transitioning to the new Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Version 5010 electronic standards? If you?re like the majority of respondents to a recent Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) survey, it?s facing significant challenges in this effort.

A well-designed automated patient identification and outreach program can motivate those who have gaps in care to have their treatment needs addressed, according to a peer-reviewed paper published in Population Health Management.

Are you or any of your patients among the 5 million people who, according to a new white paper from accounting firm Kaufman, Rossin & Co., have been affected in the 166 incidents of data breaches since September 2009?