The Legal topic page on Medical Economics breaks down malpractice risk, contract negotiations, insurance disputes and other legal landmines that can make or break a medical practice.
September 4th 2025
MSOs need to be carefully and properly structured to achieve the strategic objectives of the group’s physicians in a legally compliant and tax-efficient manner.
Primary care physicians, nurses hold widely different views of NPs' quality of care
May 16th 2013A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that doctors and nurses hold vastly divergent views on the quality of care that NPs provide, whether NPs should lead medical homes and whether physicians and NPs should be paid the same amount for providing the same services.
Why accountable care organizations are like vegan barbecue
May 15th 2013Health policy analyst Jeff Goldsmith talks about why it’ll take more than just higher compensation to relieve the primary care shortage, what needs to happen for direct primary care to take off and why ACOs are "like vegan barbecue.”
Nearly half of working adults were uninsured or underinsured last year
May 14th 2013About half of all working adults were either uninsured or underinsured for at least part of last year-and that doesn’t just include low-income Americans. Nearly 60% of adults with moderate incomes were uninsured or underinsured, according to a new report from the Commonwealth Fund.
Aging physicians should be required to undergo competency and health screening, study says
May 13th 2013Beginning at the age of 70, physicians' physical health, mental health, and cognition skills should be evaluated to determine whether they should continue practicing medicine, according to a paper recently published in the Journal of Medical Regulation.
Perspective: Cost control myths must be addressed to fix health system
May 10th 2013From misunderstandings about the role of healthcare inflation to cost controls in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), three economic myths must be addressed for the healthcare system to function properly, says Theodore R. Marmor, PhD, Yale University professor emeritus of public policy and management as well as political science. He recently spoke with Medical Economics Editor-in-Chief Lois A. Bowers, MA.
Primary care least likely to receive industry payments, Massachusetts study shows
May 2nd 2013Primary care was among the specialties least likely to receive payments from the medical device and pharmaceutical industries, according to an analysis of Massachusetts' records of industry financial relationships with physicians.
Could a patient-centered change to Medicare's injectable drugs policy save billions?
April 29th 2013Changing Medicare's policy to permit patients to self-administer injectable drugs in their homes could create "substantial savings" without inhibiting patient safety or treatment effectiveness, according to a recent NEJM editorial.
You can help set expectations on EHR liability
April 25th 2013With a national EHR system, you can seize the opportunity to help establish the appropriate standard of care, one that opens up a new era of patient care while also setting reasonable parameters on what a healthcare provider should be responsible for when an errant entry lurks in the medical file.
The PQRS challenge: Will quality metrics improve care or create more reimbursement red tape?
April 10th 2013Your reimbursement likely will be tied to outcomes soon. Some experts say that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) penalties for not participating in the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) signal that the pay-for-performance trend is not fading away-likely will be adopted by private payers.