Legal

A reader responds to an opinion essay from a Medical Economics editorial board member with a defense of government's role in the nation's healthcare system.

Payment rates under the Medicare physician fee schedule for practices with 100 or more physicians will be subject to a value-based payment modifier starting in 2015. The requirement will extend to all physicians, regardless of practice size, by 2017. The modifier is based on performance from the previous 2 years, meaning that the 2017 modifier will be judged using 2015 performance. Here's what you need to know now to obtain maximum payment.

Mental health problems and suicide risks have lawmakers questioning whether new rules surrounding the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) ultimately “interfere with patient care and public safety.”

Although the Congressional Budget Office recently downgraded the 10-year cost of repealing the sustainable growth rate (SGR) to $138 billion, the American College of Physicians (ACP) took to the Hill advocating a phased approach to repealing it and moving to value-based models.

Republicans sharply criticized U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in trying to jump start fundraising efforts to non-profits to implement the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The action follows repeated congressional budget denials for the healthcare law, now estimated at $1.3 trillion over 10 years, according a recent report in the Washington Post. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) called the effort “absurd” and demanded an inquiry.

Nearly three-fourths of eligible professionals have registered for the government’s electronic health record (EHR) incentive programs, according to a recent report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

A new survey of 2.094 physicians who own their own practices found that 58% are not looking to sell. Just 11% said they're looking to sell, while 10% had already sold

A 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.

Health 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.”

About 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.

Beginning 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.

From 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.

Although more medical students are turning to primary care professions again, the marketplace is still expected to face a shortage of primary care physicians in the coming years.

Healthcare providers have until September 23 to put into place internal policies and procedures needed to comply with sweeping changes coming to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

A summary of the violation categories under the HIPAA Omnibus Rule and the financial penalties for each.

The requirements of the HIPAA Omnibus Rule make it more important than ever for practices to encrypt patient health information.

A new survey that shows a "seismic shift" in medicine provides primary care physicians with a strong argument that they should be compensated more generously by hospitals.

Peter Ubel, MD-an author, columnist, and Duke University professor-discusses several controversial topics, including whether physician salaries need to drop and whether the primary care shortage is real.

Primary 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.

If primary care physicians have a bigger enemy than the RUC, Brian Klepper hasn't heard about it.

Changing 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.

Sequestration has taken effect, but the fall out is only beginning. Discover what the cuts are going to mean for your practice.

With 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 good news: Health cost growth has slowed down so much in recent years that it's increased at the lowest rate since the government began tracking it 50 years ago.

If you don't report quality data this year through the federal government's Physician Quality Reporting System program, you will be docked 1.5% of of their Medicare reimbursements in 2015.