Legal

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.

A new study in JAMA Internal Medicine by researchers from Johns Hopkins University suggests that that number could be reduced-at least a little bit-by making physicians aware of the cost of each test they order.

Primary care professors reported a median compensation of $203,777, compared with $291,101 for specialty professors, according to a survey from the Medical Group Management Association.

Your 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.

The American Medical Association has filed a brief in federal court in support of a Georgia law that was created to curb “unfair business practices” by companies that pay medical bills.

The law regarding self-referral, or the Stark statute, can be a bit mystifying. Find out how to ensure that you remain compliant.

Physicians and consultants share advice on communicating electronically with patients.

A recent decision on a lawsuit over 'out-of network' payments carries potential repercussions for reimbursement rates. Discover how your practice may be affected.

According to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, health information is not individually identifiable if it does not identify an individual and if the covered entity has no reasonable basis to believe that it can be used to identify an individual.

In the report “Professionalism in the use of social media,” the American Medical Association offers advice for physicians.

Privacy, security, professionalism remain top priorities as use of e-messaging, patient portals, and social media grows.

In an attempt to get past politics and ideology, a group of researchers recently published a report in Health Affairs that examined the health systems in Canada, England, France and Germany for insights on how the United States could better control costs.

President Barack Obama's proposed 2014 budget includes roughly $300 billion in Medicare savings, reforms to the sustainable growth rate, and cuts to graduate medical education.

If you thought demonstrating meaningful use annually to receive electronic health record incentive payments was enough, think again.

A bipartisan bill introduced in Congress would establish a 5-year pilot to test four models aimed at educating and training primary care physicians in an effort to build up the PCP workforce.