Legal

Two Connecticut medical associations won a temporary injunctive order against UnitedHealthcare in federal court hours before the insurer was set to drop thousands of doctors and patients from its rolls.

Timelines were extended today to meet Meaningful Use (MU) 2 and 3 electronic health record (EHR) incentives, report two top officials from the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

Researchers found that most medical graduates practice near where they trained, a trend that partly explains the primary care shortage.

The Hartford County and Fairfield County medical associations in Connecticut took their fight against UnitedHealthcare to a town hall meeting November 26, in front of prominent federal and state legislators.

A new proposal to reform the broken Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula has emerged from Congress. It calls for a repeal of the SGR, a 10-year payment freeze and a new performance-based incentive program.

Most primary care physicians love their work, but they are clearly frustrated about their income and the increasing compliance challenges associated with payers and government initiatives, according to results from the 85th annual Medical Economics 2013 Exclusive Continuing Study

The decision to leave a health plan is often still a difficult one, especially with the dominant health plans in your market. However, if you do decide you are through, here is how you can get out of your agreement and start your new life as a non-participating provider.

A majority of the U.S. House of Representatives have signed a letter urging House leadership to support repeal of the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula, a long-time revenue threat to physicians.

Actress Angelina Jolie made headlines around the world last May when she wrote an op-ed in The New York Times describing how she elected to have a preventive double mastectomy based on the results of genetic tests. Her decision cast genetic and genomic testing into the spotlight, and widescale product development may soon fuel new patient inquiries-a lot of them.

A reader notes that alternatives exist to the current adversarial system of settling medical malpractice claims.

The author proposes a new way of paying for healthcare that keeps elements of the fee-for-service model but also takes outcomes into account.

Doctors are benefitting from more companies entering the malpractice market, but the Affordable Care Act could end the slide

Trends in medical malpractice premiums for primary care physicians from the 85th annual Medical Economics Continuing Survey

Despite the widespread publicity their complaints have received, fewer than 1% of adults under 65 are at risk of having their health insurance polices canceled.

A reader writes that a previous article in Medical Economics did not include some relevant information.

Medical societies filed a restraining order against UnitedHealthcare, and the AMA is calling for major changes following mass cancellations of physicians in Medicare Advantage Plans in at least 11 states.

One of the top healthcare insurance companies is cutting thousands of doctors from its network. Are there more major cuts from large insurance companies in the horizon?

The healthcare system has the resources to meet much of the demand for primary care services, but tapping into those resources will require structural changes.

A new report suggests that children as young as middle school-aged are smoking e-cigarettes and hookah, which are often believed to be safer alternatives to regular cigarettes.

President Barack Obama is aiming to fix a broken promise made during the rollout of the Affordable Care Act (ACA): that people can keep their existing health insurance, if they like it, under healthcare reform. Thursday Obama announced that health insurance companies can delay upgrades to existing plans to meet the requirements of the ACA until 2014.

Much of the unmet demand for primary care services can be addressed by making better use of existing resources, say two healthcare policy experts.

After a series of negative media reports, the American Medical Association (AMA) is finally taking measures to make its RUC committee less opaque.

To err is human. Every physician at any experience level has made a medical error. Sometimes mistakes can cause harm to patients. How should a physician respond? Is there a role for an apology, or will that lead to a lawsuit?

A new levy on unearned income takes effect in 2014, but smart planning can help minimize its effects.

Learn what to assess when deciding whether to buy health insurance for your practice on the exchanges.