Legal

A liberal advocacy group says that liability reform in Texas shouldn’t be a model for the rest of the nation because the only beneficiaries are doctors and malpractice insurance companies. It also maintains that healthcare is scarcer in the state and more expensive than the national average-claims disputed by supporters. You might be interested in what the report says about the drops in the frequency and dollar amounts of liability payments since malpractice caps were instituted.

Here’s something you may not want to hear as you scramble to meet the October 1, 2013, deadline for ICD-10 conversion: ICD-11 will be available about 2 years later. That reality was discussed at the recent American Health Information Management Association meeting, which featured a speaker from the World Health Organization, the developer of the International Classification of Diseases. Find out why the next conversion might not be as burdensome.

Nearly half of physician practices do not meet national standards to qualify quality as a Patient-Centered Medical Home, with smaller, single-specialty groups being the least likely to qualify, according to a new study. Ninety percent of Americans receive care from those smaller practices, however. Learn how solo and single-specialty practices can even the playing field to meet medical home standards.

The government is jumping the gun in trying to develop metadata standards for healthcare technology, according to two industry groups. Those standards are proposed for meaningful use stage 2 and could affect your electronic health record implementation. Find out what prompted concerns that standards are too early for metadata, which embed descriptive information about the meaning and use of data.

Making sure all of your older patients receive necessary vaccines is a challenge; 34% of adults aged more than 65 years fail to get a seasonal influenza vaccine and 40% lack pneumococcal vaccinations. Your electronic medical record system could provide an effective solution, however. A recent study reports that EMR reminders increase pneumococcal vaccination rates by 50% and raise influenza vaccination rates 20%, compared with usual care. How can this system work for you, and how much of your time will it require?

Will this year’s A-Rod be wearing a white coat and stethoscope? Although no one is offering a $275 million contract, doctors just entering the field have become a hot commodity. A recent survey found that more than 75% of physicians in their final year of training received at least 50 job solicitations, and half got 100 or more. If you think, however, that being in demand makes newly minted physicians happy with their chosen profession, think again.

Proponents of lower payments for primary care providers argue that work requiring less mental challenge and stress should pay less. The problem with that “relative value” position is that, according to a recent study, overall work intensity actually is quite similar across medical specialties. Find out why researchers believe the instruments currently used to measure physician work intensity are flawed.

Here’s a straightforward way for Congress' Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to save $62.4 billion over 10 years without cutting payments to healthcare providers: Institute meaningful medical liability reform. That was what the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Physicians and more than 90 other state and specialty medical societies told the so-called “supercommittee.” Read on to see the specific recommendations.

Who are you going to hire to help implement and maintain your increasingly sophisticated electronic health record systems over the next few years? Depending on where you live, that could be a real challenge, according to the American Health Information Management Association. The group warns that, in many parts of the country, no one will be available without concerted training and incentives. Find out what's being done to increase the supply of trained professionals for practices such as yours.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has finalized the rules for the federal e-prescribing incentive program.

The Federal Trade Commission is levelling sharp criticism at pharmaceutical manufacturers for what it calls sweetheart deals with manufacturers that delay the introduction of low-cost generic drugs.

Florida officials are cracking down on the illegal sale of prescription drugs.

As part of its anti-fraud campaign, Medicare will ask about 750,000 physicians and more than 1.4 million healthcare professionals to revalidate their enrollment records by 2013.

A federal incentive isn't the only reason to adopt meaningful use of electronic health records. A new study found significant improvement in diabetes treatment when practices used EHRs instead of paper records. Read more to see how patients measured up in the digital practices.

The Medicare sustainable growth rate formula remains in place, despite efforts by numerous physicians and their associations to get it repealed during negotiations over raising the nation's debt ceiling.

What you may not know is that the 2010 tax law provides a means for doctors and other professionals to protect their assets from creditors or malpractice claims without incurring negative estate tax implications.

Major healthcare organizations are lining up against proposed changes to federal privacy rules that would make it easier for patients to see who has viewed their medical records.

The incentives driving electronic health record adoption could be affected if health information technology falls victim to cuts by the Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. Here?s what the experts have to say.

The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) is urging a new congressional ?supercommittee? to repeal the despised Sustainable Growth Rate formula and stipulate a reimbursement system for the next 3 to 5 years that will give primary care physicians a 3% higher payment rate. Read on to find out why AAFP argues that spending more healthcare dollars on primary care will likely save money in the long run.

Does medical liability reform help you financially, regardless of whether or not you?re ever sued? The experience in Texas suggests that the answer is Yes. Since tort reform was passed in 2003, insurance rates have dropped an average of 27% for all physicians. Read more to find out about other ways physicians have benefitted.

If you failed to meet the June 30 electronic prescribing deadline, you've got an extra month to avoid a cut in next year's Medicare payment. Here?s more information on the exemptions and how you might qualify.

Remote locations make adopting electronic health records a unique challenge for rural physician practices. The government has recognized that and is earmarking specific funds for those initiatives. See if you qualify for those grants and loans.

One reason for an empty waiting room is the ailing economy, according to a recent report. Monthly indices compiled by Standard & Poor suggest that office-based physicians may see a drop in patient visits, if they haven't already. Economic analysts also found that revenues for treating Medicare patients were at their lowest annual growth rate since at least 2005. Keep reading to find out what is likely to turn the trend around.

Annual influenza vaccination rates for physicians often are significantly higher than for their office staff members, even nurses, according to a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report. That could be a problem when your waiting room is filled with sick patients this winter. CDC offers four easy-to-implement recommendations to get your practice employees to line up for the vaccine, without your actually having to require it.

Should selecting a physician really be more like online banking or searching for real estate on the Internet? The Illinois legislature apparently thinks so. See what this new law requires to be included in all physician and surgeon profiles for online public inspection.

Hospitals and primary care physicians (PCPs) may benefit from the growing numbers of PCPs employed in hospital-owned practices, but patients and third-party payers may be harmed by the trend, at least in the short term, according to a recent study.

The government?s new flexible bundled payment initiative allows practices to largely define their own terms of participation. But will the array of models resolve issues with undervaluing evaluation and management work and negotiating fair payment rates with hospitals? Find out how the definition of ?episodes of care? might make a difference.

More affordable medications, courtesy of Medicare Part D, mean that many more elderly adults are receiving care in your office instead of in more costly hospitals and nursing homes, a new study suggests.

More than 90% of medical practices responding to a recent survey said that they would find it "very" or "extremely" burdensome to meet the requirements of the proposed "accounting of disclosures" rule.

North Dakota became the first state to be denied a medical loss ratio waiver request under the PPACA.