Legal

Have you decided to practice medicine as an employee rather than a business owner?

A bill introduced recently by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va, would require physicians and other healthcare providers seeking to obtain or renew a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration registration number to complete CME related to responsible opioid prescribing practices.

Very few practices predict an ability to meet all 15 core criteria for eligibility to receive incentive payments through CMS.

Commercial payers can be inconsistent with reimbursement processes, which can lead to a significant administrative burden for your practice.

As a physician practicing family or internal medicine, you are more likely than your colleagues in other specialties to qualify for Medicare or Medicaid-related incentives for achieving meaningful use of electronic health records.

Unfunded mandates, lack of health insurance, standardization and too many incentive programs add costs and inefficiencies to physician practices.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer wants residents who are obese and smokers to pay a $50 fee to enroll in the state's Medicaid program.

Various factors combine to influence a practice's stability.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is stepping up its efforts to help you confront health disparities among your patients stemming from their race or ethnicity.

This author has been an advocate of healthcare even before it was fashionable.

Good news from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services: The agency has decided to drop a rule that would have required you to sign requisitions for lab tests for your Medicare patients.

Medical groups raised questions about structure and revenue-sharing after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services unveiled its proposed rule about accountable care organizations.

Learn more about how CMS handles annual wellness visits.

In 2006, Massachusetts became the first state to pass healthcare reform and its law served as a model for federal reform last year.

A bill introduced in the Rhode Island House of Representatives would require health insurers to reimburse doctors at least 125% of Medicare rates.

Medical societies want more flexibility in meeting the meaningful use requirements of the electronic health record incentive program.

Medical malpractice reform, also called tort reform, needs to be on the front burner of healthcare reform.

Although legislatures in six states are considering bills allowing psychologists to prescribe psychotropic medications, physician groups say that it's a bad idea.

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission urged lawmakers to boost physician pay by 1% in 2012, despite a rate cut set to take effect the same year.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services levied more than $5 million in fines and penalties on a major hospital and a medical group for alleged violations of HIPAA.

Understand your rights regarding patients who refuse to pay their deductible expenses.

The president's fiscal year 2012 budget proposal sets the stage for stabilizing the Medicare physician payment system and building up the primary care physician workforce.

Half of Americans oppose the "individual mandate" clause in the healthcare reform law that requires all Americans to purchase health insurance but 71% agree that healthy people should buy insurance to help pay costs for those that are sick.

As a doctor, you can still refuse to perform abortions and sterilizations on moral grounds, but you can't refuse contraception and family planning services under a new rule from the HHS.

More than 21,000 providers registered for the Medicare and Medicaid electronic health record incentive programs in January, and four states reported initial Medicaid incentive payments totaling $20.4 million.

The use of locum tenens is rising, underlining the ongoing shortage of doctors nationwide.

The feds are getting serious about cracking down on Medicare fraud.

Medicare permits participation by practice site so that you can participate and accept Medicare 100% of the time at one location and not another.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) sent a message last week that it is serious about violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), hitting a major hospital and medical group with more than $5 million in fines and penalties.

Letters discuss congressional issues, electronic health records, and partnerships versus solo practices.