Congress has delayed primary care's Medicare reimbursement cut for another year. Rather that this being cause for celebration, however, it simply represents the reality that had the cut gone through, there wouldn't be much incentive to stay in the practice of medicine-and Congress knows that.
Although the recently passed legislation that creates a 1-year extension of current Medicare physician payment rates is a step up from the series of shorter-term patches witnessed during 2010, it is "only one step toward a permanent solution to the flawed sustainable growth rate formula that threatens deep Medicare payment cuts and the financial viability of primary care physician practices," according to Roland Goertz, MD, president, American Academy of Family Physicians.
Medical societies representing the 50 states and the District of Columbia and 57 national medical specialty societies have requested that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services use the $200 million from Congress to provide physicians with overdue Medicare reimbursements for payments that they should have received in 2010.
Learn whether Medicare is paying for preventive services, how to bill for meningococcal vaccine, as well as coding for Medicare Advantage plans.
Americans remain divided over the nation's healthcare reform package, with 40% of adults wanting to repeal all or most of the legislation while 31% favor keeping all or most of the reforms, and 29% uncertain, according to results of a poll.
The U.S. Congress passed a bill in December that exempts doctors, nurse practitioners, and non-medical professionals from the Federal Trade Commission's "Red Flags" Rule, which helps protect consumers from identity theft.
Congress voted in late November to halt a 23% payment cut that was to take effect this month to physicians who accept Medicare.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services launched a division last month charged with testing "new ways of delivering healthcare and paying healthcare providers that can save money for Medicare and Medicaid while improving quality of care," including the patient-centered medical homes, according to CMS.
Learn the appropriate codes that you can use for reporting the monitoring of warfarin dosage for certain patients.
Nearly 7 out of 10 practices are likely to limit the number of new Medicare patients they accept unless Congress halts upcoming Medicare reimbursement cuts set to take place on December 1 and January 1, according to survey results of the MGMA.
The Joint Commission is developing standards to designate its accredited ambulatory healthcare organizations with a "Primary Care Home" status.
The elimination of reimbursement for consultation codes has impacted physician revenue greatly, in some instances. Learn how to address this in your practice.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act includes an element that could have a significant impact on physicians-not as medical providers, but as small business owners.
Medical practices that have implemented an electronic health record system report better financial performance than those that have not, according to the Medical Group Management Association?s newly released Electronic Health Records Impacts on Revenue, Costs, and Staffing: 2010 Report Based on 2009 Data.
A bill was introduced in the Senate to repeal the formula to calculate Medicare physician reimbursement.
As part of the federal government's strict mandate to reduce waste in all departments and to eliminate fraud and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have significantly revised and improved their calculations of Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) improper payments using "a more rigorous method" in calculating error rate.
AAFP President Lori Helm,MD, recently disputed an article by White House advisors in the Annals of Internal Medicine that stated that healthcare reform would lead to fewer solo and 2-physician practices.
Today's independent physician is overwhelmed by the challenges posed by the 3 "big Rs": reimbursement, regulation, and recession. As a result, many are falling victim to hospitals, which see the opportunity to buy up individual practices unable to cope with the 3 Rs, and thereby control healthcare in their region.
Employers that offer their employees limited medical plans are impacted by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, since they are considered group health insurance plans.
Two recent studies have refocused attention on the question of whether apologizing for medical errors can reduce the cost of malpractice.
The financial services reform legislation passed in July contains numerous provisions, two of which will be of interest to physicians. One concerns banking and lending; the other involves investing.
The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology of Chicago, and the Drummond Group Inc. of Austin, Texas, were named in August by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology as the first technology review bodies that have been authorized to test and certify electronic health record systems for compliance with the standards and certification criteria that were issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services earlier this year.
The not-for-profit Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society has introduced Quality 101, a Web site designed to be a primer on the basics and metrics of quality measurement and improvement.
The U.S. Census Bureau released last month 2007 estimates of health insurance coverage for its states and 3,140 counties.
If you provide care to a patient, even if he or she normally sees another physician for such care, you have established a duty to treat that patient and are a potential defendant if something goes wrong. Learn your responsibilities as well as ways to minimize your risk in such situations.
