Legal

In the past decade, there was a sharp increase in medical liability premiums, but recently, malpractice insurance has started to level off, indicating a potential new trend.

Practices making the plunge into electronic health records prior to the final definition of "meaningful use" should require the EHR contract guarantee the system will meet those requirements.

Pfizer allegedly promoted four drugs for off-label indications and caused false claims to be submitted to government health care programs for uses that were not medically accepted indications and therefore not covered by those programs.

A look at state legislation affecting primary care doctors.

A rule proposed in the health reform legislation would allow health insurers to sell plans across state lines.

Exceptions that permit referrals under Stark are complex, therefore determining a violation has happened and the preferred way of managing are also difficult.

As you prepare to start a new job, read your employment contract carefully, make sure you understand all of its provisions, and, if necessary, let a lawyer have a peek.

In these difficult economic times, you may find that more patients are refusing to pay for services rendered and others are complaining more about their care.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced in late August plans to award $598 million in grants to open as many as 70 regional offices next year to help practices adopt electronic health record systems.

A better future for primary care is right in front of us if we have the courage to change, and indeed we must change.

If patient information is stolen, practices must notify the affected patients and, in some cases, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and local media, according to new regulations that go into effect on September 23.

Nearly half of physicians believe that various off-label uses of prescription drugs are approved by the Food and Drug Administration, according to a national survey.

Efforts to thwart the increasing costs of healthcare cannot succeed without addressing the question of how much care to provide the terminally ill.

In a letter sent to executives, two top lawmakers demanded compensation information, for each year from 2003 to 2008, on health insurance company employees earning more than $500,000, including their bonuses, stock options, and other incentives.

A look at state legislation affecting primary care doctors.

Details of a $694-million program that will create a national extension service to help office-based physicians set up their health information technology have been announced by federal officials.

Insurers are signing on to support new chronic care patient education delivery systems that incorporate web-based and electronic technologies.

A look at state legislation affecting primary care doctors.

Superbills, encounter forms, and EOBs are not considered primary records and can be destroyed after they are input into the billing system.

The Stark law is relevant only in situations that involve a specific set of health services and patients who use Medicare.

Although Medicare is expected to offer a financial hardship exemption from electronic health records, the agency has offered scant details so far.

Eli Lilly and Co. has launched an online registry detailing recent payments the drugmaker awarded to physicians and other healthcare professionals.

Physicians need to update the information related to their own NPI numbers. Failure to do so could result in not being paid for some services.

EHR adoption has decreased in hospitals in states where privacy laws restrict the ability to disclose patient information, according to a study published in the journal Management Science.

For the third time, the Federal Trade Commission has delayed enforcement of its identity-theft protection system, or "Red Flags" Rule, which applies to physicians' offices.