Legal

Latest News


CME Content


With demands of the ICD-10 crossover, Meaningful Use requirements and increasing financial stress on the private practice, the relationship with an EHR vendor can be complex one and so is the rationale for making a switch.

Mobile health (mHealth) is a confusing landscape, to be sure. IMS Health, which rates mHealth apps and provides a formal mechanism for app prescribing, estimates there are 63,000 health apps in the Apple and Google stores. The number and variety make it difficult for physicians to find and recommend the good ones. As a result, prescribing mHealth apps is new to most physicians.

Narrowing networks

The return of narrow networks has been blamed largely on the Affordable Care Act (ACA). But the trend, similar to health maintenance organizations, re-appeared before the creation of the ACA’s health insurance exchanges. Physicians must learn how to cope with this movement and decide when it makes financial sense to be included in narrow network plans.

The obstacles facing practicing physicians are numerous, but can be overcome with the help of great ideas put into action effectively. In order to foster the sharing of new ideas among physicians, Medical Economics introduces Practice Innovators, an ongoing, periodic series spotlighting your colleagues who are breaking new ground in medical practice-and succeeding.

The recently-formed National Association of Physicians and Surgeons (NBPAS) is calling on its members to encourage the hospitals where they practice to accept NBPAS as an alternative pathway to recertification.

In this Q&A, Medical Economics speaks with Ernie Chaney, MD, FAAFP, a practitioner of family medicine both before and after the passage of Medicare.

The American Board of Internal Medicine's finances and widespread dissatisfaction with its maintenance of certification (MOC) requirements have not shaken the organization’s faith in its policies or its president and chief executive officer, Richard Baron, MD, MACP.

Legislators and physician organizations took last year’s failed attempt at reform and pushed it through in a different political climate

On the 50th birthday of Medicare, Medical Economics looks back at this landmark legislation and the effect it has had on physicians and healthcare in general.

Is 2015 the year you decide to open an urgent care practice? If you are interested in urgent care medicine, you are not alone. Growth is expected to continue as patients seek immediate access to medical care and lower-cost alternatives to emergency department visits. Despite the rewards, urgent care medicine comes with risks-especially for physicians unprepared for the business demands of operating an urgent care center.

The annual battle over the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula has come to an end. But the program that replaces it will be Medicare’s leap into the world of value-based payment and risk sharing, and the resulting changes will have a massive impact on how physicians are reimbursed.

Thanks in part to the growing prevalence of chronic disease among American adults, more and more commercial health plans are introducing chronic care management programs. However, the effectiveness of these programs has been hindered by limited patient engagement and the reluctance of doctors to change the way they practice, according to a recent study.

Maintaining healthy accounts receivable (AR) is essential to strong financial performance, but it’s easy for practices to feel overwhelmed or become complacent when it comes to keeping this piece of the revenue cycle on track. Here's some strategies to keep your AR on target.