Legal

A reader predicts that the financial burden of converting to the ICD-10 coding system will bankrupt many practices

Even though Congress failed to repeal Medicare's Sustainable Growth Rate formula last month, the odds are good that it will happen in the not-too-distant future. Here's what repeal may mean for your practice.

The controversy over copy-paste in EHRs has been around for a long time, but it has recently gained new urgency.

Keeping patient data private has never been more important, and requires medical practices to navigate a web of mandates, analyses, and agreements.

Primary care shortages lead many states to reform laws that restrict midlevels

Implementation costs, alert fatigue cited as obstacles for practices

Shortly after announcing the enrollment of 7.5 million people in ACA health insurance exchanges, Kathleen Sebelius resigned as secretary of the of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Patients with private insurance have a better chance of scheduling appointments with doctors than those with Medicaid, according to a new study.

Develop a project plan that includes understanding the coding changes, plan for payment delays and team training, and then assemble your team to start gathering resources and information.

A reader writes that maintenance of certification has never been proven to improve the quality of care doctors provide, so it should not be required of them.

MOC requirements are destroying the trust needed between doctors and patients.

The first people to enroll in the health insurance exchanges created under the Affordable Care Act were more likely to be sicker or suffering from a chronic disease than the average patient, according to a new study that analyzed prescription drug use.

Medicare’s release of thousands of physician pay records could expose fee-for-service models that reimburse subspecialists at a higher rate than primary care physicians.

Microsoft stopped providing support for its popular operating system Windows XP this month, and continued use of this non-supported operating system is exposing the practice’s protected health information to risk. Take these steps to ensure that patient information is protected.

When shopping for a medical malpractice liability insurance policy, most physicians focus on premium costs. But physicians shopping for a malpractice policy should also focus on getting the right coverage limits.

In a continued effort to boost transparency, CMS will release finalized Medicare payment data for more than 880,000 healthcare professionals, as early as April 9.

The Republican-sponsored bill would cut $5.1 trillion in spending, but has little chance of becoming law

A new security risk assessment app designed to help small- to medium-sized practices conduct risk assessments of their organizations is now available for download from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

It is still unclear how the influx of millions of new patients will affect healthcare’s gatekeepers-primary care physicians.

The Senate has passed a one-year patch to the Sustainable Growth Rate formula and a one-year delay to the implementation of the ICD-10 coding system.

Though physician organizations have been vying for an ICD-10 delay, many in health IT say that it is time to implement the coding system in spite of legislation that may push it back until October 2015.

Despite staunch opposition from physician advocates, the bill, which was introduced on Wednesday, will move to the Senate in an effort to pass the legislation before the current SGR fix expires on March 31.

Legislation crafted to patch the controversial sustainable growth rate formula for another 12 months would also delay the transition to ICD-10 until October 2015.

With the March 31 deadline to enroll for insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s healthcare exchanges approaching, the Obama administration still faces an uphill battle both to persuade the uninsured to obtain coverage and educate the country about what’s in the law.

President Barack Obama is proposing increased funding toward medical school programs for internal medicine, pediatrics, and family medicine in his 2015 budget proposal.