Patient Relations

From opt-out handling and consent records to encryption and carrier registration, here's what a compliant patient texting system needs and the questions to ask before choosing a vendor.

Clear service pages, detailed provider bios and attention to review patterns help patients feel confident before they ever call the office.

What do physicians need to counter burnout and misinformation? Time with patients

A survey of 1,185 U.S. adults found the preference reversed for routine requests such as scheduling and prescription refills.

CMS' proposed cuts to physician fees focus on the operating room. For the primary care physicians managing recovery after surgery, the real gap is much larger.

It's shared savings season and the check has arrived. Now how do physicians divide it up fairly?

Urban Institute analysis finds 26% of insured adults owe medical debt, with hospitals the largest source

A Hologic survey of 1,000 U.S. women aged 35 to 75 found that a direct recommendation from a physician was the top motivator for overdue patients, while knowledge gaps about cost, radiation and breast density persist.

What it takes for health systems and health plans to stay visible when an AI model is the one making the recommendation.

Brittney Anderson, M.D., FAAFP, explains how her family medicine practice uses 15 minutes each morning to catch care gaps, cut interruptions and get the whole team on the same page.

The practices seeing real returns from AI don't just switch it on. They choose the right technology and partner, then customize it to their workflows and patients.

It's not a patient problem, it's an operations problem, and large practices and health systems need to treat it that way.

Nearly 54 percent lower costs for adults with chronic disease. Four experts on why primary care still gets under 5% of health care spending.

No U.S. state scores even 2 out of 5 on patient sentiment about billing

Panelists at the Sept. 17 briefing said billing codes for two-way shipping and payment for patient navigators are still missing, with most insurers required to cover self-collected HPV tests starting Jan. 1, 2027.

What do providers owe patients when a GLP-1 is out of reach? At the very least, they should stay informed.

A new national survey finds Americans still want a person — not AI — on the other end of a health care call

What if a greater number of reported safety events actually meant a hospital is safer for patients?

U.S. health care has a patient loyalty problem hiding in plain sight, says a new report based on a survey of 10,000 consumers.

Wendy S. Harpham, M.D., FACP, draws on decades as a patient with lymphoma to show physicians which phrases comfort patients and which cause distress without meaning to.

How primary care can bring cancer-screening logic to cognitive health on World Alzheimer’s Day (and every day).

Private insurance helps patients get care, but does not cover all costs, according to study by The Commonwealth Fund

U.S. health care has a patient loyalty problem hiding in plain sight, says a new report based on a survey of 10,000 consumers.

The United States must address vaccine misinformation head-on or risk losing children to infectious disease.

The top news stories in medicine this week.