Practice Management

The ONC has released a guide for healthcare providers that explains key EHR contract terminology and how certain provisions could impact a physician’s practice.

Much of the national discussion on electronic health records adoption has focused on physicians, but getting the most out of this technology will require significant buy-in by patients. Find out what researchers learned when they studied how physicians can best engage patients in online records.

A series of 3-year studies of PCMHs in Pennsylvania conducted by Independence Blue Cross (IBC) found “significant reductions in medical costs for patients with chronic conditions treated in primary care practices that have transformed into medical homes."

Unlike permanent positions, locum tenens work gives primary care physicians the flexibility to test the waters before fully committing to a new employer.

Medical services that are billed at physician reimbursement levels but are performed by nonphysicians are drawing extra scrutiny from the federal government because they may be vulnerable to overutlization and expose patients to subpar care.

Older physicians break down technology adoption barriers, study says

For physicians who struggle to balance empathy with analytic thinking during patient visits, neuroscience researcher and brain-imaging expert Anthony Jack, PhD, has a somewhat comforting explanation: It's not your fault, it's your brain's.

Mobile devices are making it easier for these patients to monitor their blood pressure at home and accurately relay that information back to their physicians.

Comparing data from 2000 to 2010, researchers found that over that time physicians prescribed more narcotics, made more referrals to other physicians and used more imaging procedures such as CT and MRI for patient visits involving routine back pain.

Doctors anxious about the Sunshine Act can download a new app to see exactly how the reporting process will work before results go public next year.

As the career search turns digital, mobile devices are making the process even easier. Here are five job search apps to help physicians get started.

The prevalence of sleep problems, combined with a growing array of user-friendly devices for conducting home sleep tests, represents an opportunity for primary care physicians to add a new income stream and improve the quality of life for many of their patients.

Let me tell you how “Lean,” also known as the Toyota Production System, transformed my clinical practice from a hectic, stressful, and unpredictable experience to one that runs smoothly and became a paragon of efficiency, safety, and quality.

The mention of restrictive covenants provokes an almost visceral reaction among most physicians. They temporarily control how physicians can practice, and how they can obtain new patients. But keep in mind these covenants are, for the most part, enforceable.

Physicians address costs, hours worked, and advancement in meaningful use objectivesin Medical Economics EHR Best Practices Study

GlaceEMR v5.0 has achieved 2014 Edition Complete EHR/Ambulatory ONC Health IT Certification, designating that the software is capable of supporting healthcare providers with the Stage 1 and Stage 2 meaningful use measures.

WCH Service Bureau’s ICode enables physicians to focus more time on patient care and less time on data entry.

Is banding together with other medical practices to create an independent practice association the right choice for you?

Letter to the editor

While the Affordable Care Act (ACA) seeks to open healthcare access to millions of uninsured Americans, there are seemingly just as many unanswered questions about its impact on physician practices in terms of costs, payer rules, quality of reimbursements, increased collections, and other issues associated with an influx of new patients.

A House bill that would repeal the dreaded SGR formula increases Medicare reimbursement to physicians by 0.5% per year. But given that the annual increase is less than inflation, is it a fair amount?

A new report from Black Book rankings shows which EHR systems dissatisfied physicians are turning to as replacements for their old, unwanted systems. Find out which eight vendors are the most popular choices.

What immediately jumps out about the list of residency programs that produce the lowest percentage of primary care graduates is that it includes some of the biggest names in healthcare: Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins, Brigham and Women's and plenty of others.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will not conduct end-to-end external testing with physician practices for ICD-10. In response, the Medical Group Management Association has sent a letter to Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of Health and Human Services, that urges her to immediately reverse that policy.

Many physicians recognize the need to control health costs in the U.S., but they're not eager to change how physicians are paid as a means of cost control, according to a new survey of physicians' attitudes about health cost containment published in JAMA.