Practice Management

Lack of capital, integrated systems and evidence-based treatment protocol data all play into the difficulty of creating an accountable care organization (ACO).The biggest challenge, however, is a personnel issue, and how physicians and hospitals will work together to resolve it.

With the June 30 deadline fast approaching, the largest state medical association in the country urged the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to give physicians more time to begin e-prescribing.

When it comes to technology, an apple a day does not keep the doctor away. In fact, physicians prefer Apples?or, at least the Apple platforms that run the iPad and iPhone. Nearly 30% of physicians use an iPad?6 times more than general U.S. consumers?and more than 60% of physicians who use smartphones have an iPhone.

If it seems like it?s harder than ever to get proper payment, it?s not just your imagination. According to the American Medical Association (AMA), health plans make errors in nearly 1 out of 5 claims. Electronic data interchange may help a little.

Gather some tips on negotiating contracts with health insurance companies.

Decide whether to allocate purchase price of practice to goodwill.

Find out whether gift cards are acceptable for insurance co-pays.

The author reflects on the possibility of being paid what you're worth.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act gives new impetus to form accountable care organizations to better coordinate the care of their patients, especially those with chronic diseases, and to ensure a continuum of care.

Know how to protect patients' information with billing companies.

To many physicians, the current healthcare environment is complex and overwhelming. From accountable care organizations, global capitation, and value-based purchasing to episode payments, episode groupers, and bundled payments, the terminology seems to be addressed to larger organizations than small primary care groups.

The author reflects on a Consumer Reports article about doctors and patients.

Learn the nuances of various follow-up codes.

Letters discuss encounters with a rock legend and grocery store visits.

Since the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services asked for comments on the much-anticipated regulations for accountable care organizations in late March, the proposed rules have been under constant attack.

The author did not retire in a hurry. He had read many articles about the planning for, and timing of, retirement.

The proposed accountable care organization regulations arrived on March 31 and have caused much strife and speculation in the medical and legal communities in recent months.

Twenty-seven percent of the hospital departments in urban and suburban areas have closed in the past 20 years, according to a new study.

Understand how to make profitability and efficiency work effectively in practice.

If you are a primary care physician, the good news is that your median compensation probably increased from 2009 to 2010. The bad news is that you still are making substantially less? sometimes less than half as much? as some of the higher-paid medical specialties. Now, the AAFP is seeking to do something about who determines the relative value of physician services.

When it comes to clinical transformation, information really is power. And if you don?t share enough information to empower staff, you probably won't get the results you want. That was the lesson from a recent study by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and McKesson, the health care technology company. Your practice can plan now to avoid those problems.

An innovative new program is providing abbreviated medical education to New York judges so that they can quickly dispose of frivolous malpractice suits and speed settlements of others. The ?judge-directed negotiations? concept, which began in the Bronx and is being expanded with a $3 million grant, offers some significant benefits to physicians facing the ordeal of a lawsuit.

Diagnostic issues are most likely to get you sued in the outpatient setting, according to a new analysis of reports to the National Practitioner Data Bank. The analysis published in JAMA also noted that the number of paid malpractice claims originating in the outpatient setting is catching up to the inpatient setting, but that the mean payments remain much higher for inpatient claims.

Are the days of solo and small physician practices numbered? Very likely for most practices, according to two recent surveys that indicate the trend of hospitals employing physicians is continuing unabated and raising new issues for all parties. Make sure you know how to protect your interests in negotiations with a future hospital employer.

If you aren?t e-prescribing today, you?re facing a 1% cut in Medicare Part B payments next year and a 1.5% penalty in 2013?but there?s still time to squeeze in the required 10 e-scripts before June 30 if you act quickly. With days to go before the deadline, use these tips to implement what you have or choose an e-prescribing program you can start using right away.