Practice Management

It is appropriate for primary care doctors to code for visits for patients who request blood-pressure checks and lab slips but who come in without complaints. Primary care doctors are an important part of effective ongoing patient care.

Will Medicare be giving a 2 percent bonus for e-prescribing, along with an additional 2 percent bonus for reporting quality measures?

The challenge: Ensuring legal compliance with e-mailed patient records and appointment reminders.

What is and is not appropriate information to include in phone messages from auto dialers?

Are there any steps I should take before dismissing a patient who repeatedly shows up late for appointments?

Make sure Medicare gets the complete picture of a patient's long-term hospital stay when submitting a claim-especially when several specialists work on the case. You should include all diagnoses on the claim.

A retired doctor shares his story of rediscovering his passion for medicine by volunteering in a hospice.

Growth in national health expenditures is expected to be 5.5 percent this year, as spending increases from $2.4 trillion in 2008 to $2.5 trillion in 2009-or $8,140 per person, according to CMS.

Last month, UnitedHealthcare launched a patient-centered medical home (PCMH) pilot project in Arizona with employer IBM, which could boost participants' income by as much as 20 percent on top of their current billings

Medpedia, a free online medical encyclopedia for healthcare professionals and consumers, launched last month with more than 7,000 pages of content contributed by 110 organizations.

How is socialized medicine going? Just look to the U.K.'s newspapers.

I have a patient with a high-deductible plan who doesn't want to pay for his visits. I've sent certified letters to dismiss him, but he doesn't accept the letters.

Are there any guidelines on what is an acceptable wait time for patients before seeing their physician?

When my employer, which is also a health insurer, asks me for personal health information, is that a HIPAA violation?

We have a physician leaving our practice and a new physician who is joining, and we are confused regarding how we should bill for services during this transition.

Freedom from the stress of private practice is a common reason physicians hit the road as locum tenens.

Generational differences can be a source of conflict, but they can also result in better medicine.

Most health insurance markets are dominated by only one or two health insurers, according to a report issued by the American Medical Association.

The federal government is backing a new pilot website that aims to ease doctors' concerns about security and privacy when sharing health information electronically.

We are a 35-year-old group of six, and one member who has been in the group for 18 years isn't pulling his load in patient production, time, and fees.

We have two cardiologists in our six-person practice, and they both want to cut back on their work schedules.

Is it legal to charge a modest amount to each Medicare patient that is provided 24-hour coverage?

Patients need to understand their financial responsibilities, even if it means adding another layer of responsibility for your scheduling office.

It is possible to bill patients up front for the cost of treatment to get around slow third-party payments. But there is a lot to consider before going this route.

If nurse practitioners are going to treat patients outside the office, they should be credentialed independently, so they can bill their services under their own provider numbers.