A simple break-even calculation turns a reimbursement advantage into staff minutes, showing practices when prior authorization, denials and uncollected patient balances wipe out a better rate.
|Articles|March 5, 2010
Federal budget aids primary care
President Obama's $3.8 trillion 2011 fiscal year budget contains earmarks that will benefit primary care physicians, according to the AAFP.
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President Obama's $3.8 trillion 2011 fiscal year budget contains earmarks that will benefit primary care physicians, says the president of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP).
The budget includes $911 billion for the Department of Health and Human Services, but only $81.3 billion for discretionary programs. The bulk of the department's budget is for mandatory Medicare and Medicaid expenses.
The budget requests $27 million for the National Health Service Corps, which could add 449 new physicians for rural and underserved communities, according to the AAFP. It also requests $290 million to create 25 community health centers, and $286 million for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality for comparative effectiveness research.
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