An open letter to the next president
October 10th 2016While the closest we got to healthcare during the campaign was the fate of the Affordable Care Act-and perhaps your own personal health-physicians (nearly one million strong at last count) are facing a number of serious issues as you prepare to take the oath and move into the White House.
Observation codes: When to use initial vs subsequent
October 10th 2016Q: We are a private practice that has several physicians who follow their patients in the hospital. There are times that the patient is in observation, and they are called to help decide whether to admit them or not. Should our physicians bill initial and subsequent observation codes for these visits?
Divided Congress comes together to fight opioid abuse
October 10th 2016octors groups are applauding newly-approved national legislation to fight opioid abuse while calling for more funds to implement many of the bill’s programs. The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016 (CARA) passed both houses of Congress in July after Democrats backed off their demands that higher levels of funding be included in the bill.
Why are medical bills so hard to understand?
October 8th 2016It’s come to this: healthcare entities have so successfully bamboozled American consumers with their wacky bills and lack of pricing transparency, compounded with robbing middle-class Paul to pay uninsured Peter, that a chirpy contest for entrepreneurs-yes, a call for people to start an entire business to decode medical bills-is the best chance the American people have.
Why physician burnout happens and what we can do to prevent it
October 1st 2016There’s no doubt about it: Physician burnout is real and it affects an alarming number of us across the nation. While physicians focus on their patients, the practice environment is filled with invisible stresses that weigh on physicians and cause burnout.
Doctors spending over $32,000 on health information technology
September 28th 2016Medical groups need to spend a lot of money to outfit, maintain and manage health information technology in their practices-more than $32,500 per year in for every single full-time doctor in the practice, according to a recent study.