Most patient education materials suffer from lack of readability, study says
May 20th 2013Patient education materials from 16 major medical societies all suffer from a lack of readability, making them difficult for patients to comprehend and potentially contributing to poor health literacy, according to a study in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Perspective: Cost control myths must be addressed to fix health system
May 10th 2013From misunderstandings about the role of healthcare inflation to cost controls in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), three economic myths must be addressed for the healthcare system to function properly, says Theodore R. Marmor, PhD, Yale University professor emeritus of public policy and management as well as political science. He recently spoke with Medical Economics Editor-in-Chief Lois A. Bowers, MA.
Could a patient-centered change to Medicare's injectable drugs policy save billions?
April 29th 2013Changing Medicare's policy to permit patients to self-administer injectable drugs in their homes could create "substantial savings" without inhibiting patient safety or treatment effectiveness, according to a recent NEJM editorial.
RACs reviewing POS coding for physician services in an outpatient setting
April 25th 2013Recovery audit contractors are looking at scenarios in which a physician furnishes services in an outpatient setting of a hospital to ensure that claims are being billed with the appropriate code. Here's how to make sure you're submitting accurate claims.
3 steps to controlling staff costs
April 25th 2013After provider compensation, costs for support staff are the biggest expense of running a medical practice. Even with good practice management, you and your office manager often may feel as if you never can get staffing levels just right, which is understandable. Here are three steps to determining the appropriate staffing balance for your practice.
You can help set expectations on EHR liability
April 25th 2013With a national EHR system, you can seize the opportunity to help establish the appropriate standard of care, one that opens up a new era of patient care while also setting reasonable parameters on what a healthcare provider should be responsible for when an errant entry lurks in the medical file.
Using single vendor for IT needs has benefits, drawbacks
April 25th 2013Physicians and their practice managers are starting to see that complying with recent laws and mandates will require a greater use of information technology (IT) and are exploring the pros and cons of using a single vendor versus multiple vendors for their IT needs.
FDA approval marks new drug class for type 2 diabetes
April 10th 2013Canaglifozin (Invokana, Janssen Pharmaceuticals) tablets, recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the improvement of glycemic control in adults with type 2 diabetes, is the first diabetes treatment approved in a new class of drugs known as sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors.