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Proper planning for a physician's death, retirement or personal crisis protects your practice, and most importantly, the family of the deceased or disabled associate.

Can a physician improve the management of a medical practice by obtaining a master of business administration degree?

As a primary care physician, this author says he has experienced a condescending attitude from physician specialists, and he sometimes feels that they look down their noses at those who are in primary care.

The author offers some tips to keep exam rooms and bank accounts full in light of today's foreclosures, layoffs and lost insurance from patients.

A San Antonio, Texas Accountable Care Organization with a network of Patient-Centered Medical Home clinics but no hospital provides comprehensive, efficient, quality care that improves outcomes, according to results of a case study.

The buyout of a senior partner does not have to be detrimental to your practice.

The online directory for physicians who accept Medicare has expanded to distinguish which doctors reported quality data to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and will soon indicate which doctors prescribe electronically.

Hospitals with basic electronic health records demonstrated a significantly greater increase in quality of care for patients being treated for heart failure, but similar gains were not found in hospitals that upgraded to advanced electronic health records, according to RAND Corp.

Know how to fight the potential for foreclosure.

Physicians are unlikely to participate in mediation of medical malpractice lawsuits, which minimizes the chances that discussion of adverse events and medical errors can lead to improved quality of care, according to a new study.

Letters discuss ACOs, decision-making, and electronic health records.

Despite the predictions of many pundits, Congress' "lame duck" session was productive after all: Among other accomplishments, the long-awaited tax cuts are now law, at least through 2012.

Medicare spending varied widely in two similar Texas cities, while private insurers showed little variation in the younger than 65 population, according to research.

Consider how other groups recruit new physicians when you find your practice in a similar situation.

In this second of two articles, the authors look at the methods used to value medical practices, the impact of antitrust laws on the pricing of doctors' services, how a hospital or managed care company exerts influence over practices in which they invest, and how doctors in independent practices can best evaluate a purchase offer.

This column addresses well visits that are combined with other services, coding for excisions and lesions, and providing hospital and office care on the same day.

While there are never any guarantees of success when it comes to the stock market, even nonexperts can improve their odds of coming out ahead by adopting and sticking with some time-tested strategies.

This column presents tips to help you master two major skills involved in communicating with patients -- listening and providing informaiton -- and will provide other pointers.

Learn how healthcare reform taxation will impact your practice.

After reviewing thousands of medical charts, and interviewing hundreds of prospective clients who were the purported victims of medical negligence, general patterns of malpractice began to emerge that repeatedly formed the basis of successful claims against providers and healthcare facilities.

Lower-income families with high-deductible health plans are more likely to delay or forego care due to cost than higher-income families who have similar coverage, according to new research.

When you spend a lot of time talking with patients in the office, you may wonder how you will finish all the work related to diagnosis and treatment on any given day, but many good reasons exist for these conversations.

The healthcare world has seen major changes in the past 30 years that have led Wall Street and hospital systems to impose paradigm shifts on medical practices willing to accept their premises and terms.

The cost of inefficient healthcare claims processes, payment, and reconciliation is estimated to be between $21 billion and $210 billion, eating up to 10% to 14% of physician practice revenue, according to the American Medical Association.

Most frequent medication errors and adverse drug events in primary care practices are due to communication problems and lack of knowledge, according to a recent study.

Congress has delayed primary care's Medicare reimbursement cut for another year. Rather that this being cause for celebration, however, it simply represents the reality that had the cut gone through, there wouldn't be much incentive to stay in the practice of medicine-and Congress knows that.

Refinance and take advantage of current low interest rates, if the decision is right for you.

The bigger and thicker your policy manual is, the more you may be choking the health and growth of your practice.

Although the recently passed legislation that creates a 1-year extension of current Medicare physician payment rates is a step up from the series of shorter-term patches witnessed during 2010, it is "only one step toward a permanent solution to the flawed sustainable growth rate formula that threatens deep Medicare payment cuts and the financial viability of primary care physician practices," according to Roland Goertz, MD, president, American Academy of Family Physicians.

Medical societies representing the 50 states and the District of Columbia and 57 national medical specialty societies have requested that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services use the $200 million from Congress to provide physicians with overdue Medicare reimbursements for payments that they should have received in 2010.