Health groups vow to cut costs--but how?
June 19th 2009The AMA and groups representing hospitals, health insurers, pharmaceutical companies, device makers, and labor groups vowed to do their part to save the country as much as $2 trillion by slowing healthcare expense growth by 1.5 percent over the next decade.
Coding group: Don't start ICD-10 training yet
June 19th 2009The American Academy of Professional Coders, which in April released a five-year training plan to prepare coders and physicians for ICD-10, recommends all practices start analyzing how the expanded code sets will affect them, but small practices should not begin training until at least six months prior to implementation.
Bariatric surgery for type 2 diabetes: Reaching too far?
June 10th 2009Although bariatric surgery is becoming an increasingly accepted option to reverse type 2 diabetes, lifestyle interventions, including smoking cessation, improved nutrition, and increased physical activity, coupled with appropriate pharmacotherapy, remain the mainstays for the management of type 2 diabetes.