Practice Finance

Quality Payment Program and Physician Fee Schedule both see changes

Including funds in your budget dedicated to technological investments that improve the patient experience will be worth it in the long run.

A 2018 report from the U.S. Department of Education notes the average physician now graduates with $246,000 in loans.

2018 Physician Writing Contest runner-up

Shared diabetes services may be essential to successfully treating patients with this disease without overburdening physicians.

Practices should look at joining group purchasing organizations.

Faced with rising operational costs and declining reimbursements, internal medicine practices are looking to diversify in ways that result in enhanced income.

CPT guidelines permit E/M code selection based on time when face-to-face counseling and/or coordination of care accounts for more than 50 percent of the encounter.

A rational approach to the criticisms of direct primary care.

Unlike in healthcare where every certification and qualification is earned, anyone can call themselves a financial planner.

Physicians are among the highest-earning and best-educated professionals in the country, but their combination of education and income does not prevent them from making personal financial mistakes.

Sutures are a common element of the wound closure performed immediately after a surgical procedure, and occasionally may be reimbursed separately.

Medical Economics readers share their opinions.

Special interests keep patients in the dark, right where hospitals want them.

Use of pharmacogenomic testing enables physicians to ensure that the safest, most effective medications are prescribed to every patient, reducing trial and error prescribing and improving treatment outcomes.

Medical billing and collection is a broken system with far-reaching negative consequences-it’s about time we got down to fixing it.

Five physicians discuss how the performance of their systems affects their workload, careers, and ability to treat patients.

What does his move mean for digital healthcare?

EHRs don't work well enough.

Getting patient data into their EHR is rated as a major problem. So how are doctors getting the patient data they need when they need it? 

Letters from our readers 

A runner-up of the 2018 Physician Writing Contest reflects on her role in patient care. 

It’s important for physicians to gain staff buy-in on cybersecurity, as it can affect the future of the practice and their jobs.

A new health information exchange will include all major EHR vendors. 

Some physicians have resisted electronic health records systems and still rely on paper.

When staff are fully engaged in their work and feel empowered to do it, they can meet and even exceed performance targets.

Routinely evaluating patients’ needs in the increasingly on-demand approach to healthcare is critical to success.

Overcoming obesity is a daunting goal, especially when patients hear that carrying too much weight is becoming a societal norm in some places. This list should give PCPs useful guidance as they communicate with obese or at-risk patients about effective ways to trim down.

Pilot program offers 25 quarterly questions in lieu of 10-year test.

Independent primary care providers, a cornerstone of our healthcare system, are key to the success of this national paradigm shift to value-based care.