Practice Management

Patients treated by hospitalists spend less time in the hospital and incur lower costs than those treated by primary care physicians, but they are more likely to be readmitted and visit the emergency department, according to a new study.

Major healthcare organizations are lining up against proposed changes to federal privacy rules that would make it easier for patients to see who has viewed their medical records.

You may want to take off the white coat when you make hospital rounds each morning to avoid bringing more than your expertise to hospitalized patients. Some 60% of the time, traditional doctors? garb harbor dangerous bacteria, a recent study says. If you can?t bear to leave the coat behind, here are some tips on making it safer.

The incentives driving electronic health record adoption could be affected if health information technology falls victim to cuts by the Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. Here?s what the experts have to say.

Compensation for ?physician extenders? continues to rise as practices scramble to expand capacity and maintain already slim operating margins. Find out what pay packages are being offered and if your practice is staying competitive.

The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) is urging a new congressional ?supercommittee? to repeal the despised Sustainable Growth Rate formula and stipulate a reimbursement system for the next 3 to 5 years that will give primary care physicians a 3% higher payment rate. Read on to find out why AAFP argues that spending more healthcare dollars on primary care will likely save money in the long run.

Does medical liability reform help you financially, regardless of whether or not you?re ever sued? The experience in Texas suggests that the answer is Yes. Since tort reform was passed in 2003, insurance rates have dropped an average of 27% for all physicians. Read more to find out about other ways physicians have benefitted.

If you failed to meet the June 30 electronic prescribing deadline, you've got an extra month to avoid a cut in next year's Medicare payment. Here?s more information on the exemptions and how you might qualify.

One reason for an empty waiting room is the ailing economy, according to a recent report. Monthly indices compiled by Standard & Poor suggest that office-based physicians may see a drop in patient visits, if they haven't already. Economic analysts also found that revenues for treating Medicare patients were at their lowest annual growth rate since at least 2005. Keep reading to find out what is likely to turn the trend around.

Annual influenza vaccination rates for physicians often are significantly higher than for their office staff members, even nurses, according to a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report. That could be a problem when your waiting room is filled with sick patients this winter. CDC offers four easy-to-implement recommendations to get your practice employees to line up for the vaccine, without your actually having to require it.

Hospitals and primary care physicians (PCPs) may benefit from the growing numbers of PCPs employed in hospital-owned practices, but patients and third-party payers may be harmed by the trend, at least in the short term, according to a recent study.

The government?s new flexible bundled payment initiative allows practices to largely define their own terms of participation. But will the array of models resolve issues with undervaluing evaluation and management work and negotiating fair payment rates with hospitals? Find out how the definition of ?episodes of care? might make a difference.

The demand for ancillary services that combat the signs of aging has exploded with the aging of the American population.

If you look closely at the airline industry, there's much to learn from the leading airlines and steps they've taken to rebound from a point of weakness to a growing financial stability.

Is yours one of the many practices moving toward becoming a Patient-Centered Medical Home?

New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania had the highest costs of care in a recent study of how Medicaid volume of services and prices vary across states.

Is it worth it to consider earning extra income as a consultant?

Learn how to host shared medical visits.

Although physicians have not been early adopters of social media, their numbers online are increasing.

The median pay for administrators of small and medium-sized practices fell or barely increased last year.

Determine whether it's worth your investment to buy voice recognition software.

Letters discuss perseverance, obstacles for surgeons, family medicine, and insurance premium rates.

Physicians enrolling in Medicare in July had to answer a new question on their enrollment forms.

Tobacco use continues to be the leading cause of preventable morbidity and mortality in the United States.

A physician learns that a seemingly bad outcome or experience can be dignified if you take the steps to look past it and keep moving forward.

Determining whether it is legal to bill for services performed by noncredentialed physicians.

If you're like most primary care physicians, you think you should earn more for the 60, 70, and even 80 hours you work each week. The fact is, you can.

Every physician faces choices. Although the right choice for your practice may appear at first to be the least expensive option, in far too many cases, the option that starts out as the least expensive ends up costing you more either immediately, in the long run, or both.

Any doctor currently in practice appreciates all the new treatments that emerged in the 20th century.

About half of all office-based U.S. physicians were in practices employing so-called ?physician extenders,? with primary care physicians being more likely to work with them than medical specialists, according to a government report.