Practice Management

Helpful tips from HHS's Office of Inspector General on how to sidestep mistakes that may keep you from getting paid.

The Feds' final guidelines say you don't have to have a compliance plan. But if you want to protect yourself against a costly audit . . .

Doctors are finding nontraditional ways to supplement stagnant practice earnings--selling everything from pregnancy calendars to advice on aging. Here&s what works.

Quibbles over the 2001 Medicare fee schedule, The government says HMOs are still paid too much, Are HMOs becoming softies? Do people think of doctors as health care advocates? Are bad doctors getting off easy?

The bottom line is more income, happier patients and staff, and shorter hours for physcicians, say doctors who've adopted the techniques described in this series.

The regulations prescribe stiff fines for breaching the confidentiality of electronically transmitted patient information. Take these steps now to assure your practice's compliance.

The young boy&s valor in his life-death struggle continues to influence his father.

The bottom line is more income, happier patients and staff, and shorter hours for physcicians, say doctors who've adopted the techniques described in this series.

Do juries know about?double dipping??

Computerized registries will enable you to track them and take charge of their care.

With tact and perseverance, physicians can uncover the dangers that a surprising number of their patients are facing.

Malpractice Insurance, Fraud and Abuse

Letters to the Editors

But progress is painfully slow, our latest survey shows. And the pressure on payments isn't letting up.

Suing HMOs, In-Office Surgery, Looking Ahead--CME in November

The idea of using a personal digital assistant for electronic prescribing sells itself. For most doctors, the big decision isn't whether to do it, but which system to choose.

They figure Web-based transactions will save them elephant bucks. It will cut your costs, too, if the plans can learn to cooperate.

An intranet at the University of Michigan Health System is pulling patient information together into a useful electronic medical record.

Intimate partner abuse is as common--and as much of a medical problem--as smoking, hypertension, and other ills that you routinely ask patients about.

American Health Care: More money and less regulation: Are they the answers?, Reimbursment: Generalists and specialists renew the fight over practice expenses, Insurance: Have doctors become the insurance companies' banker?

Fraud, Women's Health, Employee Relations, Continuing Medical Education Meetings, Complementary Medicine, Drug Costs

Confusing menus, canned ads, irksome music, assurances that "your call is important." And waits that border on eternity. Is this any way to greet patients?

She exuded confidence and talked a good game. But those qualities masked severe shortcomings.

Doctors share their thoughts on practicing medicine today Your voices Compiled by Jeff Forster, Editor

Praised lavishly just months ago, the settlement has since attracted scores of critics. But the giant insurer still views it as a good model for the Lone Star State and beyond.

Anticipating patients& needs is crucial to running a more efficient practice, experts say.

A national survey recently said that nearly half of doctors age 50 and older are planning to retire or cut back their activity in the next three years. What's going on out there?

Finding a cure for the common code

Here's a guide to rules so complex, they might have stumped Einstein himself.

Here's a guide to rules so complex, they might have stumped Einstein himself.