Practice Management

Adapting to rapid changes, legislative pressures and fiscal uncertainty rank as the top challenges facing practice business leaders.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released hospital outpatient charge data for the first time.

Medicare commission’s report to Congress wants to even the payment disparity for some procedures performed in hospital outpatient departments (OPD) and office-based practices.

The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) wants to better integrate behavioral healthcare with primary care. In fact, the change is spelled out in new proposed standards for its Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) program.

Epocrates, Inc., an athenahealth company and provider of the top medical app for U.S. physicians, has expanded collaborations with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN).

The FDA has approved the supplemental biologics license application (sBLA) for licensure of its 4-strain influenza vaccine, Fluzone Quadrivalent vaccine (Sanofi Pasteur).

Featuring HD resolution in a 5mm diameter scope, the product provides bright, crisp images for seeing fine details during surgery. It also offers the surgeon 100 degree angulation in all directions as well as the flexibility to adjust direction of view to above, behind, or head-on.

Could you or your practice be at risk of complicity in Medicare fraud or abuse? The answer is almost certainly, YES.

Primary care physicians in a handful of states have already begun to receive higher Medicaid fees, but what's taking so long everywhere else?

Subspecialists recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), American Board of Physician Specialties (ABPS), or American Osteopathic Association (AOA) qualify for the higher payments.

For years there’s been discussion in Congress about fixing the flawed SGR, but legislators have never been able to agree on a solution. But now, serious proposals are on the table to replace the SGR formula, with both Republicans and Democrats working together to reach a solution to this long-standing problem.

Patients’ ratings of care experiences are a key part of quality improvement efforts, so health providers are increasingly finding their compensation tied in part to those ratings, according to a Commonwealth Fund-supported study.

Direct primary care (DPC) is a retainer-based model for primary care practices, but does not come with a standard set of rules like many other models. Instead, there is a common set of goals or characteristics, and DPC practices are making their own rules as they go.

The AAFP suggests exploring the following steps before embarking on a transition to a direct primary care model.

Here are eight tips to help you keep your patients’ accounts out of collection.

If a patient does not have capacity, another person may be designated to consent on the patient’s behalf. For a minor, the parents are usually the legal guardians and have the right to consent or refuse to give consent on behalf of the child.

Patients are paying nearly one-quarter of “the amount that health insurers set aside for paying physicians,” according to the National Health Insurer Report Card from the American Medical Association (AMA).

Primary care physicians are less likely to accept new Medicaid patients than office-based physicians in general, according to a new analysis in Health Affairs. But primary care physicians' acceptance of new Medicaid patients varies widely by state.

Choosing the best EHR vendor can be one of the most important, difficult and confusing decisions physicians face. So knowing the choices that other physicians have made can add some valuable context around the decision-making process.

As retail clinics expand their care beyond low-acuity conditions, the greater threat they pose to existing primary care practices, according to an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

With the Oct. 1, 2014 deadline looming, many physicians are still struggling to get started in their adoption of ICD-10. Here’s a list of resources to help practices prepare for the ICD-10 transition.

Having an exceptional curriculum vitae will likely land a physician an interview. But in a competitive job market, what key qualities must they exude during that meeting to distinguish themselves from other viable candidates?

Job interviews for physicians should be more about confirmation, and less about exploration – unlike other professions. But at the interview, physicians should focus intently on obtaining comprehensive answers to these two questions.

One of the key goals of accountable care organizations (ACOs) could put these new models of healthcare delivery in greater danger of being hit with malpractice lawsuits, according to an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

[VIDEO] Topics: Healthcare photo-sharing app Figure 1 released, no financial benefit from ACOs, care coordinators reduce costs, more.

Many physicians see Twitter as a way to develop a global connection among colleagues in a variety of specialties. Here is a subjective list of 10 internists who offer unique and engaging content to their followers.

This list highlights the 20 medical institutions that are the top producers of primary care graduates by percentage of total graduates, citing data from a recent study in Academic Medicine.

Maintenance of Certification requirements have sparked intense debate among primary care providers, but that won't stop Medicare penalties from going into effect in 2015 for non-compliers.

An accurate valuation of the business remains vital for financial and retirement planning, but valuation methods vary widely.

Meeting the cost of converting a small practice to electronic health records requires a close examination of all other practice expenses.