Health Care Reform and the Physician Business Owner

What do you really know about health care reform?

And do you even care?

The past few years have thrust health care into the limelight, with the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Healthcare Act (PPACA) in March 2010. And confusion has reigned ever since.

Once in a while, I come across good explanations that attempt to demystify the PPACA. As much as I'd like to be an ostrich with my head in the sand, mainly to escape the rancor and fury of those decrying the Act and the cries of those begging for meaningful change, I can't escape its impact on my clientele and readers.

For those of you who are interested and trying to make sense of the news, outrage and potential impact on your practice or executive role in a health care organization, here are a few of the more helpful resources:

1. From the American College of Physician Executives comes the video Healthcare Reform: A Spectator's Guide, by Sarah Freymann Fontenot BSN, JD. She concludes with a plea for "physician leadership, direction and well-educated voices" to help guide the debate and to produce the outcomes that really matter —

quality, patient satisfaction, accuracy in billing, education and community.

This 47-minute informative video illuminates what's happening at the intersection of health care, the law and politics without taking any particular stand.

2. From the American College of Physicians, An Internist's Practical Guide to Understanding Health Reform is a document written without legalese, accompanied by useful tables, plenty of useful links and even a patient summary. It's 109 pages long, so I don't encourage you to print it!

Read more.