Practice Management

You win! New ACO rules include physician preferences

Someone in Washington actually is listening to you. The final rules for accountable care organizations recently released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services include virtually all the alterations requested by physicians and healthcare organizations. Read the nine-point summary of the final rule, and see how it will affect your practice. » More

Health Law & Policy

Incentives are nice, but do they change your practice?

Incentive payments have been the tool of choice for driving adoption of treatment protocols and improving outcomes in the U.S. healthcare system, but how much effect do they really have on how you practice primary care medicine? The jury is still out, according to a recent systemic review. Discover why the review’s authors say more studies are needed on the effectiveness of incentives—and their unintended consequences. » More

ADVERTISEMENT

Resource Center: Oral Anticoagulation in Atrial Fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation afflicts more than 2.3 million persons in the United States and is expected to increase 2.5-fold by 2050. To find risk stratifying tools and articles on emerging oral anticoagulant therapies, click here.

Practice Finance

Medicare cuts could push physicians out

With a nearly 30% Medicare payment cut looming by the end of the year, the situation is getting increasingly desperate for physicians, some of whom see few options other than to bail out of the system altogether. Only 16% of medical practices polled by the Medical Group Management Association indicated they would maintain current levels of access for new patients if their payments are slashed. More than half said they would have to reduce available appointments for new Medicare patients. Does your practice fall into that group? » More

Technology

Improve EHR satisfaction by involving all physicians in selection

Step one in choosing an electronic health record system for your practice? Involve all physicians in the selection process. In each of 139 survey questions about satisfaction with their practice’s EHR, physicians who participated in the selection process responded more positively than those who were not involved in choosing the system, according to a recent report. Read how the experts define the benefits of early exposure to EHRs. » More

Liability & Risk Management

Medical liability premiums down in most of country

Although it may seem like the cost of everything is going up, here’s an exception: Your professional liability insurance. A recent survey found that the majority of rates remained flat, with 55% of them unchanged. Those rates that did change trended downward overall for the sixth year in a row, with the vast majority of the decreases between 0.1% and 9.9%.  Only one region of the country showed a slight upward drift in premium rates. Find out which one. » More

Health Law & Policy

HIV-testing consent requirements still vary by state

About 20% of the estimated 1.1 million Americans with HIV do not know they have the disease, according to a recent policy report that emphasizes the need not only to provide effective treatment but also to diagnose the disease in the first place. So what are the barriers to diagnosis? At least one is that state laws vary significantly on what kind of consent is required before patients can be tested. Find out why do you need to make sure you receive the kind of consent required under your state laws before testing any patient for HIV. » More

Confirm your
e-newsletter subscription click here.

To ensure future delivery of email newsletters from Medical Economics please take a moment to confirm your subscription by clicking here.
Thank you,
Medical Economics Staff

Tools

Digital Edition