Frank Irving
Two giants in the medical products business have agreed to consolidate services that bring supplies to physician offices.
It's never been more difficult for healthcare providers to collect payment for services provided. These recommendations will help you get the most from your efforts and avoid costly mistakes.
Characterizing patients as non-compliant has long been an excuse for physicians not fully engaging people, but that needs to change. Patient engagement activities are increasingly important, as practices get more involved in value-based care models such as accountable care organizations.
Following an "industrial model of care," New York's Westmed Medical Group analyzes data from more than 2,200 processes and procedures to drive accountability and results. This has led to 15-fold growth and $285 million in annual revenue.
Commercial insurers inaccurately process about 20 percent of claims filed by medical practices. It's an industry standard that has weathered the test of time -- though not in a good way.
By releasing to the public a data set revealing what Medicare pays individual doctors, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services says the transparency will help weed out fraud and prevent billing abuse, but physicians are crying foul.
A House vote today may have derailed physicians' chances of finally getting Medicare's formula for paying doctors repealed.
A newly released update to the landmark 2008 Nachimson study says two-thirds of practices would fall in the upper range of implementation cost projections.
Based on 2011 data analyzed by the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), total operating costs per full-time equivalent (FTE) physician rose a modest 1.27 percent since 2010. Hospital/IDS-owned multispecialty medical practices saw more of a cost jump over the same measurement period, MGMA reported, an increase of 6.45 percent.
A new report finds that the uncertainty caused by a congressional history of last-minute reprieves from Medicare sustainable growth rate (SGR) payment cuts has held back physician practices from participating in new Medicare payment and delivery models.