Frank Irving

The American Telemedicine Association's finance and operations track during its annual meeting in Austin, Texas, sets out to give conference attendees a better understanding of telemedicine's return on investment and efficiencies.

Medical groups reported an average turnover rate of 6.8 percent in 2012, according to the annual Physician Retention Survey from Cejka Search and the American Medical Group Association (AMGA), who released their findings March 18.

Medical school students are increasingly choosing family medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics, according to the latest data from the National Resident Matching Program (NRPM). Released last week, the NRPM's Main Residency Match showed that primary care matches rose by almost 400 compared to 2012 figures.

Communication and teamwork across healthcare systems appears to be a nearly universal challenge, according to a survey of nearly 9,800 primary care physicians representing 11 nations. The Commonwealth Fund released findings of the survey in November 2012, and expanded on several drill-down topics during a webinar presented on Feb. 5.

The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 became law on Jan. 2. Among its many provisions, the law postpones a scheduled 26.5 percent payment cut for physicians and other practitioners who treat Medicare patients, but payments to physicians may be temporarily held.

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.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Aug. 7 released an interim final rule for making healthcare claim payments electronically and describing adjustments to claim payments. The department expects this next step in the adoption of operating rules to save up to $9 billion over the next 10 years.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is sending some sunshine in the direction of primary care providers. In a proposed rule issued July 6, CMS is offering payment increases for family physicians and other primary care providers as well as proposals to better pay for the range of care primary care providers give patients.

Healthcare businesses seeking an assessment of their exposure to financial risk in relation to ICD-10 compliance have a new online tool at their disposal. The HIMSS ICD-10 Task Force and Jvion, a healthcare compliance technology and services organization, announced on June 27 the release of their collaboratively developed ICD-10 Financial Risk Calculator.