Medical group practice leaders from around the country are set to visit The Big Easy at the end of October for the Medical Group Management Association's 2010 Annual Conference.
The conference takes place Oct. 24-27 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans.
"It is an excellent opportunity to share best practices among colleagues as well as sharpen leadership and management skills in a challenging environment where group practices are being forced to do more with less," said Anders M. Gilberg, the MGMA's vice president of public and private economic affairs.
One highlight will be a panel discussion on healthcare reform, moderated by MGMA President and CEO William F. Jessee, MD, FACMPE, that includes representatives from the physician, hospital, business, and health plan communities.
"MGMA members are eager to understand the practical implications of health reform. This dialogue between industry leaders from MGMA, AMA, Federation of American Hospitals, National Business Coalition on Health and Humana will provide an excellent multi-stakeholder evaluation of the challenges and opportunities brought by healthcare reform," Gilberg said.
Hot topics include how the MGMA will work with Congress to avert the pending 25-percent-plus Medicare payment cuts to physicians, healthcare reform, compliance strategies and leveraging EHRs to improve care and capture federal incentives related to meaningful use. Hospital/physician integration is also a popular subject of discussion, according to Gilberg.
"With the growing pace of practice acquisitions by hospitals and health systems, as well as the emergence of accountable care organizations, physician alignment and integration strategies will definitely be a hot topic," said Jessee. "We have multiple sessions on the agenda that address that topic – including how to make hospital-owned practices profitable and how to leverage the patient-centered medical home to improve profitability, patient satisfaction and physician satisfaction."
Using data to make better management decisions, preparing for the transition to ICD-10, optimizing revenues and patient collections in a difficult economy and EMR selection and implementation will also be discussed, he said.
The opening plenary session on Sunday afternoon features Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point and Blink. Jessee said his presentation on "The Tipping Point in Healthcare Reform" promises to be provocative.
Tuesday morning's general session will feature William Crounse, Microsoft's worldwide senior health director, who will be discussing "How Software and the Net Are Transforming Health and Healthcare Delivery."
Gilberg expects to see many EHR and practice management system vendors exhibiting this year.
"It will be an excellent opportunity for attendees to interact with existing and potential vendor partners to ask key questions about vendor readiness for meaningful use (and) certification, as well as implementation of fast approaching deadlines for new HIPAA transaction standards (5010) and ICD-10," he said.