medical group

Medical group breakups can generate as much suspicion and anger as a dissolving marriage, so why not design a shareholder "prenup" before you go into business? A pre-kickoff shareholder agreement should address several key issues, including terms for buy-outs when parties leave, become disabled or die, methods for dividing assets--including medical records--if the practice disintegrates, and approaches for compensating doctors while they transition into new practices. Blog

CMS has proposed new rules that would limit the "in-office ancillary services" exception to federal self-referral law. Specifically, they're taking a closer look at the extent to which physicians may be taking excessive profit from a standard diagnostic services, particularly MRI, CT and PET scans. While federal law bans doctors from referring patients to outside facilities in which they have a financial interest, the rules make an exception for tests doctors perform on site or at a …

What happens when doctors are unable or unwilling to pay the bills for the patient's electronic medical records (EMRs)? In Boca Raton, FL, one EMR vendor cut doctor's access to the records when the medical group refused to pay higher support fees. This has created concerns about EMRs in the midst of a major push for doctors to digitize patient records. Currently, there is no law preventing companies from restricting physician's access to the records for financial reasons. But Dr. Joseph …

During a child's yearly check-up, physicians have a list of standard topics that must be covered--everything from assessing the child's current health and medical history to public safety recommendations. Physicians who are already pressed for time often don't have the luxury of simply listening to a patient's stories. Dr. Victoria McEvoy, the chief of pediatrics and the medical director of the Mass. General West Medical Group and assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical …

Five Staten Island doctors are suing the Health Insurance Plan of New York, claiming that HIP has interfered in their relationships with their patients. Their practice, the Staten Island Medical Group, was dissolved in May after being taken over by PivotHealth, a Brentwood, TN-based physician practice management company. PivotHealth, on contract with HIP, was providing administrative services to Staten Island Medical. The practice was subsequently re-formed as the Staten Island Physicians …

The Henry Ford Medical Group filled more than 500,000 prescriptions during the first year of one of the largest ePrescribing projects in the country, according to sponsors. The ePrescribe Initiative is a joint initiative of General Motors, Ford and DaimlerChrysler and the Henry Ford Health System. The technical aspects of the project are being managed by Medco. Organizers certainly have reason to be pleased. They claim more than 80,000 prescriptions were changed after drug-interaction …

The first national pay for performance (P4P) conference wrapped in Los Angeles on Wednesday morning. Tuesday saw the big guns coming out, with Carolyn Clancy (head of the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality), Mark McLellan of CMS and health IT czar David Brailer all presenting. It's clear that Medicare is very interested in adopting pay-for-performance, with a little more money included for hospital quality reporting in the most recent budget.

Measuring P4P in the …

> A new study of payouts in medical malpractice cases says that awards are not rising sharply, as critics of trial lawyers maintain. Story

> The New York Times reports on the success the food industry has had in shielding itself from obesity lawsuits following a rash of lawsuits against fast food chains two years ago. …

A disturbing case involving the loss of 180,000 confidential patient medical records at the San Jose Medical Group appears to have been solved. A former branch manager at the group's McKee office was charged over the weekend with stealing two company laptops and attempting to sell them on EBay. CEO Ernie Wallerstein said Joseph Harris served as a branch manager for the group for around one month. He was asked to resign in September after cash and prescription drugs were found missing at the office. Story

A growing number of health care providers, including networks and medical groups are getting into the software business as a way of offseting the expense of upgrading their own systems.  Some are going the Application Service Provider route, offering to host electronic medical record systems for smaller medical groups.  A good example is Morgan Haugh Medical Group in Kentucky, which is attempting to attract smaller groups by offering them a ride on the McKesson software it …