medical practices news from FierceHealthcare
NewsMGMA 2009: Practices learning to pick out, attract most profitable patients
If yesterday's educational session "Not All Patients Are Created Equal" was any indication, practice managers and physician executives aren't quite ready to think like product marketers. But for... Read more...
Trend: Pharmas using more "medical science liasons" in physician outreach
If you're a sales rep for a pharmaceutical product, you're barred from discussing any uses of a drug not approved by the FDA. Like most regulations, however, there's a loophole, and drug companies... Read more...
SPOTLIGHT: Small practices can't afford quality improvements
While it's all well and good to shoot for improved quality, many medical practices simply don't have the means to adopt new technologies or change their operations, according to a new report issued... Read more...
Study: Patients often not informed about abnormal test findings
A new study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine has drawn a disturbing conclusion--that physicians frequently don't tell patients when they have an abnormal test result. The researchers,... Read more...
Doctors getting flexible with payment arrangements
When the economy falls apart, doctors feel it, up close and personal. These days, with a vicious recession still lingering like a cloud over the country, physicians are finding that even prosperous... Read more...
Wal-Mart will market electronic medical records system
You know something's a commodity when the big W gets involved--so I guess EMRs have officially arrived. Wal-Mart Stores has set its sights on the scorching-hot market for electronic health records,... Read more...
Trend: More medical practices require same-day deductible payment
In the past, most medical practices were content to collect co-pays from patients and go after health plans for the rest of what they were owed. They did this, in part, because they just weren't sure... Read more...
OIG: Part-time employees also exempt from anti-kickback laws
Good news for part-time physician employees: the OIG has given an advisory opinion allowing part-time physicians to be paid for seeing publicly insured patients without violating federal... Read more...
HHS: Part-time physician employees can accept public payments
It seems that a potentially thorny issue has been ironed out by the HHS Inspector General's office. Part-time physician employees are not violating federal anti-kickback laws by accepting wages for... Read more...
Hospitals, practices using locum tenens physicians more often
In what some deem a troubling sign that the primary care physician shortage is getting worse, a growing number of hospitals and practices are working through temp agencies to get their staffing needs... Read more...
| Press ReleasesMGMA: Medical practice revenues fall; Bad debt, declining patient volume may be driversENGLEWOOD, Colo., Oct.1, 2009 - For the first time in several years, data from the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) indicate that revenue in medical practices declined in 2008. The drop Read more >> |
