Many Physicians Find Personalized Service is Increasingly Popular Among Patients  Elizabth O'Brien at CBS Marketwatch writes that plenty of baby boomers have done the math on so-called "concierge" medicine (also known as "boutique," "personalized" or "private physician" practices)  and deemed the investment worthy. In the typical concierge experience, a primary-care doctor accepts insurance for routine serv ...

Tips Medical Professionals Can Use to Face the Public with Confidence Sue Jacques at Physicians Practice reports:  Being a skilled medical professional doesn't necessarily mean that you're comfortable speaking in public, especially when it comes to talking to a group of peers. If the mere thought of addressing even a small audience causes your knees to knock, you're not alone. This universal anxiety is prov ...

Some Schools Cut Hours of Hard-Pressed Adjuncts to Avoid Rules on Insurance Mark Peters and Douglas Belkin at the Wall Street Journal report that the federal health-care overhaul is prompting some colleges and universities to cut the hours of adjunct professors, renewing a debate about the pay and benefits of these freelance instructors who handle a significant share of teaching at U.S. higher-education ins ...

Ahead of the new health-care law, small firms worry about crossing the crucial 50-person threshold — and about rising premium rates  Emily Maltby at the WSJ Law blog reports on increasing concerns about the forthcoming healthcare laws among small business owners.  This seems to be a prominent issue and concern among small business owners, and has been noted in most every major media outlet in recent weeks, ...

Enhanced Training, Meaningful Use Incentives, Patient Portals, HIEs, Mobile Apps, a Move to the Cloud, and More Yes, portals and mobile EHRs were big in 2012 — but will they continue to make headlines in 2013? And what about stuff like ICD-10 training, health information exchanges (HIEs), and telemedicine? Marissa Torreri reports that Physicians Practice asked more than a dozen healthcare IT experts, includ ...

2013 California Filings:   Aetna: 22 percent.  Anthem Blue Cross: 26 percent.  Blue Shield of California: 20 percent. Reed Abelson at the New York Times reported last week that health insurance companies across the country are seeking and winning double-digit increases in premiums for some customers, even though one of the biggest objectives of the Obama administration’s health care law was to stem the rapi ...

Health Costs on His Mind, Small Factory Owner Looks for Ways to Cope With New Law Emily Maltby and Sarah E. Needleman at The Wall Street Journal talk with a small business owner outside of Chicago who's considering ways to manage growth, preserve profit, and comply with the new healthcare law. Automation Systems, with with sales of about $1.6 million for 2012, currently employs 40 full-time workers, mostly ...

Spotlight On Payment Reform, Alternative Care Models, and Physician Employment Agreements Debra Beaulieu at Fierce Practice Management  weighs in with Top 10 Physician Practice Trends to watch in 2013, a year that will not only be a watershed for the U.S. healthcare system, but, for many physician practices, a pivotal one professionally—where the' ability to adapt and evolve may make the difference for many ...

Federal Government, Which Makes an ROI of $7.20 for Every Dollar it Invest in Detection and Enforcement of Fraud, Is Increasingly Monitoring Compliance Plans  Lucien W. Roberts at Physicians Practice notes that physician practices are increasingly being monitored by federal agencies sensitive to compliance plan violations: ...

CBO Details Penalties For Being Uninsured Under The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office recently reported an estimated six million people would be subject to the Obamacare tax, approximating $7 billion in taxes in 2016 with each of the 6 million people paying at least $695. ...

Booming Demand for Nurses and Physician Assistants;  Huge Need for Primary-Care Physicians An estimated 30 million people will gain insurance as a result of the Affordable Care Act, asserts Aubrey Westgate at Physicians Practice.   At the same time, the Association of American Medical Colleges anticipates a shortfall of 45,000 primary-care physicians and 46,000 specialists in the coming decade.   More:   “W ...

Federal Lawsuit from AHA and Four Other Providers Accuse HHS of Illegally Denying Medicare Payments Joe Carlson at Modern Healthcare reports the story: In a federal lawsuit, the American Hospital Association and four healthcare providers accuse HHS of illegally denying hospitals Medicare payments for audited outpatient procedures. The Chicago-based interest group for hospitals says in the complaint that HHS ...

Enumerate Specific Assets, and a Specific Methodology for Those Assets If a fair market value is determined by multiple appraisers, it’s likely to be too high—and lead to a rush for the door, where the first doctor out wins. Here’s why. ...

Tax Treatment for Rebates Differs Depending on How Insurance Premiums Were First Paid The last wave of MLR rebates have either reached their recipients or are in the mail. Reed Tinsley explains how healthcare practice managers can determine the appropriate way to treat those rebates when tax time comes. ...

Keys:  Talk to Existing Staff.  Hire a Specialist Attorney.  Don’t Negotiate Directly.  Exercise Care—and Sleep on it Before Signing.  James Doulgeris at Physicians Practice describes a common scenario where physicians agree to a buy out and later come to regret it: ...

Insurers Say Rates Can Surge After Hospitals Buy Private Physician Practices; Medicare Spending Rises, Too    Anne Wilde Matthews at the Wall Street Journal reports that the increased number of physicians going to work for hospitals is actually resulting in higher costs for patients.   Hospitals are acquiring physician practices and integrating them into hospital services, and while the stated goal is to im ...

Healthcare Practices Still Command Significant Goodwill Value. Here’s How Owners Can Successfully Plan an Exit. According to The Health Care Group’s Goodwill Registry, a database of buy-in and sale transactions, medical and dental practices are still commanding significant prices for intangible value/goodwill. Here’s the detail on the numbers and guidance for optimal ways owners can find a successor, partne ...

Restaurant Chains Have Managed to Combine Quality Control, Cost Control, and Innovation. Can Health Care?   Physician and writer Atul Gawande publishes an essay in the New Yorker today that discusses how the Cheesecake Factory delivers good food at reasonable prices while meeting rigorous metrics (it throws away only 2.5% of all its groceries, for instance), and explores whether and how the lessons of Chees ...

Research Highlights Growth in Healthcare Cloud Computing A MarketsandMarkets report predicts that the global healthcare market for cloud computing will grow to $5.4 billion in 2017, with North America expected to be the biggest contributor because of new clinical diagnosis codes, meaningful use requirements, and other federal efforts. However, privacy and security issues tied to the technology remain a barr ...

There’s Good Reason for Long-Term Concern, Uncertainty, and Fear. Here's What To Do. James Doulgeris at Physicians Practice explains:  "Everyone in the practice and allied health world should take the title of the legislation seriously — The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). It does not say physician protection nor does it say it will be affordable for you. Most practices will suffer serious ...