Details Found in IRS Explanation Issued Wednesday; $20,000 Figure Based on a Family of Four. In a final regulation issued Wednesday, January 30, 2013, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) assumed that under Obamacare the cheapest health insurance plan available in 2016 for a family will cost $20,000 for the year. Under Obamacare, Americans will be required to buy health insurance or pay a penalty to the IRS. The news was reported by Huffington Post, CNS News, Catholic News, Investment Watch, Economonitor, Naked Capitalism, Investor Village, and more. The Journal of Accountancy offered detailed analysis of the new regulations, and NPR weighed in…
-
-
Pay-for-Performance Provisions are a “Triumph of Theory Over Experience,” Writes Bill Keller in “Carrots for Doctors.” “Pay for performance, or P4P in the jargon, is embraced by right and left. It has long been the favorite egghead prescription for our absurdly overpriced, underperforming health care system. The logic . . . If only it worked,” writes former New York Times executive editor Bill Keller, here writing for the Times’ opinion page. More:
-
A Growing Willingness to Adopt a Largely Untested Payment Model Amid Increased Pressure to Curb Spending Melanie Evans at Modern Physician reports that two large Texas health systems with Medicare accountable care contracts are among the latest to enter into commercial ACOs in deals that suggest a growing willingness to adopt the largely untested payment model amid increasing pressure on providers and payers to curb health spending. More:
-
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 services but also charges a non-reimbursable fee that pays for amenities like 24/7 access to the doctor, same-day appointments, longer appointment times and a greater degree of personalized attention. The annual fee for such practices currently averages about $1,800. More:
-
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 provoked by a number of factors, including lack of experience, poor preparation, and discomfort being the center of attention. Effective verbal communication is essential for personal and professional success, yet getting your messages across clearly can…
-
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 institutions:
-
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, from the New York Times to Forbes, CNN, US News & World Report, FoxNews, The Economist, The Hill, the Washington Post, and more:
-
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:
-
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: “We’ve seen [demand for nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs)] steadily climbing throughout the year and we don’t anticipate it changing or flattening off any time soon,” Tricia Pattee, director of product management at HealtheCareers Network, told Physicians Practice. “This is due to…
-
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:
-
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 Cheesecake Factory efficiency can be effectively applied to today’s hospitals. Only a quarter of physicians are self-employed today, Gawande notes, which is a remarkable turnaround from only a decade ago when the majority were self-employed. Most are…
-
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 consequences, or fail without proper planning.” More:
-
Structuring Competitive Physician Compensation Models Healthcare financial executives need to understand valuation methodology to ensure legal and regulatory compliance. Specifically, when developing and reviewing their physician compensation programs, healthcare organizations should understand the market data, test outcomes of incentive plans for fair market value, and check total compensation for fair market value and reasonableness.
-
Americans with employer-sponsored insurance had fewer hospital stays and visited outpatient clinics less frequently from 2009 to 2010, but prices for inpatient and outpatient care rose by about 10% or more, according to a Health Care Cost Institute analysis of more than 3 billion claims for medical care. The average price of generic drugs fell over the same period, but prices for brand-name drugs rose, the analysis found. The Washington Post opines that “Data Trove May Shed Light on Healthcare Uncertainties”: How much do hospitals and doctors actually charge insurers for their services? How much and which of those services…
-
Becker’s ASC Review, a site that provides Practical Business, Legal, and Clinical Guidance for Ambulatory Surgery Centers, recently published an article on benchmarks that ASC administrators often neglect. These are important benchmarks not just for ASCs, but for any physician executives, healthcare practice managers, and the valuators and consultants they work and plan with. An excerpt: Chance Sherer, manager with VMG Health, discusses several benchmarks that ASC administrators often forget to include in their data collection efforts. Q: Could you discuss several benchmarks that surgery center leaders overlook or under-use in their benchmarking efforts? Chance Sherer: All ASCs are different. They…
-
Three Practice Management Trends for 2012 For the third year, the MGMA has published the State of Medical Practice in MGMA Connexion. It’s an overview of issues and industry perspectives that will shape medical practice this year. The Association collected information from healthcare professionals about the ways in which EHRs increase revenue, as well as what affects your compensation and practice collections, among others. Here are three of the 12 practice management trends: 1. Collections vs. compensation: Setting matters Your practice’s ownership may directly affect your physicians’ pay. Collections for professional charges (i.e., patient visits, procedures) are higher in physician-owned…
-
Practice Management Companies Look to ACOs for Growth Physician practice management companies are forging ahead with expansion plans into new areas of hospital-based medicine as they position themselves to participate in accountable care organizations and other aspects of health system reform, reports Victoria Stagg Elliott at American Medical News. The companies are not buying primary care and other outpatient practices right now, although they are expanding into areas of hospital-based medicine that have not traditionally been their focus. This is in part to improve their ability to reduce readmissions and receive bonuses for improving quality and decreasing costs within an…
-
Adjusting, More M.D.’s Add M.B.A. Under heavy pressure from government regulators and insurance companies, more and more physicians across the country are learning to think like entrepreneurs, reports Milt Freudenheim at the New York Times: “All physicians need some kind of business training,” she said. “For example, some physicians with large research grants don’t know how to manage the money.” As for the nation’s troubled health system, “we are not running the business side very well,” Dr. Chandler said. “Part of the problem is we don’t have physicians sufficiently involved. They have a fuller insight about what is needed.” “Cue…
-
Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) Survey Reports Top Challenges MGMA members were asked to identify top management challenges, and the results of the 2011 survey are in: See what MGMA members had to say about the results in the July MGMA Connexion. Compare this year’s results with previous years. Read the story behind the numbers and see how challenges are ranked by applicability.