The summer after my freshman year of college, I had my first experience with emergency medicine. I was able to shadow a physician in the emergency department at St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City where my father worked. I’m sure I was annoying as hell, and I know that emergency physician had way more patience […]
Emergentology: Why You Should Counsel Your ED Patients (Stop Rolling Your Eyes) Read More »
Nearly 1,000 physicians and other eligible professionals have attested this year to meeting the more stringent Stage 2 meaningful-use requirements under the federal electronic health-record incentive payment program, but only 10 hospitals have done so through the first half of their program year. The numbers, through July 1, were presented Tuesday at the federally chartered
Stage 2 Meaningful Use Near 1,000 for Eligible Professionals, but Hospitals Lag Badly Read More »
In June, the Medical Group Management Association released the results of a questionnaire that ranked members’ most pressing practice-management challenges. In this edition of “Practice Makes Perfect,” we’ll tackle No. 1 on that list: preparing for the transition to ICD-10 diagnostic coding. In DATA, the CMS announced that the new implementation deadline for the International
Practice Makes Perfect: ICD-10 Delay Allows Time for Clinical Documentation Improvement Read More »
Pediatricians and other low-margin practices could take a significant financial hit during the transition to ICD-10 procedural and diagnostic codes, according to a study in Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. The 68,000-code ICD-10 system is scheduled to replace the 14,000-code ICD-9 system Oct. 1, 2015. Researchers at the University of Illinois
Move to ICD-10 will Hurt Low-Margin Practices, Study Finds Read More »
History may look back on last week as an inflection point for privacy and technology in the healthcare industry. That’s because what happened makes it possible that a bulwark federal privacy rule will become a casualty of the push to accountable care, patient-centered medical homes and other population-health oriented care plans. Continue reading https://practicemax.com/ If the
Key Privacy Rule Could Fall to Accountable Care Push Read More »
Americans who enrolled in private health plans through the federal exchange in 2014 qualified for tax credits that covered an average of about three quarters of their monthly premium payment, according to data released Tuesday by HHS. The average total monthly premium was $346 for individuals who qualified for federal subsidies, which are available to
Subsidies Cover 76% of Premiums for Plans Purchased on HealthCare.gov Read More »
At the University of Minnesota Malcolm Moos Health Sciences Tower, teams of students from around the country studying medicine, nursing, pharmacy, public health and healthcare administration come together each year to compete in a contest testing their ability to solve a systemic and individual patient problem through an interdisciplinary approach. This year, the competition, which
Team Training Takes Off as New Era in Health Reform Dawns Read More »
Building on an impressive run of 7 medical billing company acquisitions over the past 48 months, PracticeMax, has moved to broaden its value added solutions by announcing the acquisition of ServiceTRAC, Inc. of Scottsdale, Arizona. For over 18 years ServiceTRAC has been a leading provider of sales training, satisfaction research and consulting services for the
PracticeMax Acquires ServiceTrac to Offer Marketing and Survey Services Read More »
This article reviews the current role of hydrocodone and puts the potential advantages and disadvantages of the recently approved long-acting hydrocodone preparation into perspective. The authors note that hydrocodone, a semi-synthetic opioid, has been used for decades as a short-acting analgesic, and it’s combined with acetaminophen or ibuprofen. The advantages of any hydrocodone product is
FDA Proposes Extended-Release Hydrocodone as Schedule II Drug Read More »
New models of healthcare delivery emphasize team-based coordinated care, but a new idea being tested at the University of Chicago proposes a new, somewhat old-fashioned concept targeting high-risk patients: the comprehensive-care physician.In a clinical trial funded by the CMS Innovation Center, University of Chicago physicians are assigned patients identified as high risk for hospitalization and
New Care Model Targets High-Risk Patients with Comprehensive-Care Docs Read More »