The Tangled Hospital-Physician Relationship
By GOLDSMITH, KAUFMAN and BURNS
Together, hospital and physician services account for more than half of national health spending. In its 2014 National Health Expenditures estimates, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ actuaries make the hospital (nearly $1 trillion) and physician practice (nearly $600 billion) sectors appear to be independent and non-overlapping. This is an optical illusion. Hospitals and physicians are, in day-to-day practice, hopelessly intertwined.
And while power appears to be shifting from physicians to hospitals with the increasing salaried employment of physicians, appearances can be d...
Source: The Health Care Blog - May 12, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
The Tangled Hospital-Physician Relationship
Together, hospital and physician services account for more than half of national health spending. In its 2014 National Health Expenditures estimates, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ actuaries make the hospital (nearly $1 trillion) and physician practice (nearly $600 billion) sectors appear to be independent and non-overlapping. This is an optical illusion. Hospitals and physicians are, in day-to-day practice, hopelessly intertwined.
And while power appears to be shifting from physicians to hospitals with the increasing salaried employment of physicians, appearances can be deceiving. This post discusses th...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - May 9, 2016 Category: Health Management Authors: Jeff Goldsmith, Nathan Kaufman and Lawton Burns Tags: Costs and Spending Featured Health Professionals Hospitals Medicare Payment Policy Population Health Quality ACOs Bundled Payments EMTALA MACRA Medicare Part B Physicians Source Type: blogs
99306 CPT ® Code Description, Progress Notes, RVU, Distribution (Level 3 Initial Nursing Facility Care)
< div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on" > This 99306 CPT ® lecture reviews the procedure code definition, progress note examples, RVU values, national distribution data and explains when this code should be used in the nursing facility setting (nursing home). & nbsp;CPT stands for Current Procedural Terminology. This code is part of a family of medical billing codes described by the numbers 99304-99306. & nbsp;CPT ® 99306 represents the high (level 3) initial nursing facility care visit (whether you are the attending or a consultant) and is part of the Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS). & nb...
Source: The Happy Hospitalist - May 6, 2016 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Tamer Mahrous Source Type: blogs
What if ICD-10 was a joke created by a 13-year-old boy?
It turns out that the entire transition to the new ICD10 code set was just a joke perpetrated by a 13-year-old boy.
“I mean, who would take it seriously?” said RancheroBoy, using his screen name from MedicalCoders.com. He agreed to speak with us only on the condition that we not use his real name.
Hospitals and physicians’ offices nationwide were required to transition to the ICD10 code set for all diagnostic reporting as of October 1, 2015 — costing literally billions in health care dollars. Entire computer networks had to be redesigned, and the fantastically complicated software that supports the billing and ...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - October 19, 2015 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Roy Benaroch, MD Tags: Physician Primary care Source Type: blogs
Physician Payments Sunshine Act: Comments For and Against CMS Including Open Payments Data on "Physician Compare" Profiles
On July 15, 2015, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published its proposed rule to update the Medicare physician fee schedule for 2016. Among the many proposals, CMS sought comment on whether to add Open Payments data to its “Physician Compare” website. The comment period closed last month; we have provided a list of comments listed by whether they were supportive or against the proposal.
Background
CMS launched the first phase of Physician Compare on December 30, 2010, and so far the website mainly contains physician identification information as well as whether they participate ...
Source: Policy and Medicine - October 8, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Policy and Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
In the Trenches: Week One of ICD-10
Welcome back, blog fans. Sorry for the prolonged radio silence, but as some of you may have heard (or not, if you don’t happen to work in the medical field) this past Thursday, October 1, 2015 marked the official switch-over to ICD-10, and to say things have been a little hectic is like saying Congress is a little contentious.
What am I talking about, you say? Diagnosis coding.
At the end of my residency, the program sent the third year residents to a two-day seminar on practice management. Knowing I was about to go out on my own, I paid close attention, and ending up being able to use a great deal of what I learne...
Source: Musings of a Dinosaur - October 3, 2015 Category: Primary Care Authors: notdeaddinosaur Tags: Medical Source Type: blogs
How Independent Practices Can Leverage Google’s Growing Mobile Ad Formats
By JOHN SUNG KIM
Google’s stock price recently jumped by nearly 15% in a single day based on results that showed its intensive push into mobile ads is starting to generate meaningful revenues. This is important for doctors as recent stats from the company show that the majority of searches are now conducted on mobile devices, a medium that Google previously displayed very little paid advertising on.
The mobile ad format represents a new opportunity for some specialties, and a potential threat to those that ignore these growing trends as more independent practices begin investing in online advertising and Google Adwords (...
Source: The Health Care Blog - August 20, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: suchandan roy Tags: Tech THCB John Sung Kim Source Type: blogs
What Does ONC Roadmap Mean for Small Practices?
By SCOTT E. RUPP
Earlier this year, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) released a paper, “Connecting Health and Care for the Nation: A Shared Nationwide Interoperability Roadmap Version 1.0” designed to deliver “better” care through safe and secure exchange and use of electronic health information.
ONC’s current roadmap builds on this ONC paper, with a heart of interoperability of electronic health records (EHRs). Healthcare IT News says the roadmap moves health IT away from meaningful use and creates a potential for data to f...
Source: The Health Care Blog - August 7, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: suchandan roy Tags: THCB Source Type: blogs
HIT Newser: Prison time for HITECH fraud
By MICHELLE RONAN NOTEBOOM
CVS Health acquires Target’s healthcare biz
CVS Health will pay $1.9 billion to acquire Target’s healthcare businesses, including 1,600 pharmacies and 80 MinuteClinic health clinics.
CVS Health also just opened its Boston-based Digital Innovation Lab, which will focus on developing cutting-edge digital services and personalized capabilities that offer an accessible and integrated personal pharmacy and health experience.
CVS is making big strides to position itself as both a digital innovator and major provider of primary care services. Look for them to continue to build on existing ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - June 22, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: michelle Tags: THCB Uncategorized HIT Newser Meaningful Use Source Type: blogs
Understanding Competency-Based Medical Education
Editor’s Note: This post is the first of two on the topic of competency-based medical education. Check back next week to read more on this topic.
By: Robert Englander, MD, MPH, Terri Cameron, MA, Amy Addams, Jan Bull, MP, and Joshua Jacobs, MD
Dr. Englander is the former senior director of competency-based learning and assessment at the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). Ms. Cameron is director of curriculum programs at the AAMC. Ms. Addams is director of competency-based admissions at the AAMC. Ms. Bull is lead specialist in competency-based learning and assessment at the AAMC. Dr. Jacobs is senior direct...
Source: Academic Medicine Blog - May 19, 2015 Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Guest Author Tags: Featured Guest Perspective CBME competency framework competency-based medical education domains of competence milestones Source Type: blogs
Structuring Physician Leadership To Promote Accountable Care
Physician leadership is widely seen as crucial to drive accountable care and population health, but the question is how. A recent survey of accountable care organizations (ACOs) across the country has shown significant interest and motivation by physicians for participating and playing strong leadership roles in ACOs.
There have been significant challenges with physicians providing effective leadership of population health programs:
Physician-led population health services have not been achieving the overall outcomes and demonstrating value.
Physician services have not been coordinated with the hospitals and health pl...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - April 17, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: Shantanu Nundy Tags: Organization and Delivery Accountable Care Organizations Physicians Source Type: blogs
Congress finally getting serious about telemedicine, but are CDOs ready?
The latest ‘doc fix’ bill, H.R. 1470, was introduced last week. Though it has quite a ways to go before it’s sent to conference or passed, the bill has some pretty nice language for telemedicine and care coordination enthusiasts. Though it’s probably less than I would like, Section 4 (Encouraging Care Management for Individuals with Chronic Care Needs) is a great start. The telehealth language is pretty general but I like how it is making sure that telemedicine isn’t precluded from being reimbursed. Most interesting is that GAO is being asked to do a study on telehealth services, which...
Source: The Healthcare IT Guy - March 20, 2015 Category: Information Technology Authors: Shahid N. Shah Tags: Uncategorized American Telemedical Association Connected Health digital health technologies Health Informatics Telehealth Telemedicine Videotelephony Source Type: blogs
The Patient Access Imperative: A Potential Triple Win For Payors, Providers, And Patients
Long patient wait times, frustratingly high no-show rates, lack-luster call center performance, and under-utilized physicians. Does any of this sound familiar? Although a small set of health systems have boldly declared that their physicians guarantee their outpatients same- or next-day appointments, across the United States patients more typically face long wait times to both make and get appointments, as well as poor access to care.
To succeed in the future, health systems will need to have the customer orientation of a five-star hotel and the operational discipline of a factory floor. Our experience suggests that many s...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - February 26, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: Pooja Kumar, Vaneesh Soni, and Saum Sutaria Tags: Access All Categories Health Care Delivery Physicians Primary Care Quality Source Type: blogs
MGMA hires physician, bestselling author as CEO
The Medical Group Management Association has filled the leadership void created when Susan Turney, M.D., left in July, hiring Halee S. Fischer-Wright, M.D., as its new president and CEO. She will start March 23.
According to Englewood, Colo.-based MGMA, Fischer-Wright, a longtime physician executive, is CMO of St. Anthony North Health Campus, a Centura Health System facility in Westminster, Colo. She previously was president of Rose Medical Group, a large, Denver-based management services organization. Fischer-Wright also was one of three authors of Tribal Leadership: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Org...
Source: Neil Versel's Healthcare IT Blog - February 20, 2015 Category: Information Technology Authors: Neil Versel Tags: practice management Centura Health Halee Fischer-Wright MGMA Susan Turney Source Type: blogs
