CMS + MIPS/APM = Death of the Private Practice Physician
By NIRAN AL-AGBA
Small, independent private practices are closing, increasing numbers of physicians are retiring early, and fewer medical school graduates are choosing primary care. The old-fashioned practice my father and I have built is a dying entity. Parents say coming to see us for an appointment feels more like a visit with a friend than a medical encounter. I am fighting for the subsistence of rural primary care practices. Most will not survive MACRA proposed changes to the reimbursement structure.
Seven days ago, I attended an “informational listening session,” sponsored by the Center for Medicare and...
Source: The Health Care Blog - July 5, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Uncategorized CMS MACRA Reporting Small Practice Source Type: blogs
The Physician’s Case For Trump
By ANISH KOKA, MD
Brexit has been hailed as a turning point in the history of Western Democracy by a collection of liberal and conservative elites that decry the vote of a disenchanted and ignorant populace. The greatest threat to democracy in the modern age turn out to be the very same people that make up the democracy. We are told these are the same forces that propel Donald Trump forward. It is a convenient narrative that extinguishes any real debate on policy. If you support Brexit or Donald Trump you are an uninformed, xenophobic bigot. Yet here I am – an Indian immigrant, a physician, and a lifelong d...
Source: The Health Care Blog - June 30, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Uncategorized Anish Koka newtag Source Type: blogs
How Can Small Practices Thrive with MACRA?
On Thursday, July 7, 2016 at 3:30 PM ET (12:30 PM PT) I’ll be hosting a live video interview with the Chief Medical Officers of both Modernizing Medicine and Kareo. All of healthcare has been hit with the MACRA legislation and many talking heads are saying that MACRA is going to be a challenge for small practices. In this discussion, we’ll talk about how small practices can thrive within the changes that MACRA provides.
The great part is that you can join my live conversation with this panel of experts and even add your own comments to the discussion or ask them questions. All you need to do to watch live is...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - June 29, 2016 Category: Information Technology Authors: John Lynn Tags: EHR Electronic Health Record Electronic Medical Record EMR Healthcare Analytics HealthCare IT MACRA Dr. Michael Sherling Dr. Tom Giannulli Healthcare Blab Healthcare Scene Interviews Kareo Modernizing Medicine Small Practices Source Type: blogs
Will Federal Court Back Rules Treating Health Insurance as a Utility, Not a Luxury?
BY HOWARD GREEN, MD
On June 14, 2016 a Federal Court ruled that broadband internet is as essential to American as phones, electricity, water and sewer systems and should be available to all Americans as a utility, rather than a luxury that doesn’t need close government supervision.
In the United States, public utilities are often natural monopolies because the infrastructure required producing and delivering a product such as electricity or water is very expensive to build and maintain. As a result, they are often government monopolies, or if privately owned, the sectors are specially regulated by a public utilities c...
Source: The Health Care Blog - June 21, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Uncategorized Affordable Care Act Healthcare monopoly Utility Source Type: blogs
House Ways and Means Committee Hearing on MACRA Implementation – Grave Concerns about Impact on Small Practices
Discussion
Impact on Small Practices
The impact of MACRA on small practices was one of the most talked about practices. Members like Chairman Tiberi and Representative Sam Johnson spoke about feedback from their districts, and wanted to know how smaller, solo, rural practitioners will be able to succeed under the new payment models. Mr. Slavitt stated that this is one of the areas in which CMS is seeking feedback, but mentioned some aspects of the current proposal that may help. He mentioned that the proposal allows for reporting to occur through registries that small providers may already be participating in, and that...
Source: Policy and Medicine - June 1, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
CMS Administrator Goes to Twitter to Explain the Proposed Rule for the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization (MACRA)
In an very unusual move for a government regulator, the CMS acting administrator Andy Slavitt took to Twitter to explain his agency's strategy around the new Medicare payment law, also known as MACRA. This comes as CMS released the long-awaited proposed MACRA rule which is open for comment until June 27. The proposed rule creates a "Quality Payment Program" to replace old reporting programs. There two tracks, the first called the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) consolidates components of the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS), the Value-based Payment Modifier (VM), and the Medicare Elec...
Source: Policy and Medicine - May 26, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
4 Simple Questions That Will Make You A Better Manager To Your Employees
As humans, we have an uncanny ability to justify and explain situations in ways that benefit us. For example…
When we observe a father shouting, tugging or being overpowering towards their child, we raise an eyebrow and pass judgement on that parent’s poor parenting skills.
If we lose our temper with our kids, we justify it by blaming the circumstances. We’ll say, “if you knew how challenging my children are, you would understand.”
In a medical practice environment, it may go something like this.
Julie: Nancy is late again.
Michelle: That’s the way she is. She’s so disorganized.
Julie: I k...
Source: Pediatric Inc - April 13, 2016 Category: Pediatrics Authors: Brandon Tags: Employee Leadership challenge employee motivation employee reviews Employees feedback Pediatrics team leader Source Type: blogs
4 Simple Questions That Will Make You A Better Manager To Your Employees
As practice managers and administrators of both large and small practices, we are wired not to see our failures but instead see the shortfall of our employees and attempt to correct them. Nothing wrong with that. It's part of management.
But let me challenge you on this one. The next time you have difficulties with an employee, take a moment and reflect how you are interpreting the issue using the questions above. Consider where you are placing the blame. On people's character or the circumstances? (Source: Pediatric Inc)
Source: Pediatric Inc - April 13, 2016 Category: Pediatrics Authors: Brandon Tags: Employee Leadership challenge employee motivation employee reviews Employees feedback Pediatrics team leader Source Type: blogs
Brave New World: Medicare’s Advanced Payment Models
The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) established a new framework for Medicare physician payment. Under the law, beginning in 2019, health care professionals participating in the program will come to a crossroads on their path to reimbursement.
In one direction—the default direction—they will be subject to the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), a revamp of Medicare’s fee-for-service (FFS) payment system that consolidates existing quality programs into a unified reimbursement component. The MIPS is examined in considerable detail in another Health Affairs Blog post.
Medicar...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - April 4, 2016 Category: Health Management Authors: Billy Wynne and Max Horowitz Tags: Costs and Spending Featured Health Professionals Hospitals Insurance and Coverage Medicaid and CHIP Medicare Payment Policy Quality Alternative Payment Models EHRs MACRA meaningful use requirements MedPAC Source Type: blogs
Publication of GP earnings
Should GPs in small practices have to declare their earnings?Related items from OnMedicaThe publication of GP net earnings – how, why and when?CQC fee hike slammed by GPs and health providersGP funding has reached dangerous levelsFunding must reflect demand not just deprivationTreatment of whistleblowers a “stain on NHS”, say MPs (Source: OnMedica Blogs)
Source: OnMedica Blogs - February 24, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Source Type: blogs
Why Doctors should Recommend Quantified Self Technologies for Their Patients
By MOLLY MALOOF, MD
The United States population suffers from staggering numbers of lifestyle related diseases. We know the situation is not improving. Recent research found that over half of the country has prediabetes or diabetes. The facts don’t lie—the vast majority of the US burden of disease are due to lifestyle.
Photo Credit: Dr. DArriush Mozzafarian
People know they should eat less and exercise more, but they don’t. They don’t because without the right knowledge and direction, behavioral change is really hard. Doctors also know they should be advising their patients on lifestyle, but they don’t.
...
Source: The Health Care Blog - December 16, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Simon Nath Tags: Small Practice THCB Molly Maloof Source Type: blogs
With some planning and collaboration, small practices don’t have to sell to a hospital
A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com.
Recently, I rummaged through some old files to throw out things I did not need. While marveling at how we stored documents back in the 20th century (and how little of what I saved I ever used), I came across a couple of interesting items. They were notes that I took in January and February 1995 at the first two meetings of representatives of the six small practices that eventually merged later that year to form my current group practice.
The decision we made, that we had to do something to be able to take advantage of new payment models, as wel...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - December 1, 2015 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Yul Ejnes, MD Tags: Physician Primary care Source Type: blogs
When it Comes to Healthcare IT Success Stories, Don’t Count out the Little Guy
By TOM GIANNULLI, MD
Today’s healthcare information technology headlines are littered with how large delivery networks are scaling up and successfully building and using IT infrastructure. But the real success story is hiding in the shadows of these large enterprise deployments, in the small and independent practices across the US. The recent ICD-10 transition, that had been foretold to drive small enterprise into financial despair due to their lack of IT savvy and infrastructure, has shown just the opposite. A report from a leading provider of billing software that was based on government and private payer claims a...
Source: The Health Care Blog - November 18, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Simon Nath Tags: Small Practice THCB Kareo Tom Giannulli Source Type: blogs
Why More Physicians Will Adopt Electronic Health Records
By NIAM YARAGHI
When President George W. Bush issued an executive order in April 2004 to establish the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, he had a clear vision in mind: to create a secure, nationwide interoperable network that allows authorized users to access medical records of anyone at anytime and anywhere in the U.S. President Barack Obama knew very well that his plan for providing health insurance to all Americans would not be successful unless it was paired with a plan for controlling the quality and cost of health care services.
Ironically, Bush’s health IT network was (and remains) the instrumental...
Source: The Health Care Blog - October 4, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Simon Nath Tags: THCB Source Type: blogs
Patient Collections Is Changing. Balances Are On the Rise. Here’s What You Need to Know.
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Source: The Health Care Blog - September 17, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Small Practice Source Type: blogs
