You need to start thinking like a plastic surgeon. The days of being a doctor or outpatient facility and passively waiting for referrals is waning. As patient networks narrow and deductibles grow, the mindset of the consumer is changing. They're…
Dr. Michael Myers, Professor of Clinical Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at SUNY-Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., explored physician suicide in his new book, "Why Physicians Die by Suicide." Not surprisingly, Myers says burnout is…
You may be more likely to wind up a long-term user of opioid painkillers if you're treated by a doctor who frequently prescribes those drugs, a new study reports. Emergency room patients are at greater risk for long-term opioid use…
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has made considerable changes to policies in its proposed Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) with the release of its final rule. Learn more at AMA Wire.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the final version https://qpp.cms.gov/education of its physician Quality Payment Program under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA). MACRA replaced SGR and moves physicians to a value-base payment…
Vitalyst Health Foundation, in their new report titled The Progress and Promise of Accountable Care Organizations, offers a look at the standing and role of ACOs in Arizona. Lead author, Palmer Evans, MD interviewed ACO leaders throughout the state for…
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has recently release new HIPAA guidance on the risks of being victimized by file-encrypting malware. Under the new guidelines if any healthcare organization’s computers are infected with ransomware…
In early July, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule that updates payment policies, payment rates, and quality provisions for services furnished under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) on or after January 1, 2017.…
U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell announced several new actions the department is taking to combat the nation’s opioid epidemic. The actions include expanding access to buprenorphine, a medication to treat opioid use disorder, a proposal…
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stated that live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV), also known as the “nasal spray” flu vaccine, should not be used during the 2016-2017 flu season. CDC continues to recommend annual flu vaccination, with…