Providing timely and topical information on physician financial issues. A service of ebix inc.
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New 2008 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Payment Rates The Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers act of 2008 was enacted on July 15, 2008. As a result, the mid-year 2008 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) rate of -10.6% has been replaced with a 0.5% update, retroactive to July 1, 2008. To learn when MPFS payments are to begin, please link to http://www.cms.hhs.gov/pf/printpage.asp?ref=http://www.cms.hhs.gov/PhysicianFeeSched/01_overview.asp
SEC XBRL Mandate: What You Don't Know Will Hurt You The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is proposing that the largest 500 companies implement the Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) for their 2008 year-end reports. Public companies will have to follow suit within the next 2 years. This key tool will reduce or eliminate the wide range of internal manual processes necessary for operations, management and financial reporting, with the intended outcome to standardize the entire business reporting supply chain. To learn what XBRL is and why should you be concerned, click on http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/063008-sec-xbrl-mandate-what-you.html. Published by NetworkWorld, and written by Mike Willis, CIO.
5 Ways to Make Your Company GenY-Friendly If you want to create or sustain a Best Place to Work environment, you will need the additional help of Generation Y or Millennials, the group of nearly 80 million individuals born between 1979 and 1999. A recent NetworkWorld and Yahoo HotJobs poll indicates the more senior members of the group placed salary, benefits and opportunities for professional growth at the top of their lists. What else made it? Find out at http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/062608-5-ways-to-make-your.html. Published by NetworkWorld and written by Katherine Spencer Lee, Computerworld.
AMA Launches Campaign to Cut Waste from Chaotic Insurance Claims Process The American Medical Association (AMA) launched the Cure for Claims campaign to help health the ailing system of processing medical claims with health insurers. The organization also unveiled the first AMA National Health Insurer Report Card on claims processing. These tools provide physicians and the public with an objective and reliable source of information on the timeliness, transparency and accuracy of claims processing by health insurance companies. To access the Report Card, along with Cure for Claims payer sampling report, please go to http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/18672.html.
Physician Hat Tricks What distinguishes a physician leader from other doctors? Dr. Richard Schwartz, a professor of surgery at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine cites someone who is able to deliberately put on a different hat - clinical or managerial - depending upon the task. Of course, shifting focus to a specific area of management is not easy nor for everyone. To find out how to "switch hats" to become a leader, please go to http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/print/content/211729/topic/WS_HLM2_PHY/Phy sician-Hat-Tricks.html. Published by HealthLeaders Media and written by Elyas Bakhtiari.
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2008 PQRI Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced new options making it easier for professionals to participate in PQRI in 2008. The Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 authorizes CMS to make PQRI incentive payments for satisfactory reporting quality measures data in 2008. It is not too late for those who have not started reporting to begin participation. To learn more please see http://www.cms.hhs.gov/pf/printpage.asp?ref=http://www.cms.hhs.gov/PQRI/01_Overview.asp
Is Expansion Right for You? Expanding your practice or implementing a new business idea might boost sales, but not profits. You may wind up working longer hours and harder for nothing. To prevent problems, analyze three factors of success. The article, published by BizActions, then helps you create a breakeven formula based on those three factors to determine if you are better off keeping the status quo or charging ahead. To learn more, click on http://www.bizactions.com/modules/popup_printarticle.cfm/pr/82758687G612J972792P4P945T1/type/100/?x=55&y=6.
The Strategic Thinking Doctor In small and large practices alike there tends to be a common weakness - difficulty evaluating opportunity. It's best to think strategically with these situations. The author, David Zahaluk, MD, suggests using one of Napoleon's general's approach of force multiplier. That is, fighting for maximum leverage from which to fight the rest of the battle. Learn how at http://www.pfnlive.com/pfn-exclusive/strategic-thinking-doctor. Published by Physicians Financial News.
Healthcare Flunks Customer Service Who gives worse customer service than airlines? Healthcare providers, say nearly 20% of American responding to a recent survey by Katzenbach Partners. To improve service, healthcare professionals must do more than talk about care - they must become "empathy engines". To learn more, please go to http://www.pfnlive.com/pfn-exclusive/healthcare-flunks-customer-service. Written by Greg Kelly and published by Physicians Financial News.
Reaching for the Top What leads people of modest academic achievements to be more successful than those who earned straight A's and completed a higher level of education? There is a single quality that lifts a person head and shoulders above the rest. To find out what that quality is, please go to http://www.bizactions.com/modules/popup_printarticle.cfm/pr/82758687G612J972792P3P621T1/type/100/?x=55&y=6. Published by BizActions.
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CMS To Cut MPFS Payments by 10% The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) made the announcement in February that the reduction to the conversion factor on the 2008 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) will become effective on July 1, 2008. A 10% reduction in reimbursement is planned for physicians unless Congress approves legislation regarding Medicare’s sustainable growth rate formula on which payments are based. The 10% scheduled cut was postponed through June 30, 2008 when the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 was signed into law. To learn the details of this planned reduction, please go to http://www.cms.hhs.gov/transmittals/downloads/r312otn.pdf
Measuring A Practice’s Financial Progress Managing the operations of a medical practice is no different than running any other business. But many doctors feel less confident in dealing with business issues. This does not mean that physicians cannot and/or should not understand the business side of their practice, but they need an experienced and qualified team to do so. Measuring financial progress may alleviate the stress than comes from critical financial planning processes. To understand key financial benchmarks, please visit http://www.physiciansnews.com/business/308resnick.html. Written by Eric C. Resnick, CPA and published in the March, 2008 issue of Physician’s News Digest.
Healthcare Organizations Feeling Cyberattacks Growing There’s now the prospect of a surprise audit from the federal government agency in charge of overseeing the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) security and privacy rules. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Service (HHS), which oversees HIPAA compliance, contracted with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) to conduct surprise audits of hospitals this year. The first 10 or so reviews will be at hospitals where CMS received complaints about security. To find out more about the program, please go to http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/022708-healthcare-cyberattacks.html Published by NetworkWorld.com, February 27, 2008 and written by Ellen Messmer.
Efficiency: Conquering Time You are probably struggling to become more efficient without turning yourself and your staff into robots. But you money needs to be saved, resources are dwindling and cash flow is topsy-turvy. It seems the only way to survive is to get through each day, each patient visit and each claim as economically as possible. Five of the best ideas to get more done without bringing a stop watch to every patient encounter are discussed at http://www.physicianspractice.com/index/fuseaction/articles.details/articleID/1114.htm Written by Pamela Moore and published in Physician’s Practice magazine.
Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 The Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 provides rebates for individuals and incentives for business investment. This includes advance refunds to taxpayers, limits on expenses for business and special depreciation allowance for property acquired during 2008. To learn the details of this Act, please go to http://www.thetaxbook.com/updates/2007/2-11-2008_Update/wns-18-23.pdf
The Doctor Will See Your Credit Now A new project “MedFICO", is being developed to aid hospitals in assessing a patient’s ability to pay their medical bills. But privacy advocates are worried that the notorious errors that have caused frequent criticism of the credit system will also cause trouble with any attempt to create a health-related risk score. What impact will a tool like this have on medical decisions by providers? To learn more, please visit http://www.redtape.msnbc.com/2008/01/the-doctor-wi-1.html. Written by Bob Sullivan.
A Leadership Dashboard for Practice Success Francine R. Gaillour has developed a holistic approach to clinical practice management that takes into account the physician, as the CEO, of their own practice. Her Clinical Practice Performance AssessmentTM is a dashboard for monitoring the health of the physician, the staff and the business. To take the assessment, please go to http://www.physicianleadership.com/articles/physician_leadership_dashboard.htm. Francine R. Gaillour, MD, MBA, FACPE, is an Executive and Career Coach for Physicians. Dr. Gaillour specializes in helping physicians who are venturing into new territory as leaders, entrepreneurs, and career adventurers. She can be reached at (206) 686-4205, francine@physicianleadership.com
“Going Lean” Have you heard the buzz words “Lean Healthcare?” It based on the principles of the Toyota Production System (TPS) to improve processes, streamline costs, and increase patient satisfaction. To learn the 7 principles while increasing patient satisfaction please visit http://www.pfnlive.com/blog/going-lean Published by Physician’s Financial News and written by Donna Weinstock.
The Bigger Picture: Your Future Is In Your Hands Pamela Moore, PhD, senior editor, practice management, of Physicians Practice, meets physicians regularly. She’s observed that more and more physicians in a downward spiral – so overwhelmed that they don’t have the energy to figure out what’s going on with their collections. Rather than blaming external forces, why not fix things yourself? To learn how to control your own small corner of the system, please visit http://www.physicianspractice.com/index/fuseaction/articles.details/articleID/1112.htm
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Congress Delays Medicare Cuts for Six Months The Medicare, Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) Extension Act of 2007 passed in both houses of Congress on December 18, 2007. This bill replaces the 10.1 percent reduction in Medicare Part B payments scheduled for 2008 with a six-month, 0.5 percent increase. Physician will face a payment reduction in Part B payments in July 2008 unless Congress once again intervenes. To read one medical association's comments, along with other provisions of the bill, please visit http://www.mgma.com/article.aspx?id=15616
Physician Recruitment in the Wake of Stark III In early September, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published final rules amending certain regulations with respect to the physician self-referral prohibition, commonly known as Stark. Some of the most drastic and positive changes were made to the physician recruitment exception. Read about the Phase III rules clarifying physician relocation, hospital geographic areas served and remuneration provided by a hospital to a physician in the Physician's News Digest, December 2007 issue athttp://www.physiciansnews.com/law/1207jones.html
Physician Starting Salaries: Survey Results Physician-owned medical group practices are closing the gap with hospital- and integrated delivery system-owned (IDS) practices when it comes to starting compensation offered to physicians in some specialties, according to the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) Physician Placement Starting Salary Survey: 2007 Report Based on 2006 Data. One interesting finding is shifts in new-physician placement. Illinois and Wisconsin are now in the top six states for new-physician placement. To find out more results, please visit http://www.mgma.com/press/article.aspx?id=15734
Checklist for Managing a Small Business' Finances The more you understand vital components of small-business finance, the greater the chance for your company's success. This checklist spotlights the main financial aspects an owner needs to be at least somewhat knowledgeable about. To learn what they are, please visit http://www.nfib.com/object/IO_31325.html. Published by NFIB (National Federation of Independent Business) and written by Jeffrey Moses.
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