Keith L. Martin

Physicians in The Sunshine State and The Pine Tree State are engaged in an interesting back-and-forth over the American Medical Association and national healthcare reform. You may remember back in August that the Florida Medical Association (FMA) avoided a vote to end its relationship with the AMA over the national body's perceived inaction when it came to the Affordable Care Act.

Happy birthday Affordable Care Act - you are now six months old. Too bad Republicans want to repeal you so you never see your first birthday. Party poopers.

Chances are you are going to get audited in the next few years. But don’t panic - use our audit guide to get your practice prepared instead.

Looking to reduce costs and improve patient care at your practice? Well look no further than the good folks Southwest, Delta, and even Jet Blue for some ideas from the skies that could help you on the ground.

The shooting of a doctor at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore yesterday reminds us of the intricacies of physician-patient interactions, especially when difficult news is delivered.

In a new ad already generating buzz before it is broadcast on television, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine says go ahead and save money by eating a Big Mac…your family will need the money for your funeral.

A New York-based research firm is urging medical journals to enact strict new standards to both identify and publish the relationship between physicians and medical device companies.

For those of you who don’t speak “text-ese,” this is a friendly reminder that it is time to head to the pharmacy for a refill of that prescription you’ve been taking …and the way more and more of your patients prefer to receive this message.

With Labor Day fresh in the rearview mirror, it is only a matter of time until we are handing out Halloween candy, carving the Thanksgiving turkey, and watching Medicare reimbursements drop by 21 percent. Sorry about that last image, but it is becoming more of a reality that Nov. 30 is becoming a date that physicians are watching very closely on their calendars.

Our July/August story titled “Is Board Certification Overrated?” generated a lot of great letters to the Physicians Practice office, some of which you can read in our September issue. But with too many letters to print and not enough space, we wanted to expand the conversation.

The wife of actor Michael Douglas recently said she was “furious” that doctors did not locate and treat her husband’s throat cancer earlier, indicating it would have improved his chance of survival. The Oscar-winner’s diagnosis shocked many, both because of who he is and because what was initially thought to be a sore throat turned out to be something far worse.

The addition of a camera to cell phones years ago changed the devices completely and now they could change the way some doctors diagnose their patients’ maladies.

When a doctor writes a prescription for pain medications or other narcotics, does his or her responsibility stop once their signature is complete? A California physician thinks so and is defending herself against a criminal investigation alleging her of improperly dispensing the drugs, which in some cases led to overdose deaths of some of her patients.

Just like a Swiss Army knife, your practice management system should do everything you need it to do in one central location to guarantee your office’s survival. However, much like the valued outdoor utility tool, there are so many different options in terms of tools, gadgets, and styles that choosing the right one can be difficult.

We just entered the fifth month of the new, post-federal health reform world and just in case you had any concerns, the White House is here to remind you to relax, take a deep breath and get ready to change nearly everything about the way you practice medicine.In the current issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, Nancy-Ann DeParle, director of the White House Office of Health Reform, and two medical colleagues have authored a tome on the “opportunities and challenges” presented by the Affordable Care Act , passed on March 23.

A new study raises the age-old question in medicine of when a medical error occurs, do you play offense and deal with it head-on or take a defensive position instead?The study examines the University of Michigan Health System’s medical error full disclosure policy, including an apology and offer of fair compensation.

Perhaps Florida surgeon Michael Wasylik summed up the feelings of a lot of physicians nationwide when it comes to the AMA when he recently said, “doctors are so angry they can’t see straight.”

Everything is “on demand” these days, from television shows and movies, to music available for purchase while you are riding the bus or sitting in your office. The push for on demand medical records also continues to gain steam amid the new EHR-driven landscape of medicine.

The American Red Cross recently released new data indicating that many Internet users would turn to social media sites like Twitter and Facebook if they could not access emergency help via 911.

If you are running a practice, let’s hope that you don’t experience either of this week’s examples of how to depart your job while also making it onto CNN.

If you believe Howard Dean or the good people of Missouri, perhaps you shouldn’t get your hopes up that more Americans will have health insurance by 2014.

Perhaps the issue of physicians using voice recognition software can best be portrayed by the location of the microphones of Dr. J. Scott Litton, Jr., and Dr. Simeon Schwartz.

New research by the AMA indicates that if you are a physician, you are pretty much going to be sued. Oh, and if you are in certain specialties, you will definitely get sued. And if you are an older, male physician, boy are you going to get sued.

Five U.S. Senators are taking issue with a new TV commercial featuring Andy Griffith touting the benefits of federal health reform to seniors. The issue, they say, is not the messenger, but instead, how the campaign was funded.

A physician member of the House of Representatives thinks that early adopters of EHRs should get incentive payments if their systems meet the government’s “meaningful use” criteria, but aren’t yet certified.

When does a data beach become “harmful” to patients? Tough question, right? Well, just like you, the HHS would like to take a little bit longer to answer the question.

Are you doing all you can to acknowledge and be sensitive to the cultural diversity of those seeking your care? You need to if the healthcare racial and ethnic disparity gap is to ever be closed, according to the American College of Physicians.

It seems Washington, D.C., is taking a lead from Hollywood: When you have a hit, something that grabs headlines, rush a sequel into production even if it seems too soon. In this case, the sequel is the dreaded “public option,” left on the cutting room floor for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, but now getting its own spin-off in the form of a new bill sponsored by a trio of U.S. House Democrats.

Got 30 minutes? Then you have a chance at a match with a patient who deems you "Dr. Right.”

This week, our PEARLS practice management e-newsletter offers an interesting story of a Twitter convert.