ACO

Defining quality in healthcare is an ongoing process, but understanding and managing processes to deliver predictable outcomes can be a key element, says one expert.

How will Washington's budget-cutting zeal affect your practice next year?

If you are looking for the latest and greatest practice management news from this year’s MGMA11 Conference, we’ve got you covered.

As the government searches for ways to cut healthcare spending, many physicians will need to work harder to ensure their paychecks aren’t trimmed as well.

It may be too early to tell the degree to which participating physicians will reap benefits from the Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative.

Yet another study reveals a shortage in primary care physicians. Specialties in short supply include urology, dermatology, psychiatry, and neurosurgery.

Recently, as part of our virtual trade show, Physicians Practice Live!, I gathered some of healthcare's more perceptive thinkers for an in-depth talk about the future of private-practice medicine.

More physicians are opting for employment over the partnership track, hoping to avoid the headaches and hassles of owning a business. But is that that the right choice for you?

Without the repeal, physicians will experience a 30 percent pay cut for Medicare reimbursements with the beginning of the new year.

Two proposals that could dramatically influence the rate at which physicians are paid for their services were released this week.

What they are, how they work, and whether it’s a smart choice for physicians to participate.

As practices struggle to do more with less money, they’re making some difficult budgetary decisions - among them, compensation cuts.

A new report based on a survey of health information exchanges highlights some of the challenges and other concerns that might temper growth.

How much of a role does your personality play in determining your ability to treat patients? A big one, according to many medical schools.

Physicians, if quality of care and productivity measures are not yet influencing your compensation, a new reimbursement model is likely headed your way. Health reform initiatives are significantly altering the way physicians - even those that remain independent - will be paid in coming years.

Who's worse to deal with: Medicare or private insurers? The answer to that question will determine which Medicare cost-reduction plan is worse for physicians.

The feds have aggressively stepped up their fraud and abuse efforts. Your practice may play by the rules, but that doesn't guarantee it will escape federal scrutiny.

More evidence released recently shows that the era of independent practice may be gradually falling to the wayside.

The battle over how to fix Medicare comes down to which unelected bureaucrats you trust more to impose painful reforms

How often are physicians recommending mobile apps to their patients as tools for improving their health?

Medicare's proposed rules for ACOs raise serious questions. Will it push private practice healthcare toward extinction? And, can services be reduced without reducing the quality of patient care?

Perhaps the folks in Washington, D.C., looking for a solution to the jobs crisis should look to an industry they've been focusing on changing for the last decade: healthcare. More specifically, they might want to look at office-based physician practices, which supported four million jobs in 2009, according to new AMA data.

Here's the data from our 2011 Staff Salary Survey.

For providers, HHS’ new Partnership for Patients initiative raises a few questions as to where the $1 billion will go.

Many physicians have discovered that blogging is a great way to build community with others in healthcare, share their opinions and successes, and vent.

Healthcare IT is in a state of flux and change, with constant improvement and upgrades. With established companies rolling out new versions of their systems, alongside new entrants who are bringing new systems to market, the features and horsepower of HIT systems has never been greater.

In one sentence, U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson caused a nationwide tidal wave of reaction across the healthcare industry: "Because the individual mandate is unconstitutional and not severable, the entire [Affordable Care] Act must be declared void."

With a new year comes a new set of initiatives taking effect under the Affordable Care Act and we move another year closer towards other undefined initiatives. But if there is one current theme among the majority of reform initiatives it is teamwork to improve care, a goal that may be as challenging as making reform a reality.

Is private-office healthcare in its death throes? Was the just-passed health reform legislation the final thrust to push out independent physicians? Find out what editorial director Bob Keaveney has to say.

The old order is fading and a new order is starting to take its place. That new environment will reshape medical practice in ways that can be only glimpsed at present. But here are a few predictions for 2011.