Finance

Here are some important points about billing for services delivered by physician assistants in your practice.

Here's my prediction: your practice will be audited in the next 24 months and asked to return overpayments.

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

All three of my ideas are not radical to all, but I think everyone will find at least one of these ideas is a way to take you to that opposite extreme.

Claims denials can hurt practice revenue, so stay on top of your billing process to collect every penny you've earned.

With so much else changing in healthcare, it's understandable that you'd want to avoid thinking about transitioning to the coming ICD-10 code set. But the longer you wait to start, the tougher it will be to make the switch, and the more likely you are to lose money. Here's what you need to know to avoid claims denials and ensure a smooth conversion.

RVUs determine the amount Medicare, Medicaid, and private payers compensate physicians for various services. But it’s long been questioned whether RVUs are fair.

Where do you stand on exchanging medical services for something other than a direct payment?

Bartering is a concept that is generally not practiced in today's times. In years past when patients had no money to pay their physician, it was common for them to bring an object other than money for payment: a chicken, a barrel of vegetables, etc.

Here's a quick video to get you started with conducting Medicare's Annual Wellness Visit at your medical practice.

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.

Learn when and what CPT codes to use with prolonged services codes 99354 and 99355 at your medical practice.

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.

I know that there are going to be significantly more codes with ICD-10, but will the rules change regarding how codes are assigned?

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?

Our latest analysis of the annual ranking of payers based on hassle factor is here. The good news: Most insurers are paying faster, denying less, and making their processes more transparent. But there's still room for improvement.

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?

A pleasant office décor is easier to achieve than you think.

Before looking for a new space to practice, evaluate the office you're in.

Looking for the proper way to use modifier -25 at your medical practice? Here is some expert medical coding advice.

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.

To stay safe and weed out the billing and collections problems stifling your practice's revenue stream, our experts recommend a "bottom-to-top" assessment of your entire billing operation.