Law & Malpractice

While this year shaped up to be the "Year of EHR Consideration," there were other technology issues facing your practice in 2010. To Tweet or not to Tweet? Who is a "friend," who is a "fan?" What exactly is "mhealth?" Here are the top stories our readers turned to in 2010 for technology information and advice,

Looking to prove "meaningful use?" Start here with our easy-to-use checklist of requirements from CMS.

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.

Everyone has an opinion and nowhere is that more evident than Practice Notes, our section where your peers and our experts team up to give you advice, news, and other information from the frontlines. From inside the ER to the halls of Washington, D.C., we bring you news and commentary to make you think and sometimes make you laugh. Here are our top 10 stories on career issues this year, according to our readers.

Are you nearing contract negotiation time? Make sure you understand what you’re reading before you sign. Here’s a detailed analysis of what should and shouldn’t be in your next binding agreement.

Unless prescription penalties outlined in the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ 692-page, mammoth-size 2011 Final Fee Schedule Rule published Nov. 29 are adjusted, physicians aren’t eligible to receive incentives from both the Medicare e-prescribing incentive program and the Medicare EHR incentive program simultaneously, the American Medical Association notes.

Physicians have long been worried about protecting themselves from malpractice claims. But, now the uncertainty of healthcare reform promises to muddy the financial waters. What to do?

Should you buy a standalone app or an EHR-integrated module? We review the pros and cons.

CMS has now published a 44-page "EHR Core and Menu Measures" document putting a little meat on the bones of their objectives through greater explanation of exactly what they expect you to do in return for proper payment.

Hospitals need not control ACOs. There are clinically integrated IPAs and PHOs that could easily become ACOs, and 50 to 75 other physician-led organizations are on the same path. Among these entities is the Beacon IPA of Manhasset, NY. Formed last summer, the IPA already has about 200 physician members, and the IPA’s long-term goal is to become clinically integrated and ready for whatever healthcare reform brings, including ACOs.

The pros and cons of the meaningful use incentive program are not really the problem. The problem is that, once again, we physicians are subject to a mandate over which we have little control and no choice whether to comply.

Have you heard of the blue button? The new government initiative aimed at providing patients with easier access to their healthcare information recently launched and could expand. The idea is that a patient can click on the blue-button icon on their patient portal Web sites, and download their health information into a text file.

Patient portals can offer better customer service and care, but only if you can get your patients to use it. We examine the pros and cons of jumping on the portal bandwagon.

Fretting about how you’ll access government stimulus money for your EHR usage? No need. Here’s advice on how to play the game right.

Looking for great practice management advice but can't get to New Orleans? Let us take you to the annual MGMA conference online.

Are you ready for the ICD-10 coding transition? Probably not, and although the deadline is years away, practices should be acting now to prepare. Two experts at this year's MGMA annual conference offer specific steps practices should take now, from setting a budget to contacting vendors.

In her MGMA session on the internal checks and balances practices should implement to prevent fraud and embezzlement, Susan F. Childs noted that 75 percent of businesses have a risk of theft or embezzlement. Is your practice at risk? Find out how to assess your practice procedures and prevent theft in your practice.

David Blumenthal, MD, MPP, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, sat down with Physicians Practice at the MGMA 2010 annual conference to explain the overall goal of the EHR transition and the status of clarifications of the criteria.

Practices might not be forced to sell out to hospitals, but they will need an alignment strategy, argues expert Marc Halley, MBA, because physician-hospital alignment is here to stay. Here's advice on picking the right partner.

It may sound like a great idea, but there are lots of financial questions to consider first. Do your homework on cashing in before you cash out.

Honesty may be the best policy. But is complete truthfulness the compassionate course in every case? Here's what you need to know about the legal, ethical, and professional issues around withholding information from patients.

Seasoned practice owners and administrators know the importance of setting practice goals, both short and long term.

Mainstream EHR vendors have gotten better at catering to physicians in specialties outside of primary care, but don't count out niche EHR vendors. We help you examine your purchasing options.

This year's annual MGMA conference comes at a particularly unnerving time for many practices, as they face uncertainty about federal reimbursement and complex EHR requirements. The annual conference of the medical practice association is being held in New Orleans October 24 to 27, and will cover a wide range of topics from health reform to ICD-10.

Recently, David Nash, MD, a health policy expert from Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, wrote a blog post urging physicians to take advantage of the 62 RECs that have been established. The responses to his post reveal physician attitudes toward RECs and EHRs just three months before the government incentives start becoming available in 2011.

The new meaningful use criteria for EHR incentives focus on whether a computer system can perform specific functions or provide particular features - things that are easy to tabulate. It’s harder to determine if you actually use the system and if you, your practice or your patients are better off. There is no assessment of the possibility that computerizing made things worse.

Happy but worried, American physicians are sorting through the many changes their profession is seeing.

It turns out many physicians aren't aware of the penalties if they don't meet the EHR meaningful use requirements by January 2015.