Legal Compliance

Like all other arrangements into which physicians enter, you must take a moment to consider whether there are any regulatory implications.

A visit from the authorities does not necessarily mean that you have been or will be accused of anything improper, but it can hurt your reputation and your business.

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.

Patients say they want their doctors’ offices to be tech-savvy. They want to communicate with you and your staff, use patient portals and smartphone applications. But there’s a difference between wanting a digital future and actually knowing how to get there. Here’s how to get your patients and staff on board.

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.

Are you ready to make social media platforms part of your practice? Make sure you put reasonable constraints in place.

Posting a general disclaimer on your practice's social media platforms protects both you and your patients.

The cost of patient noncompliance, for patient outcomes, your bottom line, and the healthcare system, has been well documented. But when nagging fails, what can you do? A lot, actually. Check out these strategies for increasing patient adherence and outcomes.

The future of the direct-pay practice model is bright. Here's how it works, the affect on patients, and where it fits with models promoted by healthcare reform.

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.

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.

One of the thorniest coding questions is: Can a physician bill for family meetings when the patient is not present? If so, who gets the bill ?

A surprising number of patients withhold information from their doctors. Here’s how to identify patient dishonesty that compromises care.

Maryland, Massachusetts, and Minnesota are putting extra pressure on physicians to adopt EHRs. Now it's time to see if other states follow.

Make sure the tests you ordered get done, that you get the results and that the patients knows if anything is wrong. Print this form on carbon paper to create two copies: Send one copy to the lab. Keep the other in the office, but don't file it until the results come back and the patient is notified. If the form is still sitting out a month after the test was ordered, you'll know to follow-up.

Use this form to document internal review of and response to complaints concerning compliance with human resource, HIPAA, Medicare billing or other ethical and legal guidelines.

If you are shopping for sharps or syringes, make your selection easier using this template. Provided courtesy of Quality America, Inc. For more information about OSHA compliance, please visit www.quality-america.com.

Instead of having patients carry all their medications to every visit, ask them to bring in this simple chart. It's a more efficient way to check for counterindications. You can even give patients a digital copy by saving it to a disk or e-mailing a copy. That makes it easy for patients to update it.

Here’s how practice administrators can help prepare your practice’s defense against a liability claim.

You may be unwittingly violating your patients’ confidentiality - and trust - on your blog or social media site. Check out these guidelines for staying legal and ethical online.

Even though I have been practicing medicine in an atypical, concierge practice model, there are still instances where I sense a growing adversarial relationship between the doctor (me) and my patients.

What are physicians like you doing when it comes to purchasing new office technologies? Our Fifth Annual Technology Survey cuts through the hype and gives it to you straight.

Rumors of stricter enforcement of privacy and security rules have been heard before but this time there’s reason to believe that tougher scrutiny is indeed coming.

Plastic surgeon Suzanne Kim Doud Galli on how an ordinary nose job turned into the worst case of her career.

Patients want more from your Web site than a photo of you and directions to your office. They’re demanding interactivity and utility: They want to get stuff done online, like setting up appointments and making payments. Here’s how to have the coolest Web site in town.

CMS has implemented changes to the rules that cover Medicare's hospital inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) which will affect physician-hospital referrals and ancillary arrangements.

The customer is always right, until he is wrong. In an age of consumerism, how do you say no without losing patients?

Almost every physician, at one time or another, has been the recipient of an angry outburst.

You’ve got questions - lots of ’em. And we’ve got the answers. We compiled some of the most common practice management questions we hear - from collections issues to dealing with staff problems and so much more - in one place, and got answers from some of the top experts in the business.