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Would Dr. Welby practice using telemedicine?
Ron Nicholis, M.D. Medical & Allied HealthcareSome of us old enough to remember the TV series "Marcus Welby, M.D.," which ran from 1969-76, envision the ultimate compassionate, competent, thoughtful physician we want caring for us. Would this physician ever care for his patients using the tools of telemedicine?
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5 ways the Affordable Care Act is impacting PTs
Brooke Andrus Healthcare AdministrationEver since the federal government got the ball rolling on healthcare reform legislation — aka the Affordable Care Act — it has been a hot topic of conversation among providers and consumers alike. Here's a breakdown of how the new healthcare law is affecting therapists.
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CMS says no to additional meaningful use and ICD-10 delays
Pamela Lewis Dolan Healthcare AdministrationDespite pleas from organized medicine, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) says there will be no delays to Stage 2 of the meaningful use incentive program. In addition, implementation of ICD-10 will also go on as scheduled.
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Prescription drug overdose – Can we be honest?
Jason Poquette PharmaceuticalWaste Management & EnvironmentalSome topics tend to generate more heat than light, and prescription drug overdose is one of them. Type in the word “addiction” or “overdose” into any news search engine, and you will quickly have a list of articles longer than the half-life of methadone to manage. And this isn’t surprising. The number of deaths attributed to drug overdose in America is climbing.
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Insurers invoking all-product clauses to fill exchange plan networks
Pamela Lewis Dolan Healthcare AdministrationSome physicians are experiencing confusion and surprise by learning they are contracted to accept patients covered by insurance exchange plans despite the fact they rejected offers to participate in those plans. Plans are invoking what is known as an “all-product clause.” This is a provision many physicians may not be aware are present in their contracts, but essentially force physicians contracted in a particular payer plan to participate in all of the plans offered by that payer in the state, including those offered through the exchanges.
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17 of the most specific, bizarre ICD-10 codes
Charlotte Bohnett Healthcare AdministrationCome October, healthcare professionals will go from using the library of 13,000 codes in ICD-9 to that of 68,000 in ICD-10. As The New York Times explains, the new code set “allows for much greater detail than the existing code [set], ICD-9, in describing illnesses, injuries and treatment procedures. That could allow for improved tracking of public health threats and trends, and better analysis of the effectiveness of various treatments.”
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Rule-making process has begun for Stage 3 of meaningful use
Pamela Lewis Dolan Healthcare AdministrationDespite Stage 3 of the meaningful use incentive program being delayed until 2017, rule-making for the program is under way. And the Meaningful Use Workgroup of the Health IT Policy Committee, which advises federal officials on the program, recently released its first set of draft recommendations.
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The role of nurses in an aging population
Keith Carlson Healthcare AdministrationIt's no secret that the population of the United States — and the world at large — is aging rapidly. The Baby Boom ended around 1964, and since those heady days of relative economic prosperity and population growth, the birth rate hasn't kept pace with the rate of aging.
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How to best leverage advisors for your practice: Part I
David B. Mandell, JD, MBA Healthcare AdministrationMost people realize that success creates complexity. What top practice-owners and managers have realized is that the management of complexity and leverage is not the job of a traffic cop. As a practice grows, the number of complicated, technical risks that the practice faces also grows exponentially.
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Should your practice hire an ICD-10 coder?
Brooke Andrus Healthcare AdministrationThe switch to ICD-10 will trigger a monumental shift in the way medical practitioners code patient diagnoses. The result is increased specificity in coding, but all that slick, souped-up data comes at a cost — time. And as a rehab therapist, you don't have a lot of that to spare.
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