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Doctors: How to get a handle on your finances in 2014

Karen Childress Healthcare Administration

Have you resolved, year after year, to take control of your financial life? Working in the healthcare field keeps physicians busy year-round and leaves little time to assess your money affairs. If 2014 is the year you'd like to actually follow through with that resolution, set aside some time to answer the following questions to jump-start the process. If you have a spouse or partner, work through the questions together.

Reactions mixed to announced meaningful use changes

Pamela Lewis Dolan Healthcare Administration

A new proposed timeline for the meaningful use incentive program for electronic health record use was announced by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT. The change came with mixed reaction from many healthcare member organizations advocating for more flexibility in the incentive program. It was also met with some initial confusion over what the revised timeline means.

The ER doctor in your living room

Maria Frisch Healthcare Administration

Virtual ERs benefit hospital-based locations by screening and treating low-urgency and common medical problems. This frees up both staff time and resources to focus on high-urgency, major medical concerns. For this reason, some local ERs have started to offer their own virtual service.

Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act: The basics for providers

Jessica Belle Healthcare Administration

On Nov. 13, the departments of Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services issued the final rules implementing the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA). This Act requires that group health plans that offer mental health or substance use disorder benefits apply the same type of financial requirements (deductibles, co-insurance) and treatment limitations (number of visits, scope of treatment) that the plan applies to medical and surgical benefits.

Why HealthCare.gov should have been a mobile app

Alex Bratton Healthcare Administration

Of all the problems with the HealthCare.gov site, perhaps the most baffling is why it was created as a website in the first place. The main target of the HealthCare.gov website is young, healthy millennials, those aged 18 to 29 years old. Since millennials don't run up big healthcare bills, their monthly premiums will subsidize the insurance benefits of nearly 4.3 million older and less healthy Americans.

Does diversity matter in medical training?

Jonathan Ryan Batson Medical & Allied Healthcare

Maybe I was wrong as to think that diversity matters in the sociocultural melting pot of the United States. Maybe we were all wrong. Am I now doomed to believe that diverse thought and experiences, which shape lives to create new innovations and remove inequalities from the status quo, does not really matter? Maybe not. Maybe the approach to diversity is wrong.

Clock is ticking: New acetaminophen combo limitations coming soon

Jason Poquette Pharmaceutical

Beginning next month, manufacturers of combination prescription products containing acetaminophen are expected to limit their APAP content to no more than 325 mg per dose. The significance of this is that many narcotic combination products currently being dispensed will soon no longer be compliant with these guidelines. The guidelines do not impact any OTC acetaminophen products or combinations.

Pharmaceutical industry exerts influence on statin guidelines

Dr. Jonathan Kaplan Medical & Allied Healthcare

On Nov. 12, the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) came out with their 2013 guidelines for who should and should not be on statin therapy to lower their bad cholesterol levels. When I saw them, I was surprised by the recommendations of widespread expansion of statin use. The new guidelines recommended what amounts to one-third of American adults being placed on cholesterol-lowering statins. To me, this smacked of industry influence because it was so obvious that one particular industry would benefit greatly from these recommendations. Maybe I was being paranoid. So I decided to do a little research.

Articulate leadership no guarantee for effective organizational communication

Mike Wokasch Business Management, Services & Risk Management

As a society, we admire, applaud and follow articulate people who help us understand, who inspire us and who project a future of possibilities that sound better than what we have today. This skill is essential for helping a group or organization identify "what could be" while aligning people and their beliefs to work toward a common goal. Articulate leaders can also verbally resolve differences, dispel untruths and keep the naysayer at bay. So why do they sometimes struggle to get anything done?

Medical device market trends and the headwinds of change

Don Rosato Manufacturing

The term "medical device" can be applied to a wide range of products. The global market is comprised of about 8,000 types of medical devices, ranging from simple bandages and spectacles, through life-maintaining implantable devices and equipment to screen/diagnose disease and health conditions, to the most sophisticated diagnostic imaging and minimally invasive surgery equipment.

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