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What PQRS could look like in 2014
Heidi Jannenga Healthcare AdministrationOn July 19, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published the 2014 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register. According to this summary, most of the policies were open for comment until Sept. 6 and, pending final decisions (which hopefully will occur this month), will take effect Jan. 1, 2014.
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Rx for HEMS: Faster and lower
Mark Huber Medical & Allied HealthcareHow low can you go? (And live.) That has been the perpetual question as the FAA continues to work with the helicopter EMS industry to develop low-altitude infrastructure in the national airspace system, including better weather-reporting tools, low-altitude routes and point-in-space (Pins) instrument approaches.
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Blue Button gets boost from AHIMA
Pamela Lewis Dolan Healthcare AdministrationDuring its annual meeting Oct. 28 in Atlanta, the American Health Information Management Association launched an initiative aimed at expanding use of Blue Button technology. Blue Button was launched in 2010 by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs as a way of making health information more accessible to veterans. Soon after, the concept was embraced by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Department of Defense and quickly became the gold standard in patient engagement.
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Consumers must also be held accountable for medical credit cards
Dr. Jonathan Kaplan Healthcare AdministrationConsumers interested in various veterinary or medical services that are typically out-of-pocket may pay for those services with a credit card. But if they don't have a credit card due to a less-than-stellar credit rating, they may have to turn to a medical credit card. These come in the form of iCare and CareCredit. These medical credit cards have come under fire lately in a recent New York Times article and follow-up editorial.
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Food for thought: Continuous career development
Karen Childress Medical & Allied HealthcareWatching medical dramas unfold on television, one might conclude that doctors are never bored. How could they be when they're constantly solving rare and complex medical mysteries, sharing their wealth of knowledge with eager medical students and residents, and duking it out with administration as they advocate for patients in need?
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Air medical services benefiting from increase in medical tourism
Joy Burgess Medical & Allied HealthcareOver the past few years, medical tourism has become a global phenomenon. Many countries across the world are welcoming international medical tourists, while more individuals have begun shopping the worldwide healthcare market to find affordable, cutting-edge medical services. Although medical tourism brings in a significant amount of money to countries that welcome medical tourists, this growing trend also benefits companies providing international air medical services.
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Study: Hospital CEO pay and performance not related
Pamela Lewis Dolan Healthcare AdministrationAs physician payment shifts toward outcome and value-based models, a study finds no correlation between quality and hospital CEO pay. A study published online Oct. 14 by JAMA Internal Medicine examined hospital CEO pay and its correlation to various hospital characteristics including technology adoption, quality metrics, financial performance and community benefits.
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Changing healthcare dynamics and the surge of urgent care centers
Bambi Majumdar Healthcare AdministrationThe Affordable Care Act is poised to dramatically change the way we view and experience healthcare. The implementation of this law has paved the way for less costly outpatient care, which has in turn led to a boom in affordable urgent care centers and retail clinics across the country.
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Management lessons learned from HealthCare.gov launch
Mike Wokasch Healthcare AdministrationThe embarrassing and problematic launch of HealthCare.gov is nothing short of incomprehensible in our well-established technology driven world of commerce. How could the U.S. government not put up a functioning website to support applications and enrollment for health insurance? If you are managing a small or large project, here are a few axioms that don’t appear to have been taken into consideration when HealthCare.gov was constructed and launched.
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From uninsured to covered: PAs at the forefront of the ACA
Maria Frisch Medical & Allied HealthcareIn September, the U.S. Census reported rates of uninsured during 2012. A reported 15.4 percent (48 million) of people were uninsured, down from 15.7 percent in 2011. Medicare covered 15.7 percent of the population in 2012, compared with 15.2 percent in 2011. Since 1999, the proportion of people insured through private insurance has declined, while the proportion of those insured through public insurance (Medicare, Medicaid, state programs, etc.) has risen, from 24.2 to 32.6. This has added significant burden to an already over-extended government.
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