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4 Min Read

How to dispute incorrect financial data before it goes public

Physicians can review reports about their financial interactions with manufacturers of drugs and medical devices now through Aug. 27 under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act (also known as the Open Payments program).

Medicare & Medicaid
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4 Min Read

8 things you should know about Medicare's proposed payment rule

If the policies set forth in the 2015 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule take effect, physicians will be in for a lot of changes—many of them unfavorable—next year. Here are the top eight things that you should know.

Medicare & Medicaid
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2 Min Read

Physicians should know about their personal data, AMA tells CMS

Personally identified data about physicians not publicly available soon could be shared with government agencies, law enforcement and Medicare contractors without physicians’ knowledge, under a new “system of records” announced by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

Medicare & Medicaid
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1 Min Read

Avoid 2016 Medicare penalty: Use a registry for quality reporting

Physicians who don’t successfully report for Medicare’s Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) this year will face a 2 percent payment penalty in 2016.

Medicare & Medicaid
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3 Min Read

Now's the time to harness telemedicine, EHRs

The AMA made many exciting strides toward more robust health IT earlier this month at the 2014 AMA Annual Meeting, adopting policies on such timely topics as telemedicine and electronic health record (EHR) usability.

series
Leadership
Leadership Viewpoints
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2 Min Read

1 in 3 California hospitalizations stem from diabetes: Study

Patients with diabetes account for one in three hospitalizations in California, according to a new study on diabetes prevalence in the state. The study highlights the impact the disease is having on health care costs.

Chronic Diseases
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2 Min Read

Officials making physicians' health IT concerns a priority

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has released its 10-year vision for health IT, setting its sights on one of physicians’ biggest concerns: achieving nationwide interoperability of electronic health records (EHR).

Digital
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2 Min Read

Pew got it wrong on advance care planning

There has been a lot of misinformation about advance care planning over the years. The latest in false reporting on this issue is told by Stateline, a news website run by the Pew Charitable Trusts. In an article that appeared this week about possible federal payment policy for advance care planning,

Medicare & Medicaid
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3 Min Read

Sunshine Act proposal threatens doctors' due process for disputes

A newly proposed dispute resolution process for inaccurate Physician Payments Sunshine Act data would deny physicians their due process rights, the AMA told the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in a comment letter last week that calls for fairness and urges the agency to modify the deadline for publication of physicians’ payment data.

Medicare & Medicaid