Practice Management

An OB/GYN asks if current doctors are sending the wrong message about liability problems in the field of OB/GYN.

Physicians using smartphones and other mobile devices to access patients' electronic health records are increasingly at risk for data breach, but a new initiative from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) may allay some fears about possible violations of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy and Security Rules.

A survey of 72 health organizations found that the growth of physician use of smartphones also has increased the incidence of data breaches, with 96% of respondents experiencing at least 1 data breach in the past 2 years.

Arguing that a relentlessly rising volume of care driven by our discounted fee-for-service payment system is exacerbating both cost inflation and suboptimal care, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has decided to adopt value-based purchasing.

Worried about financial pressure and the effects of healthcare reform, an increasing number of physicians are considering making changes in how they practice medicine.

Experts are focused on how errors happen and how they can be reduced.

In a survey of more than 100 nurses, physicians, and administrators, participants were asked how often they witnessed or experienced disruptive behaviors.

Because research shows that women are more likely than men to forgo, delay and ration medical care because of personal debt incurred from healthcare costs and expenses, investigators set out to determine whether financial hardships associated with medical debt also differ by gender.

About half of 131 US medical schools surveyed reported that they had provided instruction to students on Medicare and Medicaid fraud and abuse laws in 2010.

CMS will rescind a new Medicare rule requiring physicians to provide their signatures on requisitions for laboratory tests.

The American Medical Association (AMA) recently surveyed physicians about federal rules and regulations that increase their administrative costs and paperwork burden or that interfere with patient care without significantly benefiting patients or the government.

When a physician has a "difficult" encounter with a patient, he or she is apt to attribute the problem to particular characteristics of the patient. However, a new study demonstrates that not only patient characteristics are associated with "difficult" encounters; certain physician factors also predict a difficult interaction.

Across the country, the author has been hearing ob/gyns discuss selling their practices to, or merging them with, a hospital or academic medical center and/or joining an accountable care organization.

An analysis of data from 6,391 physicians in the 2004-2005 Community Tracking Study showed that during this period ob/gyns' mean hourly wages were $83.

Lower earnings, higher malpractice insurance premiums and longer work weeks-last year was a tough year for ob/gyns, according to Medical Economics' 2010 Exclusive Survey.

The author's suggested reading is a thin book titled, Why Hospitals Should Fly: The Ultimate Flight Plan to Patient Safety and Quality Care, which he says has the potential to change one's professional life.

Because some practices have been slow to adopt electronic health records, scant evidence exists to support the commonly held notion that EHRs help mitigate liability risk, according to a published report in American Medical News.

I recall I took some comfort in that adage during my residency. However, such bravado was representative of a different era, a time when 36-hour calls, 120-hour workweeks, and 1 weekend off a month were seen as rites of passage crucial to the creation of competent physicians.

Changes recently proposed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for the 2010 e-prescribing incentive program should make the initiative even more attractive to physicians.

A new study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine (9/9/09) supports the Obama administration's claim that improving the efficiency of healthcare delivery would make it possible to cover the uninsured without rationing needed care or raising taxes.

More than 63% of ob/gyns have made changes to their practice because of the risk or fear of liability claims or litigation, and 60% have made such changes because liability insurance is either unavailable or unaffordable.

New breach notification rules have been in effect that call for immediate notification of a patient if her personal data are leaked.

Gynecologists are more successful with instant claims adjudication than any other group of specialists, with 89% of gynecology claims resolved in less than 10 seconds

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced plans to award $598 million in grants to open as many as 70 regional offices next year to help practices adopt electronic health record systems.

Nearly half of physicians believe that various off-label uses of prescription drugs are approved by the Food and Drug Administration, according to a national survey.

Patients are going to have direct-to-consumer genetic tests done, regardless of our position on the subject. At the very least, we can offer them sound advice on the matter.

To Err Is Human challenged the medical community to cut in half within five years the "shocking" number of people who die from medical errors. Yet a decade later, the rate of medical error is actually increasing, according to federal analysts.

Choice of physicians and other health-care providers is sometimes influenced by quality data.

Physicians have many questions for consulting firms related to effects of the recession.

Massachusetts was the ideal setting to attempt universal coverage, but the influx of newly insured strained the system's ability to provide care and drove up costs. Dr. Lockwood offers his perspective on lessons to be learned from their mistakes.