Picture this: A provider discovers one month that his preferred provider organization (PPO) underpaid his facility. The contract says that both parties must mutually agree to any fee schedule adjustments, but the provider received no notice. He decides to sue the PPO for breach of contract. But because PPOs aren't heavily regulated, will he have any legs to stand on?

Can a lab provide free blood-collection supplies to physician offices and pay physicians more than Medicare's $3 drawing fee to collect blood samples for use in performing tests?

You've gathered the pertinent data about a managed-care plan. Now you must decide whether you'll sign the contract and participate or find another plan. How do you do that? First and foremost, you need an overall sense of whether the plan will pay you well enough to merit your participation. Develop that information by using an easy-to-perform weighted analysis of plan payments for your most commonly provided services.

Has the tireless work you've done to protect your practice against privacy nightmares been for naught? Has the very agency that has sworn to enforce the regulation decided to give up the HIPAA fight? Lay your worry to rest; the Department of Justice's (DOJ) opinion on the enforcement of the privacy act under HIPAA is not an open invitation for individuals to wrongfully use or disclose patients' protected health information (PHI)-those with criminal intent will still face consequences for their actions.

Electronic medical records (EMR) are on the minds of most healthcare providers who await finalized decisions, and plans from medical-malpractice carriers, third-party payers, and federal agencies that continue to focus discussion and possible financial incentives around the relationship between quality healthcare and the EMR.