With physicians eager for hospital positions, and hospitals trying to align their clinical care with an eye toward medical homes and accountable care organizations, the two sides are increasingly joining forces in primary care physician networks.

Older doctors can teach younger, less experienced physicians a lesson or two about cutting costs by using less costly procedures, a RAND study shows.

Extended roles for non-physicians is a direction toward which many hospitals and health systems are moving. Such efforts, if successful, might bring much-needed nuance into the discussion of the physician shortage, including disruptions in the types of physicians needed in the future.

At the Medical Group Management Association conference in Texas, one concern is common—the "fiscal instability" created by what officials call a "decade" of Congressional reprieves from sustainable growth rate formula cuts.

One of the biggest challenges facing practices under the final HIPAA mega-rule is the stakes are higher when you do experience a data breach. Experts advise you to prepare now by tightening up your rule-required oversight of other areas before the Sept. 23 compliance date.

HHS’ long awaited HIPAA “mega-rule” combined four final rules updating policies to privacy and security, electronic data storage and third-party disclosure of genetic information. While the biggest changes affected breach notification and business associate requirements, here are eight noteworthy provisions from the rule:

We recently saw an online forum discussion in which experts debated an issue we’d never seen before: Is “duration” an element of HPI (history of present illness)?

The expansion of the business associate (BA) designation to a number of vendors not previously considered BAs means you have to tighten up your handling of those relationships,

These two charts evaluate how providers bill E/Ms linked to surgery and additional procedures.