Develop standard criteria for when to hire new physicians or non-physician practitioners (NPPs) based on such factors as how many new patients your practice can handle and your current providers’ ages and career plans. If you don’t have that down to a science, you’ll be unprepared to serve your area’s share of an estimated 32 million additional Americans insured from Affordable Care Act (ACA) reforms.

Surgeons could see both payment and post-op patient volume drop under CMS’ proposed reconstruction of relative value units (RVUs) for the E/M portion of surgical procedures with a global period. But despite possible revenue loss, surgeons pack in more billable patient visits and procedures with slashed post-op E/Ms.

Assess payments you receive from pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers for research, presentations, testing and other services and whether you’re comfortable with that information being posted on the Internet. The Sunshine Act, which is part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), requires certain pharmaceutical, biologic and medical device makers to track and annually report to the HHS payments or other “transfers of value” they give to physicians and teaching hospitals.

The problem: Physicians use of template language, “old review of systems [ROS] updated,” on all charts when such an update was not documented correctly or completed for every patient. For example, a doctor refers to her review and changes of a previous visit’s ROS and PFSH in the current note by writing, “ROS from Jan. 5 reviewed and updated.” But the Jan. 5 note does not have the required doctor’s signature and current date on it, says Regan Tyler, senior consultant for DecisionHealth Professional Services.

Physicians transitioning to Novitas Solutions need to provide a new electronic funds transfer (EFT) authorization agreement. Practices that had used EFT with Pinnacle Business Solutions, Cahaba GBA and TrailBlazer Enterprises could see payment disruptions if they don’t submit new EFT authorization agreements using the CMS-588 form. Those providers received letters between May 15 and July 27, depending on their location, from Medicare administrative contractor (MAC) Novitas asking them to complete and return the form.

Now that the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act last month, physician practices are beginning to form their impressions and either responding accordingly, or not at all. These charts, based on 136 responses to a Part B News survey conducted late last month, depict answers to two questions, both of which allowed respondents to check off all answers that are applicable: What part of the ACA affects your practice and how have regulatory provisions of the health care law (including revalidation and the 60-day overpayment rule) affected your practice?

What is the correct date of service to use for the professional component (-26) of an X-ray? Should it be the actual date the provider read the film or the date the film was taken?

The accountable care organization (ACO) moniker carries a lot of weight these days. It signals that providers and payers are committed to coordinating healthcare to achieve the vaunted triple aim of improving the experience of care, bettering the health of populations, and reducing per capita costs of care. Whether your organization is ready to jump on the ACO bandwagon or is still trying to figure out if it's the right move, there are some of the key questions your leadership team needs to consider such as: What do you want to accomplish with an ACO?

The number of doctors who were punished by their state medical boards increased 6.8% between 2010 and 2011, with significant increases in high-population states such as Florida, California, Ohio, and Texas, according to the latest annual summary from the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB).

The number of disciplinary actions of all types rose from 5,652 to 6,025. These actions include the most severe penalties, in which a physician loses the license to practice or loses certain privileges, to less severe or "non-prejudicial" actions or public reprimands.

The shared-medical-appointment model has been around since the mid-1990s, and it is now getting more attention. In a shared medical appointment, eight to 10 patients with a common denominator-a chronic condition such as diabetes, or elderly adults in need of a road map to aging well-see the doctor together for a long visit, often 90 minutes. Joining the session in some cases are a nurse, behaviorist, and documenter, each working to help the ­appointment run smoothly.