With opportunities for healthcare mergers, acquisitions, and partnerships sprouting like so many April tulips, ­creating solid pacts that incentivize physician-hospital alignment is essential. However, it can be tricky to craft these agreements to achieve your strategic and clinical goals while staying on the right side of the law, so tread carefully. Two experts experienced in the ins and outs of physician-hospital agreements offer their insights on complexities to keep in mind.

Many physicians are still hesitant about using social media in their professional lives. Concerns range from time commitment, liability, patient privacy, and unfamiliarity with the technology, to the appropriateness of social media interactions in a professional setting. But physicians should know that social media sites are not just a healthcare marketing or recruitment tool. They can also help educate and engage patients-and physicians play a vital role in those conversations.

An unconscious racial bias by some physicians could harm relations with African-American patients and ultimately may impair health outcomes.

A large multispecialty group that recently attested for Stage 1 meaningful use says that the process was difficult, even painful at times, but worth the rewards of having ­improved the group's processes.

Financial incentives are finally forcing hospitals and physicians to work more closely than ever. In many cases, that means the hospital or health system buys the practice. But that doesn't equal alignment. In fact, physician autonomy and alignment are far from mutually exclusive. Physician practice autonomy is still ­possible; it just requires a different kind of ownership.

Hospitals and other healthcare facilities looking to hire more doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals may want to add Facebook®, LinkedIn, and even Twitter™ to their recruitment efforts.

Encourage your hospitals to expand services provided by non-physician practitioners (NPPs) using a recent CMS rule that endorsed NPP hospital privileges as leverage. But make sure your NPPs abide by the hospital’s bylaws, experts say.

The hospital and critical access hospital reform final rule, published in the May 16 Federal Register, counts NPPs, such as advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) and physician assistants (PAs), as part of hospital medical staff giving them the power to use their licensed skills in hospitals.

Don’t get caught off guard when self-pay patients show up at your front desk not prepared to pay an outstanding balance or for the current visit. Instead, develop a clear policy on how to approach those patients to maintain collections and ensure you won’t be accused of violating a payer contract when a patient lies about insurance status.

Don’t wait for your hospital to approach you and coordinate billing for the three-day payment window. Prepare your practice by establishing a clear line of communication with your hospital and holding claims to avoid overpayments. The three-day payment rule, effective July 1, mandates lower reimbursement for providers at practices that are wholly owned or operated by a hospital when a patient is admitted within three days of receiving clinically related services from the practice (PBN 6/18/12).

If your practice is overwhelmed with mounting regulatory deadlines, claims billing, coding, staffing and other practice management duties, outsource some tasks to a local management services organization (MSO) after a vigilant vetting process.