Physicians who are elbow deep in their hospitals’ electronic clinical data systems may finally be recognized for their efforts to improve the quality, safety, and efficiency of patient care. The American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) is advocating for the creation of a board-certified subspecialty in clinical informatics, and the first exams may be available as early as 2012, according to “Clinical Informatics Board Certification: History, Current Status, and Predicted Impact on the Clinical Informatics Workforce” in the February 10 Applied Clinical Informatics.

Physicians who want to communicate more easily with their patients but aren’t ready to open up an IT business in their back office are turning to online solutions. Physicians at hospitals and private practices are using Web-based programs for a variety of tasks, such as conducting e-visits, e-prescribing medications, delivering lab results to patients, and sharing medical records with patients and their other providers—with no wiring, servers, or IT staff required. And in some regions, healthcare organizations are partnering with their biggest rivals to make it happen.

This week's question is answered by Regan Bode, CPC, CPC-H, CPMA, CEMC, ACS-EM, content manager for DecisionHealth and consultant for DecisionHealth Professional Services.

Q: Can an occupational therapist bill E/M services? Is it a "scope of practice" issue, or does Medicare prohibit? 

Summary: Salaries for non-physician practitioners (NPPs) increased between 2008-2009 for most NPP types, according to the latest survey data from the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA). All data in this chart comes from the 2010 and 2009 editions of the MGMA's Physician Compensation and Production Survey. NOTE: Dollar figures represent the mean compensation for each type of NPP.

Your non-physician practitioners (NPP) won't be eligible for an electronic health record (EHR) bonus from Medicare next year. But your NPPs can earn a bonus when they meet standards for meaningful use of an EHR and hit patient thresholds for the Medicaid program.

It seems like a no-brainer: Your non-physician practitioners (NPPs) will get a 10% Medicare payment bonus when they bill for lots of primary care services, according to the proposed 2011 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS). But NPPs who bill a lot of services incident to might have a hard time qualifying for the bonus, which may not increase their revenue if they bill less incident to services in order to qualify.

This week's question is answered by Regan Bode, CPC, CPC-H, CPMA, CEMC, ACS-EM, content manager for DecisionHealth and consultant for DecisionHealth Professional Services.

Q. Can you give me some clarity on when we are able to adjust deductibles or copays for our patients?

Download the August Tool of the Month, developed by DecisionHealth Professional Services, from Part B News. The tool is a memo to help enforce your office policies for tardiness and patient wait times. Use this customizable tool to reinforce standards your practice has set for the office, and most importantly, quality patient care.

Summary: This chart looks at how much physicians from 10 Medicare-heavy specialties were paid for each relative value unit (RVU) of work billed, based on 2008 and 2009 data from the Medical Group Management Association's (MGMA) Physician Compensation and Production Survey. NOTE: The dollar amounts graphed in the chart represent the mean compensation for each specialty based on all RVUs, not just physician work. NOTE: The MGMA methodology explicitly excludes technical components of all services.

Starting in 2011, general surgeons practicing in health professional shortage areas (HPSA) will be eligible for 10% surgery bonuses (PBN 7/12/10), CMS states in the proposed 2011 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. Here's an easy three-step process to determine whether you practice in an HPSA.