The proposed 2011 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) is pulling double-duty, packed with expansions of existing CMS initiatives plus major Medicare changes mandated by the health reform law. The law's emphasis on preventive medicine is taking the form of major benefits for primary care, starting with a new, routine service billable once a year for all beneficiaries, free of copays and deductibles, plus new coverage for more than 30 preventive services.

Does your physician practice have what it takes to be lean?

For decades now, we’ve heard about manufacturers and retailers running Lean or Six Sigma or whatever you want to call it—putting workplace processes from scheduling to supplies management under the scalpel to carve away excess overhead, inefficiencies, and redundancies.

This summer, the American College of Physicians (ACP), which represents 130,000 internists, will publish a series  of papers that will tell America’s doctors what they should and should not order in diagnostic tests and therapies, a guideline that strives to lower cost while eliminating unnecessary care.

The number of physician-owned medical practices is declining. In 2005, two-thirds of all medical practices were doctor-owned, but the number is now below 50%, according to the Medical Group Management Association. More physicians are looking to sell their practice in favor of being employed by a larger medical group or hospital. Some are tired of managing the business, whereas others are concerned about the impact of healthcare reform on their practice. 

In the past, many physicians considered their medical staff leadership responsibilities a privilege and thus did not demand compensation. However, in recent years, it has become common practice for hospitals and medical staffs to compensate chiefs of staff and medical staff presidents, committee chairs, and department chairs for their leadership involvement.

Before joint replacement patients set foot in an operating room at the Agnesian Center for Bone and Joint Health, they start in a multidisciplinary presurgical education session. A nurse answers questions about the surgical process, a pharmacist talks about anticoagulation and pain medication, a rehab representative explores home modifications and other postsurgery issues, and a discharge planner lays the groundwork for the postsurgery transition. By surgery time, not only does the patient have a better idea of what to expect from the process, but so do the providers.

CMS has released its proposed 2011 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule on June 25, late in the afternoon, a full day after the current issue of Part B News went to press. The proposed rule is packed with good news for primary care practices, a preliminary Part B News analysis shows. Here's the goods on two of the biggest bombshells in the rule. 

Legislators in the House and Senate finally came together late on June 24 to pass legislation to delay the 21.3% cut to your payments until Nov. 30. The legislation actually boosts your pay by 2.2% retroactive to June 1.

You've now got the standards your electronic health record (EHR) system will need to meet to be certified, as HHS published a final rule June 18. This rule sets the stage for the pending release of the long-awaited meaningful use final rule that will show you how to earn up to $44,000 in federal health information technology (HIT) incentives.

Start preparing now for HIPAA and ICD-10 transitions if you haven't done so already, top CMS officials reminded physician practices on June 15. These transitions - to the HIPAA 5010 standard for electronic claims transfers in 2012 and to the ICD-10 diagnosis code set in 2013 - seem far away, but you need to take advantage of the lead time to avoid major A/R disruptions and ensure your claims will get paid properly on day one.