CMS will have final authority over whether your carrier can accept your settlement offer, but here are several effective arguments you can make to boost your chances, according to attorneys familiar with the process.

A recent Part B News article stated you won't be reimbursed for copying records to fulfill a RAC request (PBN 8/24/09). CMS's Commander Marie Casey, RN, of the Division of Recovery Operations, has stated money to reimburse providers billing the Physician Fee Schedule has already been factored in payments for services - and, your RAC won't provide you with any reimbursement for reproducing records.

Instead of scrambling to get an electronic health record installed and up to speed by January 2011, take a deep breath, relax and plot out the strategy that works best for you and your practice. It looks like you'll have time.

Your physicians are not as technophobic as some would have you believe. They just want technology that's easy to use, saves them time, and, above all, enhances their ability to practice medicine. Electronic health records don't always do that. Smartphones, for the most part, do.

TransforMed, a subsidiary of the American Academy of Family Physicians, believes it's the first professional social networking site intended for primary care physicians and all their clinical and office staff.

A sampling of opinions about meaningful use of electronic health records from key physician groups.

Of course, training routines vary from office to office, and only the practice manager can know which methods work, but there are universal techniques that span practice size, specialty, and location.

The success of CMS’ Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) pilot is not only leading to its expansion nationwide, it’s in-spiring other payers to take a second look at recovery efforts.

Susan Reynolds, MD, is not a regular viewer of the television show House, the medical drama that features a brilliant but obnoxious physician who is tolerated by his colleagues in spite of his abusive behavior and personal shortcomings that include drug abuse.

Doctors aren’t exempt from the rough financial times that are affecting everybody’s bottom line, Reynolds says. “Reimbursements have been cut, overhead keeps rising, and a lot of physicians have been feeling the pinch, which will put them in a bad mood to start with,” she says.