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| | | | | | Rating Health Insurers’ Efficiency | | | | By Michael Sheehan | | | | Published on July 3, 2008 | | | | | | | | Slow pay and no pay. Those are two of the most common complaints that doctors have about insurance carriers. They take too long to pay, they bounce too many claims back to be resubmitted, and they deny claims that doctors think should be paid. But some health insurers do a better job than others. | | | | | |
| | | | | | | When Is the Right Time to Cut the Cord with a Patient? | | | | By Ed Rabinowitz | | | | Published on July 2, 2008 | | | | | | | | In today’s world of reality-based television programming, the words “You’re fired” have become synonymous with Donald Trump as he weeds through candidates to determine who will become his next apprentice. Seldom are those words associated with the physician-patient relationship. In reality, however, their meaning—if not the actual words themselves—is conveyed more often than you might imagine.
“Doctors want to help out,” explains Laura Dixon, BS, JD, RN, CPHRM, director, Department of Patient Safety, Western Region, for The Doctors Company, a physician-owned medical malpractice company. “They don’t recognize that it’s okay to send a patient on. It happens more frequently than they think.”
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| | | | | | | Physician Practices Benefit from Outsourcing Billing Operations | | | | By Ed Rabinowitz | | | | Published on June 26, 2008 | | | | | | | | Everyone makes mistakes; that’s why they make erasers. But when it comes to medical billing, the mistakes can be costly. For example, it is estimated that billing errors can lead to loss rates of up to 10% of a physician practice group’s revenue. That’s significant money. Outsourcing, however, can eliminate those errors by putting all or portions of a practice’s billing operation in the hands of specialists. | | | | | |
| | | | | | | Medicare Cardiology Payment Cut Deadline Fast Approaching | | | | By Todd Kunkler | | | | Published on June 25, 2008 | | | | | | | | It remains to be seen whether Congress will act in time to stop the scheduled 10.6% cut in Medicare physician payment before the June 30 deadline.
The ACC advocacy website notes that supporters last week were unable to get the necessary 60 votes for a cloture vote (to end debate) that would have moved the “Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008” (S. 3101) directly to the Senate floor for open debate and a vote.
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| | | | | | | Financial History Repeats Itself: Part III: Did My Brain Make Me Do It? | | | | By Shirley M. Mueller, MD | | | | Published on June 24, 2008 | | | | | | | | Well-educated professionals that have financial advisors buy into recommendations for structured products, which are sure to generate a high fee, but may not benefit the investor. Think about the recent collateralized mortgage scandal. All of these investors are on the short end of the stick. Someone else is making money, but they’re not. One way to describe these investors’ actions is “optimism over realism.” As Warren Buffet says, “It is optimism that is the enemy of the rational buyer.” So why aren’t many investors acting in their own best interests—that is, in a rational way? That is the subject of this three part series, “My brain made me do it.” | | | | | |
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