Posted on November 30, 2008 by Editors
The Medical Executive-Post Instead of launching your new financial product, medical device, HIT innovation, advisory service solution or healthcare administration program before an expensive national audience in the traditional press; place an electronic beta-test with our audience of thousands of viewers, readers and informed subscribers. Consider confirming or tweaking your campaign, and saving advertising expenses, by [...]
Filed under: Alerts Sign-Up, Jobs & Employment:, Op-Editorials, Research & Development | Tagged: ad, Add new tag, advertisements, marketing campaign, PR, promotion, public relations, sales | Leave a Comment »
Posted on November 29, 2008 by Editors
The Human Resource Management Report Staff Reporters According to a study published in Human Resource Management, hospitals that employ the hospitalist model-of-care delivered better patient outcomes. The Study The study explored the differences between hospitalists and traditional models of care, measuring performance outcomes in more than 6,000 cases at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Massachusetts between [...]
Filed under: Career Development, Health Economics, Health Insurance, Healthcare Finance, Monthly Reports | Tagged: hospital medicine, hospitalists | 7 Comments »
Posted on November 28, 2008 by Editors
HSA/HRA Offerings Jump at Large Employers* Staff Reporters 2005 2006 2007 2008 Very likely to offer in 2009 Small Employers (10-499 employees) 2% 5% 7% 9% 14% Large Employers (500 or more employees) 5% 11% 14% 20% 25% Jumbo Employers (20,000 or more employees) 22% 37% 41% 45% 45% *Based on either a [...]
Filed under: Health Economics, Health Insurance, Monthly Reports, Practice Management | Tagged: CDHPs, Mercer | Leave a Comment »
Posted on November 28, 2008 by Editors
Response to Valerie Powell, PhD By Darrell K. Pruitt; DDS Dear Valerie, This is a response to statements in www.ModernHealthcare.com, although to address all of the issues will probably be more space than they will want to devote to this. So, I’ll leave it to them to decide how much, if any, they would like to [...]
Filed under: Health Insurance, Information Technology, Op-Editorials, Practice Management | Tagged: EHRs, EMRs, HIT | 4 Comments »
Posted on November 27, 2008 by Editors
The “Address Discrepancy Rules” and Medical Compliance Rules Staff Reporters Healthcare executives and CFOs are looking for help to better understand and comply with the Red Flag and Address Discrepancy Rules from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The Rules were issued to curb identity theft in the United States, and require companies including most hospitals, [...]
Filed under: Healh Law & Policy, Practice Management, Risk Management | Tagged: red flags | 7 Comments »
Posted on November 27, 2008 by Editors
Mandates Include All Patients and Pre-Existing Conditions Staff Reporters According to the New York Times, November 20, 2008, the health insurance industry would support a health care overhaul requiring insurers to accept all customers, regardless of illness or disability, if Congress requires all Americans to have coverage. Industry Trade Groups In separate actions, the two [...]
Filed under: Healh Law & Policy, Health Insurance, Practice Management | Tagged: health insurance reform, national healthcare | Leave a Comment »
Posted on November 26, 2008 by Editors
Who they are – How they get paid Staff Writers According to the Dictionary of Health Economics and Finance, a bond-broker derives her or his income differently than a fee-for-service financial advisor with assets-under-management [AUMs]; not necessarily unlike a stock broker. www.HealthDictionarySeries.com Transaction Driven Commissions In other words, bond-brokers use transaction-driven sales, and earn commissions based [...]
Filed under: Financial Planning, Investing, Portfolio Management, Risk Management | Tagged: bond brokers, credit default swaps | 1 Comment »
Posted on November 26, 2008 by Editors
Another Impending Financial Crisis? Staff Reporters According to industry sources, should commercial real-estate turn out to be the next focus of the financial crisis, life insurers will be among the companies feeling the most heat. Life Insurance Companies According to the Dow Jones Newswires, on11/20/2008, life insurers on average have the equivalent of about 41% [...]
Filed under: Insurance Matters, Investing, Practice Management, Research & Development, Risk Management, Surveys and Voting | Tagged: cmbs, toxic cmbs | 2 Comments »
Posted on November 25, 2008 by Editors
Economic Slowdown Cited as Causative Staff Reporters According to the Associated Press, November 20, 2008, the current dismal economy has American hospitals ailing. New data shows declines in overall admissions and elective procedures, plus a significant jump in patients who can’t pay for care. AHA Study According to a survey by the American Hospital Association [...]
Filed under: Health Economics, Healthcare Finance, Research & Development, Surveys and Voting | Tagged: hospitals | 1 Comment »
Posted on November 24, 2008 by Editors
A Really Scary Tale By D. Kellus Pruitt; DDS Upon arriving at the office early one morning recently, Dr. Smith logged on to the Internet to check her email. Among the usual pieces of junk email, one from Nigeria caught her eye. She recognized the name of one of her patients, written in bold letters. [...]
Filed under: Drugs and Pharma, Healh Law & Policy, Information Technology, Professional Liability | Tagged: AHIC, CCHIT, Express Scripts, HHS, HIT, NPI | 2 Comments »
Posted on November 24, 2008 by Editors
The Markets and Health Economics By Dr. David Edward Marcinko; MBA, CMP™ As a centrist fiscal conservative – social liberal – I tend to side with libertarian issues and not political parties. Nevertheless, I was dismayed with the recent presidential election and wondered what impact it would have on the stock markets. Mr. Market replied with haste. The [...]
Filed under: Healh Law & Policy, Health Economics, Health Insurance, Insurance Matters, Managed Care, Research & Development | Tagged: economy, markets, national healthcare | 1 Comment »
Posted on November 23, 2008 by Editors
eHRs – Good for Whom? By Dr. David Edward Marcinko; MBA, CMP™ By Hope Rachel Hetico; RN, MHA, CMP™ We have been reading with interest the posts of dentist blogger Darrell K. Pruitt, DDS. His comments are cogent when he opines that clinical eHRs are not yet practical in the private dental office arena; that [...]
Filed under: Healh Law & Policy, Information Technology, Op-Editorials, Research & Development | Tagged: Darrell Pruitt, David Kibbe, EHRs, EMRs, HIPAA, John Halamka, Kibbe, Sarbox | 2 Comments »
Posted on November 22, 2008 by Editors
Delayed Reimbursements Cited as Root Cause Staff Reporters According to the Wall Street Journal, November 18, 2008, fewer doctors are accepting Medicaid patients. And, it’s not just because fees are so low – but because it often takes months to get paid. Health Affairs Analysis An analysis by the Center for Studying Health System Change says Byzantine [...]
Filed under: Career Development, Health Insurance, Practice Management, Research & Development, Surveys and Voting | Tagged: Medicaid | Leave a Comment »
Posted on November 21, 2008 by Editors
Your Vote Counts Staff Reporters Did you know that South Carolina’s Department of Health and Environmental Control [SCDHEC] will likely close some of its rural health clinics due to the state’s budget woes? It’s true; according to reports from The State of Columbia, SC. Moreover, the SCDHEC would also offer early retirement to its employees. [...]
Filed under: Health Economics, Health Insurance, Healthcare Finance, Surveys and Voting, Uncategorized, Voting Polls | Leave a Comment »
Posted on November 21, 2008 by Editors
Understanding “Underwater” Differences Staff Reporters Mark Cuban wrote an interesting piece on his website on November 11. On it, he asks; “so what’s the difference between being underwater on a mortgage and underwater on a stock?” The Experts According to Mark, the “experts” will tell you to hold the stock in hopes of it [...]
Filed under: Financial Planning, Investing, Op-Editorials | Tagged: home ownership, stock ownership | 1 Comment »
Posted on November 20, 2008 by Editors
More Physicians Coming to Congress Staff Reporters According to the AMNews [11/24/08], each of these 10 physician lawmakers vying for re-election to Congress prevailed at the November elections. They will be joined in January 2009 by at least three additional physicians who won seats in the House of Representatives. Re-elected: Sen. John Barrasso, MD (R, [...]
Filed under: Breaking News, Healh Law & Policy | Tagged: congressional doctors, physician legislators | Leave a Comment »
Posted on November 20, 2008 by Editors
An Emerging Trend Vital to Hospitals Staff Reporters According to Associate Professor Gregory O. Ginn; PhD, MBA, CPA, MEd., of the University of Las Vegas, an important emerging trend today is consumer-driven healthcare [CDHC] as patients become more knowledgeable and demanding about the quality of care they receive. Definition According to the Dictionary [...]
Filed under: Healh Law & Policy, Health Economics, Health Insurance, Healthcare Finance, Retirement and Benefits, Risk Management | Tagged: CDHC, consumer driven health care | 5 Comments »
Posted on November 19, 2008 by Editors
An Emerging Trend Vital to Traditional Medicine By Staff Reporters According to Associate Professor Gregory O. Ginn; PhD, MBA, CPA, MEd., of the University of Las Vegas, the term “alternative medicine” refers to alternatives to Western medicine, such as herbal medicine or acupuncture. Definition According to Dictionary of Health Insurance & Managed Care http://www.springerpub.com/Search/marcinko the term “complementary medicine” [...]
Filed under: Career Development, Managed Care, Practice Management | Tagged: alternate medicine, complimentary medicine | 5 Comments »
Posted on November 19, 2008 by Editors
A Growing List By Staff Reporters State laws inform health insurers what health coverage they must offer as state mandates. For example, if a state says “behavioral health coverage,” then health insurance policies issued in that state must provide coverage for behavioral health benefits for the insured and dependents But, recall that no two states [...]
Filed under: Healh Law & Policy, Health Insurance, Insurance Matters, Managed Care, Quality Initiatives, Uncategorized | Tagged: state health insurance mandates | 6 Comments »
Posted on November 18, 2008 by Editors
Transitioning from HIE-to-HIE Staff Reporters Did you know that according to the New York Times, on November 12, 2008, Senator Max Baucus (D- Montana) would eventually require everyone – not just children – to have health insurance coverage, with federal subsidies for those who could not otherwise afford it, and possible enforcement through the [...]
Filed under: Healh Law & Policy, Health Insurance, Information Technology, Insurance Matters | Tagged: HIE | 1 Comment »
Posted on November 18, 2008 by Editors
An Emerging Trend Vital to Physicians Staff Reporters According to Associate Professor Gregory O. Ginn, PhD; MBA, CPA, MEd., of the University of Las Vegas, an emerging trend for all medical providers is evidence-based medicine that offers the promise of improving the quality of clinical services. And, some argue that evidence-based medicine is a trend [...]
Filed under: Health Insurance, Managed Care, Practice Management, Research & Development | Tagged: EBM, evidence based medicine | 2 Comments »
Posted on November 17, 2008 by Editors
The Cash-Crunch is On By Dr. David Edward Marcinko; MBA, CMP™ Healthcare organizations have significant short-term financing needs and are constantly rolling over large sums of commercial paper to finance accounts receivable [ARs] to pay their bills, vendors, debts, payroll and investors in the form of dividend payouts or retained earnings and disbursements, etc. [...]
Filed under: Breaking News, Career Development, Health Economics, Healthcare Finance | Tagged: cash flow crunch, financial derivatives | 2 Comments »
Posted on November 17, 2008 by Editors
iMBA Inc., Press Release Atlanta Georgia November 20, 2008 Hello, my name is Ann Miller of the Institute of Medical Business Advisors www.MedicalBusinessAdvisors.com in Atlanta, Georgia. We are an independent medical consulting, health economics, educational publishing and information firm. We specialize in topical and analytical white-papers; dictionaries www.HealthDictionarySeries.com and books; compliance, regulatory, legal, business and [...]
Filed under: Practice Management, Research & Development, Sponsors | Tagged: iMBA, Inc., press release | Leave a Comment »
Posted on November 16, 2008 by Editors
ROI Economics of Non-Clinical Information Systems Staff Reporters Unlike clinical or health information systems [CIS] or [HIS], nearly all hospitals have at least some functions computerized in a technology administrative information system environment. Usual Functions According to Brent A. Metfessel; MD MS, typical functions of any health or hospital administrative information system [HAIS], include the following, [...]
Filed under: Health Economics, Information Technology | Tagged: information systems | 1 Comment »
Posted on November 15, 2008 by Editors
More than Hospital Administration Technology Staff Reporters In contrast to hospital administration systems [HASs], according to Richard Mata MD MIS, clinical information systems [CISs] deal directly with patient care processes and results. Clinical system sophistication varies widely from hospital to hospital and has the strongest presence in tertiary care centers. And, some hospitals have become [...]
Filed under: Information Technology | Tagged: Add new tag, CIS, HIT | 1 Comment »
Posted on November 14, 2008 by Editors
Establishing Medical Practice Value Staff Reporters One effective means for any valuation professional to confirm his or her understanding of medical business value, and how internal controls over financial and managerial reporting are designed and operated in a practice, is to evaluate and test its effectiveness, in-situ. Purpose of the Visit According to valuation experts [...]
Filed under: Health Economics, Practice Management, Practice Worth | Tagged: medical practice worth, practice appraisal, practice valuation | Leave a Comment »
Posted on November 14, 2008 by Editors
Beware Assets-under-Management [AUMs] Dr. David Edward Marcinko; MBA, CMP™ I don’t think that doctor-colleagues realize how much more a fee-based financial planner – or financial advisor – might take from a physician-client using an assets-under-management [AUM] subscription business model; than a traditional commission-based stock broker? Of course, commissions are what stock-brokers earn; and “broker” is [...]
Filed under: Ethics, Financial Planning, Investing, Op-Editorials | Tagged: AUM, AUMs, broker, commissions, financial advisor | 3 Comments »
Posted on November 13, 2008 by Editors
Re-Thinking Fixed Payment Medicine By Dr. David Edward Marcinko; MBA, CMP™ By Hope Rachel Hetico; RN, MHA, CMP™ In February 2008, the industry leading California legislature passed “Welfare and Institutions” Code Section 14105.19. It required a 10% fee-for-service payment reduction to Medi-Cal physicians and mental healthcare providers. The new law took effect on July 1, [...]
Filed under: Health Economics, Managed Care, Op-Editorials, Practice Management, Research & Development, Subscribe CD-ROM Journal | Tagged: capitation, fixed payment medicine, wholesale medicine | 6 Comments »
Posted on November 13, 2008 by Editors
Association of Debt Financing with Not-For-Profit Hospitals By Dr. David Edward Marcinko; MBA, CMP™ US not-for-profit hospitals undertook unprecedented amounts of debt in the mid-to-late 1990s. This happened because sparse corporate finance theory – and the modicum of economic literature on hospital financing at the time – suggested that debt constrained hospitals’ capacity to deliver [...]
Filed under: Health Economics, Healthcare Finance, Research & Development | Tagged: charity care, pro bono care, uncompensated health care, uncompensated medical care | 2 Comments »
Posted on November 12, 2008 by Editors
Thinking the Unthinkable By Dr. David Edward Marcinko; MBA CMP™ Staff Reporters According to the Wall Street Journal, November 5, 2008, voters in Washington State just passed an initiative legalizing physician-assisted suicide. Passed by a Margin of 3:2 A state measure known as “Initiative 1000” passed by a margin of 59% to 41%, making it [...]
Filed under: Healh Law & Policy, Health Economics, Op-Editorials | Tagged: paradox of thrift, suicide | 3 Comments »
Posted on November 12, 2008 by Editors
“The Not-So-Dismal Science” By Dr. David Edward Marcinko; MBA, CMP™ Publisher-n-in-Chief Economics was labeled the “dismal-science” by Thomas Carlyle a century ago. Since then, its tradition of negativity carries into the present recessionary environment. As the corporate credit and home mortgage crisis escalates, the financial and pharmaceutical industries implode and the population ages, hospitals are [...]
Filed under: Healh Law & Policy, Health Economics, Health Insurance, Healthcare Finance | Tagged: kenneth arrow | Leave a Comment »
Posted on November 11, 2008 by Editors
Understanding Medical Billing Invoice Variations Staff Reporters Deviations in medical billing may often be detected through utilization data that the government or private insurance companies produce on all providers that submit a claim for payment of services. Uncle Sam and insurance companies track utilization through a variety of parameters, including CPT codes, ICD-9-CM, or number [...]
Filed under: Healthcare Finance, Insurance Matters, Managed Care, Practice Management, Risk Management | Tagged: medical billing, medical invoice, superbill | 1 Comment »
Posted on November 11, 2008 by Editors
Understanding Definitional Semantics Staff Reporters Fraud Defined Fraud may be defined as any illegal healthcare activity where someone obtains something of value without paying for, or earning it. In healthcare, this usually occurs when someone bills for services not provided by the physician. Abuse Defined According to the www.HealthDictionarySeries.com, healthcare abuse is the activity where [...]
Filed under: "Doctors Only", Ethics, Healh Law & Policy, Practice Management, Quality Initiatives | Tagged: healthcare abuse, healthcare fraud | 3 Comments »
Posted on November 10, 2008 by Editors
What it is – But not how it works! By Dr. David Edward Marcinko; MBA, CMP™ As commentators, IT pundits, health economists, journalists and so-called experts, we all know that any market is immature when an industry can’t agree on a definition or term-of-art. Of course, that’s why we just released the Dictionary of Health [...]
Filed under: Information Technology, Op-Editorials, Research & Development | Tagged: cloud, grid, PaaS, SaaS | 2 Comments »
Posted on November 10, 2008 by Editors
Digital Technology and Future Federal Health Policy Staff Reporters According to the Dow Jones Newswires, at 12:17 PM ET on 11/05/2008, companies providing digital technology to manage patient records and prescribe drugs are likely to benefit from the administration of Barack Obama. Health IT Beneficiaries Why? President-elect Obaba wants to spend $50 billion to computerize [...]
Filed under: Drugs and Pharma, Information Technology, Investing | Tagged: Allscripts, Athena Health | 1 Comment »
Posted on November 8, 2008 by Editors
Socialize Medicare, Too? Staff Reporters Social security and Medicare are always topics of discussion by healthcare administrators, physicians, advisors and related financial executives. Investing Off the Radar Screen But, with stocks depressed, why has the idea vanished off the radar screen? If the idea is to buy low and sell high, why isn’t it now, [...]
Filed under: Health Economics | Tagged: social security | Leave a Comment »
Posted on November 7, 2008 by Editors
Program to Begin on January 1, 2009 By Staff Reporters According to the Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, of November 2, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services [CMS] confirmed details of an electronic prescribing incentive program for physicians. Scheduled to begin on Jan. 1, 2009, it would increase Medicare payments for doctors who use [...]
Filed under: Drugs and Pharma, Information Technology, Practice Management | Tagged: eRx | 10 Comments »
Posted on November 7, 2008 by Editors
Seeking Commercial Paper By Dr. David E. Marcinko; MBA, CMP™ Hospitals and healthcare organizations have significant short-term financing needs and are constantly rolling over large sums of commercial paper to finance accounts receivable [ARs] to pay their bills, vendors, debts, payroll and investors in the form of dividend payouts or retained earnings and disbursements, etc. [...]
Filed under: Health Economics, Healthcare Finance, Op-Editorials, Practice Management | Tagged: credit squeeze, financial derivatives | Leave a Comment »
Posted on November 6, 2008 by Editors
Physician Assistants Establish Online Presence Staff Reporters As face-time with doctors is increasingly limited, the role of physician and nurse practitioners has become integral in the healthcare system. However, it hasn’t exactly become easier for PAs and NPs to obtain information about drugs and treatments. That’s about to change according to George Koroneous, the Online [...]
Filed under: Career Development, Drugs and Pharma, Practice Management | Tagged: NPs, PAs | Leave a Comment »
Posted on November 6, 2008 by Editors
What Do -U- Think? Dr. David Edward Marcinko; MBA, CMP™ Publisher-in-Chief First it was Nixon’s supply-side national healthcare proposal; then it was managed care and HMO’s; next came HillaryCare, and finally the Republican’s “Contract with America”. So, will the next domestic healthcare policy initiative be; “Obama Care?” Number 44 is Official Now, that the United States has [...]
Filed under: Healh Law & Policy, Health Economics, Health Insurance, Healthcare Finance, Surveys and Voting | Tagged: barack obama | Leave a Comment »
Posted on November 5, 2008 by Editors
Join the Certified Medical PlanneR™ Revolution By Hope Rachel Hetico; RN, MHA, CMP™ Did you know that the best physician-focused financial advisors may be driven by a higher standard of expertise and fiduciary care? An increasing number of advisors are putting their medical clients first by earning the Certified Medical Planner™ professional designation. And, this [...]
Filed under: "Advisors Only", Financial Planning, Health Economics, Health Insurance, Healthcare Finance, Insurance Matters, Op-Editorials, Practice Management, Research & Development, Sponsors | Tagged: Certified Medical Planner™ | Leave a Comment »
Posted on November 5, 2008 by Editors
Breaking News – “U Can Use” Staff Reporters Mental Health Policy: The Senate adopted HR.-6049 with mental-health parity. Bipartisan lawmakers are working to make the bill law before 2009. Regulations: Under new Medicare regulations, doctors, with a financial stake in hospitals, must tell referred patients about ownership links. Compliance: CMS proposed October 1, 2011, for full implementation [...]
Filed under: Breaking News, Healh Law & Policy, Health Economics, Health Insurance, Healthcare Finance | Tagged: healthcare business, healthcare economics, Healthcare Finance | Leave a Comment »
Posted on November 4, 2008 by Editors
Allegations of e-Chicanery at Abbott Laboratories Staff Reporters According to Walter Armstrong, of Pharmaceutical Executive on October 1, 2008, Abbott Laboratories recently edited its Wikipedia entry in an attempt to bolster its e-image. Seeking Image Redeux A fellow named Jeffrey Light, the young founder and head of tiny DC-based nonprofit Patients not Patents hit the [...]
Filed under: Drugs and Pharma, Information Technology | Tagged: Abbott Laboratories, blogs, wiki | Leave a Comment »
Posted on November 4, 2008 by Editors
Will the Economy Affect the Healthcare Industry? By Dr. David Edward Marcinko; MBA CMP™ Publisher-in-Chief The past decade has seen the healthcare industry move toward, away, and then back to capitation which is a system that provides a: “1) Method of payment for health services in which a physician or hospital is paid a fixed [...]
Filed under: Healh Law & Policy, Health Economics, Healthcare Finance | Tagged: capitation, micro-capitation | Leave a Comment »
Posted on November 3, 2008 by Editors
Some Agents and Brokers May Be Cashing-In By Dr. David Edward Marcinko; MBA, CMP™ [Publisher-in-Chief] According to the Associated Press, on October 25, 2008, Medicare Advantage’s agents stand to make $500 to $550 this year. This happens by enrolling a beneficiary into one of their HMO type managed care type plans, while the agents could [...]
Filed under: "Advisors Only", Health Insurance, Insurance Matters, Managed Care | Tagged: Add new tag, CMS, commissions, insurance agents, medicare | 1 Comment »
Posted on November 3, 2008 by Editors
Using our Monthly Events-Planner System Are you a consulting company, or do you work in a medical office, clinic, hospital, reimbursement or pricing department in big-pharma or biotechnology, a University, a Government agency? Do you have a conference or a product to promote? Use our monthly Events-Planner to cost-effectively reach your target audience. Please contact [...]
Filed under: Events-Planner, Monthly Reports | Tagged: Events-Planner | Leave a Comment »
Posted on November 2, 2008 by Editors
Categorizing Investment Options By Jeffrey Coons; PhD, CFA By Christopher J. Cummings; CFA, CFP™ This white-paper will examine several different ways of categorizing investment options and discuss their usefulness in an average healthcare participant’s efforts to build a long-term investment program with an appropriate risk/return trade-off. We will specifically examine the problems associated with manager [...]
Filed under: Investing, Retirement and Benefits | Tagged: Participant-Directed Investment Menus | Leave a Comment »
Posted on November 1, 2008 by Editors
Events-Planner: NOVEMBER 2008 Staff Writers “Keeping track of important health economics and financial industry meetings, conferences and summits”. Welcome to this issue of the Executive-Post and our Events-Planner. It contains the latest information on conferences, news, and relevant resources in healthcare finance, economics, research and development, business management, pharmaceutical pricing, and physician/entity reimbursement! Watch for [...]
Filed under: Events-Planner | Tagged: Events-Planner | Leave a Comment »
Posted on November 1, 2008 by Editors
Hospitals, Doctors and Insurance Companies Affected Staff Reporters The federal government recently announced a $100 billion rescue of American International Group [AIG], the largest insurer in the nation. Those involved in the business of insurance should know that it was the financial services operations and other non-insurance operations of AIG, and not its insurance companies, [...]
Filed under: Breaking News, Financial Planning, Healh Law & Policy, Health Insurance, Insurance Matters, Investing, Op-Editorials, Risk Management | Tagged: AIG, bankruptcy | 5 Comments »
