About RRs and RIAs

Understanding Financial Sales “Titles” Dr. David Edward Marcinko; MBA, CMP™ Registered Representative A retail or discount stock broker, regardless of compensation schedule, is also known as a registered representative [RR]. Other names include financial advisor, financial consultant, financial planner, Vice President, Wealth Manager, etc. Typically, the less than rigorous national test known as a Series [...]

The Certified Physician Executive

CPE / CHE Staff Writers The Certified Physician Executive or Certified Healthcare Executive designations, from the Certifying Commission in Medical Management (CCMM: 4890 West Kennedy Blvd., # 200, Tampa, Florida 33609-2575 813-287-8944), may be earned by those physicians, or lay professionals, with the requisite requirements in education, and demonstrated special competence and professional experience in [...]

The Total Return Trust

Uniform Prudent Investment Standards By Dr. David Edward Marcinko; MBA, CMP™ By Tom Muldowney; MSFS, CFP®, AIF®, CMP™ By Hope Rachel Hetico; RN, MHA, CPHQ™, CMP™ The physician-investor dichotomy, income now versus growth for later, is not unique. Trusts; that have the potential to span decades, usually place the interests of the income beneficiary at [...]

Top 50 Health 2.0 Blogs

Offering Definitional Clarity [Maybe] By Staff Writers                There is no concise-precise definition of Health 2.0 as it is a dynamic construct. But, according to Holt, Furst, Crespo, Marcinko, Hetico, www.HealthDictionarySeries.com, and many others; Health 2.0 may be defined as an amalgam of many ideas. Most notably, our best definition:  “Health 2.0 is internet cloud enabled participatory healthcare model [...]

Public Healthcare Cost-Shifting

Joint Study Results Staff Reporters The American Hospital Association, Blue Cross / Blue Shield Association, Premera Blue Cross and America’s Health Insurance Plans recently released a study on public and private health insurance payment rates prepared by the actuarial firm Milliman, Inc. Findings-in-Brief Hospitals lost $30 billion on Medicare and Medicaid Hospitals earn $66 billion [...]

Introducing America Well™

Extending the New Health 2.0 Marketplace Staff Reporters America Well™ is a new healthcare marketplace where consumers and physicians come together online, to acquire and provide convenient and immediate healthcare services. Using the latest technologies in electronic communications and digital telephony, the company extends traditional healthcare services to the home setting www.AmericaWell.com Origins Based in [...]

Superannuation Demographics and LTCI

Paying-to-Age By Dr. David Edward Marcinko; MBA, CMP™ By Thomas A. Muldowney; MSFS, CLU, ChFC, CFP®, AIF®, CMP™ By Hope Rachel Hetico; RN, MHA, CPHQ™, CMP™ According to the US Bureau of the Census, there were almost 49 million people in the United States who were over age 60 in 2001. There are approximately 4,000,000 [...]

Certified Physician in Healthcare Quality

About CPHQ By Dr. David Edward Marcinko; MBA, CMP™ Mission The mission of the National Association for Healthcare Quality (NAHQ) is to improve healthcare by advancing the theory and practice of quality management in healthcare organizations and by supporting the professional growth and development of Healthcare quality management professionals. The association has about 15,000 members [...]

D2C Drug Advertising Criticized

FDA Updates Some Standards Staff Reporters According to the Wall Street Journal, December 11, 2008, prescription drug makers updated their voluntary standards for direct-to-consumer advertising to make the ads more informative. But, the measures stop short of changes sought by government and industry critics. The FDA and “Actors” The companies said they will halt advertising [...]

Profits as Distribution not Wages

Payroll Tax Strategies for Doctors By Edwin P. Morrow; III, JD, LLM Staff Writers Any business, like a medical practice with employees, has to concern itself with payroll taxes.  This includes any C or S Corporation with a sole owner/employee.  Payroll Taxes Payroll taxes include: 1) income tax withholding for any employee for federal, state [...]

The Case Against Inter-Operable eHRs

Let the Conversation Begin By Darrell Kellus Pruitt; DDS If someone says computerization in dentistry is inevitable, remind them that the metric system is inevitable as well.  Sometimes inevitable takes a long time though – even when it makes sense.  Interoperable dental records don’t. Contrary to what healthcare IT stakeholders promise to win financing from [...]

MedPAC Seeks Rate Increase

Update for 2010 Staff Reporters According to Modern Healthcare, December 5, 2008, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission [MedPAC] just drafted recommendations to increase payment rates for inpatient and outpatient services at the full rate of inflation in 2010, concurrent with the implementation of a quality incentives program. A Non-Specific Market Basket Although the draft didn’t [...]

Retained Earnings and Employed Children

Payroll Tax Strategies for Doctors By Edwin P. Morrow; III, JD, LLM Staff Writers Any business, like a medical practice with employees, has to concern itself with payroll taxes. This includes any C or S Corporation with a sole owner/employee.  Payroll Taxes Payroll taxes include: 1) income tax withholding for any employee for federal, state and [...]

Understanding Payroll Taxes

Accounting Issues for Doctors By Edwin P. Morrow; III, JD, LLM Staff Writers Any business, like a medical practice with employees, has to concern itself with payroll taxes.  This includes any C or S Corporation with a sole owner / employee.  Payroll Taxes Payroll taxes include: 1) income tax withholding for any employee for federal, [...]

Unsafe Emergency Rooms

Brutal New AEM Report By Staff Reporters Hospital emergency rooms are not safely designed or managed, and improvements in working conditions are needed, according to a new study in the Annals of Emergency Medicine [AEM]. AHRQ According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality [AHRQ], December 9, 2008, the study surveyed 3,562 emergency medicine [...]

About CDC’s Epi Info Community Edition

An Open Source Health IT Release Staff Reporters According to John Moore of Government Health IT, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], here in Atlanta, just released an open-source version of its software for epidemiological analysis.    History of Epi Info CDC’s Epi Info originated as a disk-operating system [DOS program] in the [...]

iMBA Inc, Secret Shopper Service

For Healthcare Consulting Practices Staff Writers Are you worried about what your insurance agents, accountants, RIA Reps, attorneys, benefits managers, RRs, 401[k] or 403[b] administrators, or stock-brokers are telling potential lay and physician clients? [sins of commission]. Or; worse-yet – not telling them? [sins of omission]. If so, why not use our Secret Professional Client-Shopper Services [...]

Long-Term Versus Custodial Healthcare

Understanding the Domestic Model of Medical Care By Dr. David Edward Marcinko; MBA, CMP™ By Thomas A. Muldowney; MSFS, CLU, ChFC, CFP®, AIF®, CMP™ By Hope Rachel Hetico; RN, MHA, CPHQ™, CMP™ Doctors, nurses, economists, insurance consultants and financial advisors [FAs] increasingly make a distinction between “healthcare” and “custodial care.” Too often for patients however, health [...]

Re-formatting an Irrevocable Trust

UPIS and the Passage of Time By Dr. David Edward Marcinko; MBA, CMP™ By Tom Muldowney; MSFS, CFP®, AIF®, CMP™ By Hope Rachel Hetico; RN, MHA, CPHQ™, CMP™ Many trusts, written long ago for physicians, were established when interest rates were substantially higher, certainly higher than they are today. The passage of time and the [...]

White House Office of Health Reform

Dual Role for Health and Human Services Secretary Staff Reporters According to the Associated Press, December 11, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle will play two roles in the new Obama administration. He will serve as HHS Secretary and also oversee a new role as Director of White House Health Policy Office. Deputy Director Well [...]

Health Entity-Related Tax Credits

Some Unique Tax Basics for the Industry By Edwin P. Morrow; III, JD, LLM Staff Writers In addition to the usual business deductions, medical professionals and those in healthcare should be aware of certain unique investment related tax credits. Much like personal credits, most of these credits are non-refundable, but may be allowed as carry [...]

Medical Errors Still Not Shared

A “Quality and Safety in Health Care” Report Staff Reporters According to the Star-Ledger, December 9, 2008, almost every hospital now collects data on patients injured or killed by medical mistakes, but only one in five share that information, even with key managers who could work toward making improvements, a national survey found. The QSHC [...]

Hospitals On-Cue™ to Improve Operations

Innovative Healthcare Informatics Staff Reporters Allocade Inc, a developer of innovative healthcare informatics solutions, just announced that it has installed its first commercial On-Cue™ system at Peninsula Medical Center in Burlingame, Calif. The company began selling its commercial product in January 2008, and the installation at Peninsula Medical Center was the first of seven sites [...]

Avoiding Medical Practice Valuation Mistakes

Top Ten Appraisal Blunders to Avoid By Dr. David Edward Marcinko; MBA, CMP™ The science of the modern medical practice valuation can be traced to the Estate of Edgar A. Berg v. Commissioner (T. C. Memo 1991-279). In this case, the Court criticized CPAs as not being qualified to perform business valuations, failing to provide analysis [...]

Physician Travel Expenses

Some Tax Basics for Medical Professionals By Edwin P. Morrow; III, JD, LLM Staff Writers Astute financial advisors and healthcare focused accountants know that there are simple and overlooked strategies that can significantly add to the bottom line of any business or medical practice; as much as increasing practice revenues or reducing expenses. Physicians and [...]

ARs and the Fair Accurate Credit Transactions Act

“Red Flags” and the Discrepancy Rules  By Hope Rachel Hetico; RN, MHA, CMP  Medical professionals and healthcare organizations of all stripes have been looking for help to better understand, secure and collect their outstanding accounts receivable [ARs], and comply with the new “Red Flag” and “Address Discrepancy Compliance Regulations” from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FACTS [...]

PPO Pharmacy Benefits Survey

Managerial Results for 2007 - Just Released   Staff Writers In 2006, the average number of eligible employees in PPOs that used managed care pharmacy programs was 203,768, up 7.2% from 190,097 the previous year. For the sixth straight year, the share of PPOs that used PBMs for drug utilization review (DUR) services fell, to 62.7% [...]

About PatientsLikeMe.com

Empowering Health 2.0 Social Networks                                       According to its website, www.PatientsLikeMe.com was founded in 2004 by three MIT engineers whose collective experience spanned from running the world’s only non-profit biotechnology laboratory – to large scale online commerce applications. Today, PatientsLikeMe is a privately funded company dedicated to making a difference in the lives of patients diagnosed with [...]

Accounting Deductions for Physicians

Some Tax Basics for Medical Professionals By Edwin P. Morrow; III, JD, LLM, and ME-P Staff Writers Astute financial advisors and healthcare focused accountants know that there are simple and overlooked strategies that can significantly add to the bottom line of any medical practice; just as much as increasing practice revenues or reducing expenses. Physicians [...]

Hospital Length-of-Stay Forecasting

An Often Inaccurate Medical Effectiveness Meter Staff Reporters According to Gregory O. Ginn; PhD, CPA, MBA, MS, and Assistant Professor in the Department of Healthcare Policy and Administration from UNLV, substantial day-to-day variation in hospital occupancy may lead to increases in costs. Forecast Accuracy Accordingly, hospitals may be able to improve their financial efficiency by [...]

The Rural Hospital

Understanding Hospital Types By Calvin W. Wiese; MBA, CPA According to Healthcare Organizations [Financial Management Strategies], the parameters of rural hospitals are determined based on distance www.HealthcareFinancials.com A Distance Definition A rural hospital is defined as a hospital serving a geographic area ten or more miles from the nexus of a population center of 30,000 [...]

Collecting Medical Accounts Receivable

Doctors are Not Bankers By Dr. David Edward Marcinko; MBA, CMP™ By Hope Rachel Hetico; RN, MHA, CMP™ Collecting accounts receivable (ARs) is one of the most important elements in maintaining the financial health of any medical practice. Your practice is not a bank and an effective billing system should be complemented by an efficient [...]

Sterling Search Group, LLC

ADVERTISEMENT Accomplished Financial Professionals Seeking Opportunities By Michael J. Sterling We connect highly accomplished accounting and finance professionals with market leading opportunities. These professionals are now currently available: 1. SOX Manager, this 12 year professional is a CPA, CIA, and CISA. Former Big 4 Risk Advisory Mgr. Technical strengths include SOX implementation, financial and operational audits, [...]

Introducing MyMedLab

Direct to Consumer [D2C] Laboratory Services Staff Reporters MyMedLab began as a regional lab provider in Missouri in 1993. The company was created to allow patient-consumers to make informed care choices. In 2004, the company aimed to partner with industry leading providers and the power of the Internet to take the company and its electronic [...]

The Specialty Hospital

Understanding Hospital Types By Calvin W. Wiese; MBA, CPA According to Healthcare Organizations [Financial Management Strategies], a specialty hospital is a type of healthcare organization with limited focus to provide treatment for only certain illnesses, such as cardiac care, orthopedic or plastic surgery, elder care, radiology/oncology services, neurological care, or pain management cases www.HealthcareFinancials.com Physician-Investor Owned [...]

The Next Financial Crisis?

Your Opinion Counts Staff Reporters The effects of the current financial meltdown are well-known to all citizenry. And, the next economic crisis is still wholly unforeseen. However, research conducted by the Institute of Medical Business Advisors Inc, suggests it may come from one, or more, of the following sectors: Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation Home/Commercial Real-Estate Mortgages [...]

Investing Recipe for Physician Riches

The Small Cap – Value Equity Hybrid Model? Staff Reporters Modern physician-investors are aware of the financial research that suggests a “small-firm effect,” which shows that stocks of smaller companies may outperform both large firms and the overall market. This seems true, in a stable economy, even after adjusting for the additional risk. The Research also [...]

The Acute Care Inpatient Hospital

Understanding Hospital Types By Calvin W. Wiese; MBA, CPA According to Healthcare Organizations [Financial Management Strategies], an acute care inpatient hospital is a healthcare organization or “anchor hospital” in which a patient is treated for an acute (immediate and severe) episode of illness or the subsequent treatment of injuries related to an accident or trauma, [...]

Eight Fallacies of Managed Care

A Startling iMBA Inc., Report on Small Medical Practices By Dr. David Edward Marcinko; MBA, CMP™ By Hope Rachel Hetico; RN, MHA, CMP™  By Ann Miller; RN, MHA   Webster defines a visionary as: “one who is able to see into the future”. Unlike some pundits, prescience is not a quality we claim to possess. [...]

The Long-Term Care Hospital

Understanding Hospital Types By Calvin W. Wiese; MBA, CPA According to Healthcare Organizations [Financial Management Strategies], a long term care hospital provides assistance and patient care for the activities of daily living (ADLs), including reminders and standby help for those with physical, mental, or emotional problems. This includes physical disability or other medical problems for [...]

Dueling Universal Health Coverage Proposals

Obama and AHIP Race to the Finish Line According to the WashingtonPost.com, on December 6, President elect Barack Obama is inviting Americans to spend part of the holiday season talking about health care – in informal ad hoc meetings around the country called Health Care Community Discussions – to be held between December 15 and 31. [...]

Allegory of an Old Man’s MD-Son

“Just Treat the Sick Patients” By Dr. David Edward Marcinko; MBA, CMP™ I have known psychologist Dr. Gene Schmuckler CTS, of our consulting firm, the Institute of Medical Business Advisors Inc www.MedicalBusinessAdvisors.com, for more than a decade. We met while in business school. He was my professor of organizational behavior. Since then, we have become [...]

Domestic Economy Sickens Hospitals

AHA Reports Negative Financial-Operating News Staff Reporters Many hospitals are seeing the effects of the economic downturn. More than 30% of respondents to a recent American Hospital Association [AHA] survey reported a significant decline in patients seeking elective care and 40% reporting a drop in admissions overall. The majority of hospitals also noted an increase [...]

Value v. Growth Fund Managers

Understanding Investment Styles By Dr. David Edward Marcinko; MBA, CMP™ A mutual or hedge fund manager’s investment style is defined by the means or strategies used to accomplish the fund’s stated objective. Most managers have a strategy they believe to be the key to maximizing risk-adjusted investment returns. For example, two equity managers may seek [...]

2009 Physician Fee Schedule

CMS Issues Final Rule Staff Reporters According to the American Medical News on November 24, legislation enacted in July reversed a 10.6 percent cut that took effect at the beginning of that month, while starting in January 2009, a 1.1 percent across-the-board increase will replace an additional roughly 5 percent cut that would have gone [...]

SearchAmerica Medical Debt Collectors

A Financial Clearing-House for the Health Industry Staff Reporters SearchAmerica is a provider of healthcare solutions and personalized services to optimize the medical care revenue cycle. First incorporated in 1994, and privately held in Maple Grove MN, it has maintained an exclusive healthcare focus since 2001 A Payment Financial Clearinghouse According to its website, www.SearchAmerica.com [...]

Sources of Scarce Hospital Capital

Tough Funding in Difficult Times By Calvin Wiese; MBA, CPA Staff Writers In general, hospitals have three sources of capital available to them: [1] equity from earnings, [2] equity from donations, and [3] long-term debt. And, the general domestic economic cycle may either exacerbate or retard capital raising efforts for all healthcare organizations. Today, the hospital capital [...]

About OSHA’s eTool for Hospitals

A New Computerized Graphical Safety Interface for 2008 Staff Reporters According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS] in 2001, the nation’s hospitals reported 293,600 nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses to their personnel. Hospital Injury Rates High Among US industries with 100,000 or more injuries and illnesses, hospitals have the second highest rate of nonfatal injury [...]