SNFs

Posted on October 24, 2007 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

Skilled Nursing Facilities in the News

Staff Writers

The Carlyle Group is taking steps to head off critics of its $6.3 billion acquisition of long-term care player Manor Care.

Responding to pressure from unions representing Manor Care’s workers, Carlyle sent letters to state regulators pledging that it would hire enough staff, train them well and make proper infrastructure investments in its homes. This gesture, however, apparently wasn’t enough to impress some Congressmen, who have begun an inquiry into not only Carlyle, but business practices at investor-owned nursing homes generally. They’re investigating widespread allegations that private equity firms cut staff to the bone while remaking corporate structures to avoid getting sued when patients are harmed.

Reps. John Dingell (D-MI) and Barney Frank (D-MA) are planning hearings on the topic, and most likely legislation as well. This follows action by Sens. Max Baucus (D-MT) and Charles Grassley (R-IA), who have sent letters to five private investment firms asking for information on their ownership structure and management practices. Baucus and Grassley also asked CMS for information on its oversight of nursing homes.

The concern on the The Hill isn’t unique. Earlier this month, officials in Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Washington asked regulators to investigate the Carlyle acquisition–and to withhold approval of the deal until they did so.

New York Times – October 24, 2007

NOTE: Any insider thoughts on this breaking development?

It seems to co-incide nicely with release of our November print edition which features financial benchmarks for this industry. 

-The Moderators

Filed under: Healthcare Finance, Retirement and Benefits | 1 Comment »

HIT and Virtual Medical Visits?

Posted on October 22, 2007 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

Join Our Mailing List

Compensation for e-mail – A New Payment Model for Doctors?

By Staff Writers

It’s been a long wait, but we have recently learned that – ever so slowly – some health plans are beginning to pay doctors for ‘virtual visits’ with patients.

Vendors like McKesson-owned RelayHealth, Epic Systems and Web portal vendor Medfusion have offered the technology for some time, but payer acceptance has been slow. However, a consensus is building that such visits may be a good idea, despite lingering questions over billing and the ability of physicians to legally offer e-care from out of their home state. These visits might save substantial amounts of money while keeping patients healthy–including a Kaiser study concluding that it saves $70 to $120 on each virtual visit.

  1. And so, are hospitals to follow this physician trend?
  2. How about CMS and the various state Medicaid systems?
  3. What about private insurance companies, HMOs and MCOs, etc?

Please opine!

The Moderators 

Product DetailsProduct Details

***

Filed under: Information Technology | Tagged: | 6 Comments »

What is a Certified Medical Planner™?

Posted on October 15, 2007 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

Join Our Mailing List

The CMP™ Defined

[By Staff Writers]

cmp-logo

Here is the answer taken directly from the www.CertifiedMedicalPlanner.org website.

The CERTIFIED MEDICAL PLANNER™ charter designation program is a live, instructor-led, online asynchronous educational exercise designed to increase your health industry knowledge, affinity for physician-clients and financial advisory practice revenues in an honest and ethical fashion; regardless of compensation model. Fiduciary capacity is implicit.

We provide 500 hours of health economics and medical practice management education, during a 12 month period, that comprises four quarter-mesters. Adult learners should plan on spending 5-10 hours per week on study activities. The program may be crashed under special situations and/or delivered traditionally and onground upon request.

Check it out for yourself!
Prof. Hope Hetico; RN, MHA, CMP™

Enter the CMPs

Product DetailsProduct DetailsProduct Details

Product Details  Product Details

   Product Details 

Filed under: CMP Program | Tagged: | 8 Comments »

NPI Numbers

Posted on October 15, 2007 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

The Impending NPI Deadline 

By Staff Reporters

www.HealthcareFinancials.com

Join Our Mailing List 

Most of us know that until now, hospitals and other healthcare organizations had until May 23, 2008 to implement the National Provider Identifier (NPI) scheme for Medicare claims; but we were apparantly wrong! 

CMS said today that hospitals must get their NPI in place for submitting Medicare fee-for-service claims by January 1, 2008. If not, CMS will begin rejecting such claims. (CMS is will still accept non-NPI claims from professional services providers like doctors, labs and clinics).

CMS officials say they’re moving up the deadline because most providers are already on board with the NPI.

Really! Are they sure? Not from my view of the universe!

To be sure, providers who aren’t using the NPI are already technically in trouble already, as the original deadline is long past. However, as part of the transition to full NPI rollout, CMS has been letting them slide if (in essence) they promised to work on it by filing a contingency plan.

Anyone caught off guard with this announcement?

– A Healthcare CTO

Filed under: Information Technology | Tagged: | 15 Comments »

High Deductible Health Care Plans

Posted on October 8, 2007 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

Providing Health Care in a High-Deductible World

By Steven Podnos MD, CFP®

With the increasingly common use of  High Deductible Health Care Plans (HDHCP) (often combined with a Health Savings Account), health care providers are seeing a growing population of health care consumers that are paying “out of pocket” in some fashion for the first several thousand dollars of health care expenses each year.

Q: What is the impact of this for health care providers and hospitals? 

Consider that historical pricing for health care services are much higher than providers expect to receive. Many “fee schedules” hark back to a day in which reimbursement bore some relationship to charged fees-almost unheard of now. 

Let’s illustrate

Enter the consumer with a high deductible plan.  Last year, with his old more traditional health insurance, he sees a physician for an initial visit.  With ancillaries, the office bill might be $300, but the patient pays his $20 co-pay and leaves.  The physician is contracted with the insurer to provide that level of service for a total of $110, and collect the remaining $90 from the carrier.  Everybody is happy. 

This year however, no one is happy.  The consumer with the HDHCP gets a $300 bill for the same service that cost him $20 last year.  He doesn’t know or doesn’t remember that his health care insurance premiums are lower than last year (as he may not pay them). 

The result is one very unhappy patient. Clearly, health care providers need to adapt to the new world of HDHC plans. Hospitals and physician offices should have a list of charges for patients paying cash or having these plans.  The charges would fairly approximate what they expect to receive from patients with Medicare and/or managed care plans for the same services. 

Conversely, patients with these HDHC plans must learn to ask up front for a “cash” price on health care services.  

Dr. Podnos is a fee-only financial planner in Brevard County, Florida.

Product Details  Product Details

Filed under: Health Insurance | Tagged: | 9 Comments »

About the Medical Executive-Post

Posted on October 8, 2007 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

Join Our Mailing List

Welcome Bloggers, Registered Users, Visitors and Colleagues

By Dr. David E. Marcinko; FACFAS, MBA, CPHQ, CMP™

[Publisher-in-Chief]dem2

The Medical Executive-Post is a public online community of physicians, healthcare executives and administrators, and their informed financial advisors, accountants and business consultants who have strong connections to the health economics, management and advisory space. Most are professionals who are empowered to connect, inform and interact with those who share the same interests and expertise in this important expanding universe.

It is lightly moderated and dedicated to meeting the administrative needs of our nation’s physicians, office managers, medical practices, clinics and small healthcare entities. Our aim is to help them maintain a competitive edge in the markets they serve; and to take advantage of emerging business opportunities in the healthcare industrial complex.

By its very nature … the Medical Executive-Post emphasizes informative brief-features, essays, case-models, interviews of industry “movers-and-shakers,” and insider “tips and pearls” for individual physicians, clinics and medical practices. We emphasize how-to material and columns as well as insightful practice management articles. We also include relevant personal financial planning topics for doctors, with insightful viewer comments and follow-up opinions.  And, because more features are in development – it is subject to change without notice.

We therefore invite you to blog and comment as you see fit, and join us for the exciting e-journey as we “seek to operate at the intersection of medical mission and profit margin.”

And so, to surf through the current month, click the first entry on the list and start reading. If you want something specific, try searching by category. If you’re looking for something really specific, try using the Search feature on the top-right.

To encourage users to join and participate in the ongoing cognitive community discussions, we’ve left commenting enabled after free sign-up, so speak your mind and leave all the informed comments you like: review, read, rant and rave!  

Let the Medical Executive-Post be among your personal tools for success.

Want to Know Even More?

Advertise with Us: The Medical Executive-Post is an iMBA Inc imprint property that delivers targeted messages when readers are subscribed, visiting or searching for content on a specific healthcare administration topic. 

Community Involvement: The Medical Executive-Post is our community of users who actively participate in sharing their knowledge through cogent posts, essays, comments, Q-As and informed opinions. Leverage the power of a dynamic professional social network and word-of-mouth marketing on the leading online forum in the lucrative and expanding healthcare administration space.

Brand Impact: The Medical Executive-Post offers an uncluttered advertising environment that promotes contextual relevancy while improving visibility and impact. 

Support Us: There are two ways to contribute to the Medical Executive-Post:

Contact Us Today: Discuss your needs and allow us to provide solutions. MarcinkoAdvisors@msn.com

Blog and Advertise today … Succeed tomorrow!

Editors, Moderators and Staff

Institute of Medical Business Advisors, Inc.
Suite # 5901 Wilbanks Drive
Norcross, Georgia USA 30092-1141
770.448.0769 (vm)

HELP: To Contact Us: Use the message box below:

Go back

Your message has been sent

Filed under: MAST-HEAD | Tagged: , | 7 Comments »