AMA President Nancy H. Nielsen, M.D.

The health care overhaul debate appears to have moved beyond how to expand health insurance to cover all Americans and how to reduce health care spending, as two separate questions. The focus now is working out details of how to structure incentives appropriately to optimize cost, quality and access.

Bringing high-speed e-medicine to Pa. physicians

ConnectTheDocs initiative to expand electronic health information exchange in the Commonwealth.

PMS' Darlene Kauffman

Updated August 19, 2008

West Penn overstates revenue by $73 million; Capital BlueCross seeks statewide expansion; and other briefs.

Information gaps are a significant impediment to the reports' usefulness to policy-makers. Nonetheless, these reports can and should inform our discussion and debate as we search for a durable solution to the problem.

Corner not turned on malpractice crisis

To celebrate anything or draw any conclusion from the 2006 decline in premiums would be a mistake. Six times in the past 14 years Pennsylvania’s liability payouts have declined – only to be followed by substantial increases in following years.

Gov. Rendell misleads public & print media

Gov. Rendell is cynically attempting to trick the media and public by saying "lawsuits" are down while the number of doctors sued trends significantly upward.

Electronic health record safe harbors

Physicians who are interested in obtaining such technology from donors, such as hospital, should carefully examine whether the proposed arrangement can be structured within appropriate e-Prescribing and/or e-Health Records safe harbor and exception.

Practice acquisition: The next generation 

New forms of affiliations between hospitals and physicians are emerging that bear little resemblance to the 1990s style practice purchases. Here are two of the latest models.

Hospital-acquired condition payment rules 

While for the immediate future these rules impact hospital payments, physicians play an important role in hospital compliance. Physicians also must stay alert for the inevitable use of these payment rules in the medical malpractice arena.

Choosing a physician compensation plan

The general trend in physician compensation has been to simplify and standardize policies and procedures, but there is a new frontier and new challenges.

Pay up, self insure, go bare or quit medicine

To best judge the alternatives, you need to understand the pros and cons as well as the costs and benefits of each alternative.

Family limited partnership limits

As the U.S. Tax Court continues to see its fair share of cases involving the legitimacy of this popular estate planning tool for the wealthy, one thing is becoming clear – obeying the rules is the key to maximizing its benefits.