They can and should be negotiated. If the physician-lessee simply signs on the dotted line, he or she will be living with the consequences for years to come.

New Rules cover not only information in an electronic medical records system and other health information systems, but all data in electronic form, including e-mail and instant messages.

The primary concern is whether distributions to ASCs constitute disguised remuneration for referrals. Given the severity of the criminal and civil sanctions under the Anti-Kickback Statute, physicians need to structure these arrangements carefully and consistent with the ASC safe harbor and OIG’s position on health care ventures.

The campaign seeks to continue to save lives, raise awareness about the problem of variability in the quality of health care, and expand the national infrastructure for supporting hospitals in making improvements.

Given the report’s methodological limitations, its accompaniment by new research minimizing the importance of those limitations, and its data displayed in a format that seems to encourage inappropriate comparisons of one hospital’s numbers to another hospital, the meaning and significance of the report become complicated questions.

The various options that are available to you, some of the key questions to ask, and tips to consider, when contemplating buying a policy.

With the recent proliferation of Medicare Advantage Plans into the payer market and the steady migration of patients leaving the traditional government-run Medicare program and entering private payer MAPs, the claims game is getting tricky again.

A physician must be aware of the parameters of the physician-CRNP relationship before determining if a CRNP is right for his or her practice.

If these changes are eventually finalized as they had been proposed, some physician group practices may very well need to consider revamping the manner in which they furnish ancillary services in connection to the patient care they provide

Appraising which performance measures should be used and how they should be updated; which payment policy should be used to reward performance; and which key implementation issues need to be addressed, such as data and information technology requirements.