Browsing: Medicine & Business

Key questions to ask when choosing a health plan for your employees or when switching plans.

Specializing in the management of hospitalized patients, a hospitalist takes over for a primary care physician when it comes time to admit a patient.

While similar coverage is typically offered with a capitation contract from an HMO, there are clear benefits to securing excess loss coverage from an insurance company.

Vertical integration, as an asset-based method of organizing health care delivery, has some drawbacks. Virtual integration may be one alternative solution, emphasizing coordination through patient management agreements, provider incentives and information systems, rather than investment in large numbers of facilities and people.

Some of the distinguishing characteristics of future, successful physician organizations are clear: they’re found in the organizations that perform well today. Some predictions of what the best organizations will look like in the second generation.

Sadly, most physician organizations will fail for what appear to be predictable and correctable reasons.

Faced with reduced reimbursement and increasing operating expenses, physicians and administrators are fast discovering ways to adjust their use of staff and ancillary services wisely.

Employers often make mistakes when dealing with an employee’s status as exempt from overtime pay, which can be as costly as they are unforeseen. Some cautionary advice on how to reclassify employees from non-exempt to exempt status.

For physicians who wish to practice medicine with great flexibility, the locum tenens option, or temporary physician staffing, may be most appealing. Here are key considerations when selecting the best locum tenens firm.

Effective collaboration goes beyond accepting capitation and restructuring provider incentives. Consider what the hospital and the medical community must offer each other to ensure smooth partnerships.