Physicians News Health news for doctors and patients.

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.

Medical patent law has changed recently. Will you or your colleagues now violate the law by using a certain medical procedure or device? Sift through some of the key statutory changes.

The most effective preventive risk management program for physicians is to maintain records from which anyone can determine what patient services were provided and to properly code the bills derived from those records. Some advice from former government insiders.

For academic medical centers to survive and thrive, they must adopt a certain stance toward their clinical researchers. Institutions must make clear policy commitments to endowments, to student mentoring, to clinical care and to salaries, or risk the fall of academic medicine.

As Physician’s News Digest reaches a ten-year milepost, Delaware Valley physicians have reached a decisive crossroad. PND will fulfill this urgency by attempting to foster a viable program of change for area physicians.

When seeking diversification, opportunity and value, savvy investors often turn to one of the least-explored areas of the stock market. Learn three general classifications of closed-end funds.

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.

As managed care plans step up their cost containment efforts and scrutiny of physician performance, it is wise to understand the ways in which they may attempt to shrink their panel of physicians. Board certification, utilization management, patient satisfaction and preventive health programs are criteria with which health plans use to do so.

Physicians remain a favorite target in malpractice cases involving denial of treatment or referrals by managed care companies. Judicious record-keeping of office consultation, use of patient consent forms and investigation of HMO policies and track records are discussed as strategies to minimize your exposure to managed care company liability.