Physicians News Health news for doctors and patients.

One of the key threshold issues any medical group must face is what kind of management is needed to make the practice successful. By having a good office manager and delegating managerial responsibilities, physicians can find relief from many of the aggravating day-to-day hassles.

Some of the more common areas of difficulty are: specific protections of buyer and seller, software license agreements and retirement packages. Consider some advice for negotiating each of these issues.

Expanding technical capabilities of vendors and users of health care information require serious legal considerations regarding the protection of electronically stored and retrieved information. A summary of Pennsylvania’s statutory and regulatory standards of confidentiality, as well as individual privacy laws.

The evolution of physician training and the resulting physician oversupply problem is laid out by Steven St. Peter, M.D. Solutions to this problem have sought reduction in international medical graduates and have even begun to pay hospitals not to train physicians. A rational approach must be taken, argues St. Peter, that does not leave the outcome to the vagaries of the free market.

How you can sell your appreciated stock portfolio (or any appreciated assets) and not surrender nearly one third of its value to the IRS in taxes.

Rapid development and disintegration of physician partnerships and changing alliances among physicians and institutions often fail to secure optimal cultural fit, or consider leadership succession, or anticipate ease of integration into a network. Three phases of organizational development are attentive to these problems: pre-deal, during the transaction and post-affiliation.

Patient care management can be made more cost-effective while affording a reasonable lifestyle for physicians and maintaining quality of care by adding a physician extender to the practice’s team. Consider the economic rationales, as well as licensure and reimbursement parameters.

Do you have a duty to protect others who come into contact with your patient who has a contagious disease? Does it matter whether or not the disease is a "reportable" one? The issue of liability to a third party is becoming more timely as new viruses and drug-resistant strains appear.

They remain a fixture in physician employment contracts, shareholder and asset purchase agreements. Physicians must be more attentive than ever to the nature and possible effect of restrictive covenants in their agreements. Courts analyze validity of covenants, reasonableness of their restrictions and remedies for their breach.

Physicians are searching high and low for Internet sites that help them stay informed and involved with health care topics. Here are some of the make-your-life-easier resources that will help to keep you ahead of the curve.