Latest Attempt at Repeal and Replace Falls Short Republican efforts in Congress to “repeal and replace” the federal Affordable Care Act are back from the dead. Again. While the chances for this last-ditch measure appear iffy, many GOP senators are rallying around a proposal by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.), along with Sens. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) Read More... September 27, 2017 General, Insurance 0 0 Comment Read More »
The problem of martyrdom in medicine I recently read the award-winning physician essay in Medical Economics entitled “Lunch is for Losers,” about the sacrifice that physicians make for patient care. As I read this doctor’s reflections of keeping crackers and candy bars in his lab coat pockets because he didn’t have time to eat during his med school days, it reminded me of the GYN attending I had in my residency who loved to cheerfully tell bleary-eyed interns: “You can sleep when you’re dead.” Read More... July 24, 2017 General 0 0 Comment Read More »
Reminder: New out-of-network billing and payment law takes effect July 1 On July 1, 2017, a new law (AB 72) will take effect that will change the billing practices of non-participating physicians providing covered, non-emergent care at in-network facilities including hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers and laboratories. The law, signed in 2016, was designed to reduce unexpected medical bills when patients go to an in-network facility but receive care from an out-of-network doctor. Read More... June 27, 2017 General, Insurance 0 0 Comment Read More »
Physician-Assisted Suicide Has Been Legal in California for a Year. How’s it Going? California’s End of Life Option Act went into effect on June 9, 2016. The law created a process for dying patients to ask their doctors for a lethal prescription that the patients can then ingest privately, at home. Since then, at least 500 Californians have received life-ending prescriptions, according to newly released data collected by Compassion and Choices, an advocacy group that promotes aid-in-dying laws nationwide. Read More... June 8, 2017 General, Public Health 0 0 Comment Read More »
Providers, physicians will earn more under MACRA's MIPS program for many years, study says A new study by the Brookings Institution claims physicians would earn more in Medicare reimbursements under the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System mandated by MACRA legislation than with other alternative payment models. Read More... July 14, 2016 General, Medicare 0 0 Comment Read More »
