Practice Management News

A greater Republican division on the issue of health care reform than originally thought in addition to the Democrats’ determination to not repeal the Affordable Care Act, led to the failure of health care reform efforts thus far, according to a special report recently published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

The implementation of specialty access standards by state Medicaid agencies did not result in widespread, meaningful improvements in access to specialist physicians for Medicaid enrollees, and researchers suggest that additional interventions may be needed to expand access, according to a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

More than 3 years passed before the efficacy of most drugs given accelerated approval by the FDA from 2009 to 2013 was validated, according to findings published in JAMA.

AMA has developed a Merit-based Incentive Payment System Action Plan that can be personalized for individual health care professionals to help them meet Quality Payment Program requirements, according to a press release.

High-quality gastroenterology care has always been a priority among GI physicians. In recent years, quality metrics and documentation of high-quality GI care have become increasingly important measures of accountability and evaluation. For example, Medicare reimbursements and accreditation of endoscopy centers may depend on standardized evidence of high-quality GI care, and referring doctors may wish for information on a GI specialist’s adenoma detection rate.

Just shy of 7 months into President Donald J. Trump’s presidency, there have been repeated failures to fulfill his major campaign promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. The most recent debate ended in the rejection of the “skinny bill” and Republicans in the House and Senate seem prepared to move on to other issues.

Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic and Johns Hopkins Hospital were again ranked the top three hospitals in gastroenterology and GI surgery by U.S. News & World Report.

The Medicare Access and Chip Reauthorization Act, which passed with bipartisan support in 2015, is poised to change the way Medicare pays physicians. MACRA repeals the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula for Medicare Part B reimbursement rates, and introduces the Quality Payment Program (QPP). The QPP will increase the proportion of physician payment that will be determined by value, which is defined by measures of quality and efficiency.

In this guest commentary, Angela Showell, social media and public affairs manager at Thomas Jefferson University and former associate director of electronic communications at Temple University, discusses some best practice measures for medical students’ social media use .

Since California became the first state to legalize medical marijuana in 1996, 28 states have followed suit, increasing the number of patients that physicians encounter who wish to utilize medical marijuana – or who already do. This makes it increasingly important for physicians to be aware of their states’ laws and infrastructure that relate to medical marijuana use.