Practice Management News

Opioid use disorder increased the risk for death from sepsis, especially among young and healthy patients, according to findings presented at the Society of Critical Care Medicine’s Critical Care Congress.

Pharmacies are front and center as the second phase of a multidistrict lawsuit over the opioid crisis begins, a law professor told Healio Primary Care.

A Boston-based start-up company that offers patients medication-assisted therapy through telemedicine is trying remove some of the stigma associated with opioid use disorder treatment.

Clinicians who treat vasculitides are accustomed to uncertainty. Vasculitis, in its many forms, presents a laundry list of challenges, often leaving rheumatologists frustrated, if not stumped, at some point during diagnosis and management. But the challenges are not limited to vasculitis itself. An entire cross-section of conditions — from antiphospholipid syndrome to HIV to hematologic malignancies — can mimic vasculitis, prompting frequent misdiagnoses and potentially fatal treatment decisions.

The past 3 years were marked by historic accomplishments that put HHS in a strong position to tackle the challenges that lie ahead, HHS Secretary Alex Azar II said at a speech to his employees Thursday.

Two CMS codes for advanced care planning — 99497 and 99498 — were used less than 20 times at a tertiary care center in Iowa during in a nearly 3-year period, according to findings published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine. Additionally, the center was successfully reimbursed only about one-quarter of the time, potentially resulting in lost revenues.

The FDA and the Federal Trade Commission on Monday announced a partnership aimed at supporting the adoption of biosimilars and interchangeable products by deterring what they called “anti-competitive business practices,” such as false or misleading promotions, according to a joint statement.

In 2017, a mere 1% of providers were responsible for 49% of all opioid doses and 27% of opioid prescriptions in the United States, according to research published in BMJ.

Earlier this month, health care policy suddenly managed to steal some headlines away from impeachment and the ongoing horserace of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, when President Donald Trump declared in a tweet that he, “was the person who saved” protections for patients with preexisting conditions.

In this guest editorial, Wayne B. Jonas, MD, the executive director of Samueli Integrative Health Programs and a former director of the NIH’s Office of Alternative Medicine, discusses how to adapt your practice to a health care system that is quickly shifting away from the fee-for-service model and toward value-based care. He offers tips on billing in the new payment models, which require physicians to offer care to patients that extends beyond their immediate illness.