Coding: Your Top Coding Concerns Solved
Tips from our biweekly e-mail newsletter. This issue: Debunking billers’ old wives’ tales.

Editor’s Note: Dr. Tom’s Prescription
American healthcare is riddled with too many government and private-payer bureaucrats standing between physicians and their patients. And it’s saddled with perverse incentives that bloat administrative costs pointlessly. Find out what Tom Coburn, an OB/GYN doc and conservative Republican U.S. senator from Oklahoma, thinks the answer is.

Getting Paid: Curing Part-Time Headaches [CME Article]
More physicians are demanding part-time and flex-time arrangements, but these can wreak havoc on your call and patient schedules, and your compensation system. Here’s how to keep everyone happy.

IdeaLab: Top 10 Ways to Keep Lawyers at Bay
One spine surgeon’s take on reducing your chances of being sued for malpractice.

In Practice: The Physician’s Guide to the Internet [CME Article]
With so much health information — some of it credible, some of it hokum — available on the Web, and so many of your patients using it to diagnose themselves before coming to see you, isn’t it time someone put together a physician-friendly guide to the Internet? Well, someone has.

Malpractice Insurance: How to Lower Your Premiums
Paying too much for liability insurance? Join the club. While premiums have stabilized in most areas, and are starting to decline in some, rates are still staggeringly high. But there are things you can do to lower your premiums right now. Here’s our guide for getting the best deal out there.

Medicare: Uncle Sam’s New Scrutiny
The government rocked the hospital world with its plan to stop paying hospitals for the treatment necessary to fix their so-called mistakes. Could your office be next?

Physicians Practice Pearls: Don’t Let Overtime Take Over
Overtime pay is expensive. Here’s how to keep it under control.

Start It Up: Space & Equipment — The Right Stuff [CME Article]
Our series on everything you need to know to open a practice continues with expert advice on equipment and office space. You’ll get one chance only to design the right space for your needs, and you’ll be stuck for years with the equipment you select. Better know what you’re doing.

Technology: Is E-Prescribing Worthwhile?
You’ve been handwriting prescriptions for years and are reluctant to change. We understand. But e-prescribing technology is inexpensive, easy to use, and can make your life easier and keep your patients safer. Is it time to dump your Paper Mate?

The Administrator’s Desk: Avoiding the Report Quagmire
How often and which practice reports should you deliver to your group’s physicians? The wrong answer could cost you big.

The Bigger Picture: Fighting for a Sweeter Deal
In America’s Chocolate City, a diminutive practice administrator takes on the big payers, and gets results.

The Law: Understanding Employment Law [CME Article]
Think malpractice is your only potential legal liability? Sorry, but that’s not true. You’re an employer, too, and need to know the basics on laws governing your rights, and your employees.

The Tech Doctor: From In-Person to Online
The days of “detailer” visits may be ending. As physicians shift rapidly to the Internet for clinical and professional information, pharma companies are following suit.