Staffing & Salary

Here are seven key elements of CMS' proposed Medicare fee schedule for next year that should be on the minds of physicians and practices.

Possible explanations why the average female physician researcher earns $350,000 less during a 30-year career than her male counterparts.

Closing a practice is a process that can take months to do properly and should not be rushed.

There are a number of reasons the value-based payment modifier initiative could be an unfair way to determine physician reimbursement. Here are three of them.

Health reform is supposed to finally provide emphasis on healthcare quality when it comes to physician income, as a counterweight against patient volume. But are you ready for the changes? Plus: Are you earning what your peers make? The results of our annual Physician Compensation Survey are inside.

Here's my prediction: your practice will be audited in the next 24 months and asked to return overpayments.

The feds have aggressively stepped up their fraud and abuse efforts. Your practice may play by the rules, but that doesn't guarantee it will escape federal scrutiny.

The deadline for conversion from the present electronic claims transaction standard to Version 5010 is fast approaching. Make sure both your practice and systems vendor are ready for the change.

Medical practices face two significant deadlines that require planning and testing in 2011. The first is the new 5010 electronic claims transmission standard, the second ICD-10.

According to our 2010 Physician Compensation Survey, group size can be a big factor in how much you earn. Find out how your income stacks up to that of your peers.

Thinking of selling your practice and getting a job with a hospital? Here's some advice for doing it right from experts who negotiate the deals.

It's been a wild year in healthcare. And you ain't seen nothing yet.

Looking for a better way to gauge physician productivity? A number of physicians' practices and hospitals are turning to relative value units (RVUs) over traditional benchmarks including charges, receipts, collections, or number of encounters. But what exactly are RVUs?

I avoid most e-mail offers trying to sell me something; don't need the superfluous e-mails cluttering up my inbox.

The road to electronic health records is filled with good intentions. However, every EHR vendor claims they have a certified product. Here are some steps that you can take to protect your EHR investment.

Knowledge is power in the payer game. Expert Lucien Roberts explains how to evaluate your payers and then use that information to negotiate better reimbursements.

Editorial director Bob Keaveney wonders, “Are we facing a future without primary-care physicians?”

In the midst of Medicare cuts, consult-code farewells, healthcare reform bills, and all our other challenges, we need to prepare for new HIPAA Privacy and Security mandates.

A lingering recession and declining reimbursement make for stormy weather for practices. Check out our suggestions for how to stay dry - and in the black.

Like it or not, given our weakened economy, medical practices no longer have the option of relying on self-referrals to guarantee that patients (and payers) will continue to line up at their doors.

There are many intangibles to consider before sitting at the table with a payer to negotiate reimbursement.

Our 2009 Physician Compensation Survey reveals general dissatisfaction - and wide divisions between specialists and primary care docs. Get all the details and advice on ways to earn what you deserve, despite the downward trend.

Following a two-year demonstration project in four states, Medicare’s Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) program is going nationwide in 2009.

Dismissing an employee is always an unpleasant event. But when that employee is a physician, it’s also complicated and potentially legally risky. Here’s how to avoid the pitfalls.