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Many hospitals are looking to buy up ASCs from physician-owners and convert them into hospital outpatient departments that command higher reimbursements than ASCs. Other hospitals are seeking to have HOPDs operate like ASCs. While physicians cannot directly own HOPDs, they…

1. More paying patients. Adding 32 million paying patients will save hospitals with high volumes of uninsured, such as Grady Health System in Atlanta. Health reform "should take some of the operational pressure and the near-death experience Grady faced in…

To demonstrate the return on investment on evidence-based design elements, the Center for Health Design in 2004 imagined a hospital that would include key features of recently built or redesigned facilities. Numerous research studies have shown that these design elements…

The 2,074-page Senate health reform bill, released Nov. 18, proposes a sweeping set of changes in the Medicare program, according to a report in Health Affairs.

Republican Wins Senate Seat in Massachusetts: 8 Quick Thoughts 1. After President Obama won the election in 2008, the Republicans have won the last three major statewide elections — all in states that voted Democrat for President Obama in 2008…

CPT copyright 2009 American Medical Association. All rights reserved. CPT is a registered trademark of the American Medical Association.Diligent ASC coders always make sure they have the most current information from manuals, coding software, Medicare edits and the like. But…

While Congress hems and haws over how it will handle the 21.2 percent (and growing) Medicare physician fee cut, physicians who are fed up with Congress' yearly drama over payments have a chance to opt out of Medicare, but they…

1. Initial development of the False Claims Act. The False Claims Act, also known as the “Lincoln Law" after its primary proponent, President Abraham Lincoln, was initially developed during the Civil War. The Act was a response to war profiteering…

1. Orthopedics. Rising ASC reimbursement for orthopedic surgery is transforming a sometimes break-even field into a money-making one, says William G. Southwick, president and CEO of HealthMark Partners in Nashville. For example, shoulder surgery used to be so underfunded it…

With health reform, President Obama had a great opportunity to correct some rampant flaws in the healthcare system. But for several reasons, which I'll itemize, the reform process has become its own worst enemy. The election in Massachusetts is the…