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Local Accountants Offer Financial Tips for Medical Practices
It seems such an obvious thing to say. "Making money starts with the physician working hard," says James A. Stroud, certified public accountant and member of Warren, Averett, Kimbrough & Marino, LLC. Stroud isn't suggesting that physicians don't work hard.
BY MARTI WEBB SLAY |
Local Patients Among First to Receive New Ankle Implant
Three patients from Birmingham are among the first seven in the nation to receive a new ankle implant known as the Salto Talaris™ Total Ankle Prosthesis that was approved by the FDA in November. The local surgeries were done by Dr. John S. Kirchner of Orthopaedic Specialists of Alabama, PC. Kirchner is the first surgeon in Alabama to perform the procedure.
BY DALE SHORT |
Benevolent Doctors Offer Hope to South American Girl
When American missionaries from Summerdale, Alabama, met 11-year-old Ottey Simon in Guyana last summer, she was suffering from what seemed to be proctosis. Jerry Davidson of Summerdale Church of Christ met Ottey at her village and realized she needed medical care immediately, so he contacted some doctors in Mobile to see if they could help him find someone who could help the girl.
BY ANN B. DEBELLIS |
HIPAA — It's Not Just for Federal Courts Anymore
For the first time, a federal circuit court of appeals has confirmed that Congress did not create a private right of action under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), 42 U.S.C.A. § 1320d-1, et seq. In Acara v. Banks, 470 F.3d 569, 571 (5th Cir. 2006), the Fifth Circuit held:
"HIPAA does not contain any express language conferring private rights upon a specific class of individuals.
BY STEVE PARHAM |
Greg Piche, Holland & Hart |
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Agents: They're Not Just for Athletes Anymore
While a Jerry Maguire type might be a bit extreme, physicians today are discovering that an agent can be an asset when establishing or relocating a practice. After all, it's still about "show me the money."
"A lot of physicians aren't really sure what their worth is and what they can get in a given community, and they're frequently not very good advocates for themselves, especially younger physicians,
BY SHARON H. FITZGERALD |
Minimally Invasive Treatment Offers Relief for Sleep Apnea
Many patients with obstructive sleep apnea now have an alternative to annoying CPAP machines or painful surgery.
The Pillar® Procedure involves the placement of three tiny woven polyester inserts, or "pillars," that stiffen the structure of the soft palate to help reduce both the vibration that causes snoring and the ability of the soft palate to obstruct the airway.
BY DEBORAH LOCKRIDGE |
Sleep Expert Encourages Physican Knowledge of Sleep Disorders
Vernon Pegram, PhD, ACP, has spent more than 45 years watching the study of sleep disorders go from an obscure specialty to a widely recognized health issue. But he believes there's still a need for physicians in general practice to be more aware of sleep disorders as a potential diagnosis.
BY DEBORAH LOCKRIDGE |
Rested and Ready?
On July 1, 2003 the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) rolled out new duty hour standards affecting all specialties. These across-the-board common standards did little to impact "business as usual" for some specialties. For others, however, the changes caused a dramatic paradigm shift that still reverberates today.
BY CINDY SANDERS |
Physician Burnout and Compassion Fatigue: Overcoming An Inward Struggle
Dr. John S. Jackson, a Fort Worth gastroenterologist, knows all too well the toll that stress can take on a physician.
Memories of his youth in Kentucky include worries about his father, a family practitioner addicted to the mind-numbing release of Demerol. Watching his father and close colleagues struggle against burnout prompted Jackson to get involved in physician health issues about 15 years ago, and today he is chairman of the Texas Medical Association Committee on Physician Health and Rehabilitatio.
BY SHARON H. FITZGERALD |
Remote Monitoring Offers Patients Peace of Mind
Patients suffering from heart failure or ventricular fibrillation can have greater peace of mind about their health condition thanks to a new technology that allows remote wireless monitoring of implanted cardiac devices (ICDs).
The remote monitoring technology allows physicians to obtain diagnostic information from the device's memory via a password-protected, secure site. This capability can reduce the number of in-office visits a patient needs, which is more convenient for the patients and is a time-saver for physicians.
BY ANN B. DEBELLIS |
Communicating Care
On a recent morning in early February, Lahui Lan Lin, a Mandarin Chinese-speaking patient in the mother-baby unit at UAB Hospital, was sitting in her room, waiting to be discharged. All her discharge papers were in order, and except for one thing, Lin would be headed out the door. Before she could go home, her English-speaking nurse, Pam Garrett, needed to provide Lin with discharge instructions.
BY JUNE MATHEWS |
TruFUSE Facet Fusion Allografts
30 million Americans will suffer from a back problem this year, with low back pain second in frequency only to the common cold. Facet joint disorders are among the most common of all the recurrent disabling low back problems that cause serious symptoms.
BY ROBERT D. PHILLIPS, MD, MPH |
Caseloads, Not Age, May Be Best Predictor of Surgical Skill
Is there an age at which older surgeons — hampered by the physical laws of diminishing returns — should turn in their scalpel?
Conversely, if you were looking for a surgeon, should you pass up the newly-minted surgeons just out of their residencies and look for someone with more experience?
BY JOHN CARROLL |
Controversial Procedure Enables Disabled to Reproduce
Each year in the United States about 11,000 new spinal cord injuries affect men between the ages of 16 and 45.
In Florida alone, there are almost 600 new cases of spinal cord injuries per year, leaving men unable to father children. Only 10 percent of those men can do so without medical assistance because of impairment in erection, ejaculation and semen quality.
BY GLORIA BUTLER BALDWIN |
Doctors Often Ignore Critical Info on Drugs
Americans are taking more pharmaceuticals than ever, but a pair of new studies concludes that doctors often hurriedly hand out prescriptions with no advice on potential side effects and little concern for the patient's ability to pay for the drugs they're prescribing.
BY JOHN CARROLL |
Magnetic Healthcare Leadership: Don't Feed the Monkeys
I was delighted when I walked outside my flat in Durban, South Africa, on my recent speaking tour in that country. Cute little monkeys, playing up in the trees just outside my door, caught my attention. Wow! I talked baby talk to them, trying to coax them to come closer. They ignored me and jumped about from limb to limb.
BY BEVERLY SMALLWOOD, PHD |
The Stark And Anti-kickback Regulations for Electronic Prescribing Systems
On August 8, 2006, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), collectively the "DHHS," issued two new safe harbors under the federal anti-kickback law and two new exceptions under the federal physician self-referral law (the Stark Law) that are intended to remedy this problem. The first safe harbor and exception permit certain arrangements involving the provision of electronic prescribing technology.
BY JIM HOOVER |
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