features

17 ICD-9 Changes: New Codes of Note (PDF available)

Cindy Hughes, CPC

On Oct. 1, 142 new codes take effect, many of them five-digit codes that allow for more specific reporting.

20 The Ideal Medical Practice Model: Improving Efficiency, Quality and the Doctor-Patient Relationship (PDF available)

L. Gordon Moore, MD, and John H. Wasson, MD

When you redesign a practice around these principles, you can step off the productivity treadmill and focus on excellent patient care.

27 Seven Strategies for Creating a More Efficient Practice (PDF available)

Lynn Ho, MD

Simple, low-cost technologies and strategic outsourcing have helped this solo physician practice efficiently, even without any staff.

32 Quick Ways to Maximize Your Office Space (PDF available)

David V. Garrett, MHA

Try these strategies today that have worked for TransforMED practices.

38 The Medical Home: An Idea Whose Time Has Come ... Again (PDF available)

Leigh Ann Backer

Physicians, employers, legislators and payers think medical homes may be the key to health system reform.

DEPARTMENTS

8 from the editor

Is Family Medicine Ready for the Home?

Robert L. Edsall

The "medical home" seems to hold out great hope, but getting there may not be easy.

11 letters

Enjoying the commute • OB care in family medicine • A revolution in the making • Clarification

12 Coding & Documentation

Cindy Hughes, CPC

Reporting a vaccine-only visit • Group visits and Medicare • Applying dressing to a burn • Shared visits as consultations? • Polyp removal during a colonoscopy

14 news & trends

Officials challenge insurers' ratings of doctors • Supply of free antibiotics grows • Medical groups' profits surge in West

42 practice pearls

Encourage employees to increase flu shot numbers • Start a farmer's market at your office • Prepare for patient visits with a "cheat sheet" • Use birthdays for preventive services reminders • Store high-risk medication samples in red boxes • Help your patients organize multiple medications

45 cme QUIZ

Earn 3.25 CME credits.

52 the last word

Rewarding Failure

Jennifer E. Frank, MD

High-tech, high-cost procedures may get all the glory in health care, but they signal our failure to reward prevention.

2 CONTACT US

44 authors guide

49 CLASSIFIEDS