Articles
Managing Cardiology Care
Family physicians and a cardiologist develop new understanding and useful tips in FPM's first roundtable discussion.
Nurse Practitioners: Growing Competition for Family Physicians?
Changes in state laws and strong consumer support make a discussion of the role of independent nurse practitioners unavoidable.
Disease Management: Who’s Caring for Your Patients?
The more you know about this strategy for improving quality and decreasing the cost of care, the better off your patients will be.
In Search of an Effective Physician Compensation Formula
Compensation may not be simple, but it can be (mostly) fair — even motivating. Here's the plan one family physician devised for his group.
From the Editor
Competition: The Challenge Isn't Turf, It's Bedrock
This issue contains an article that should make you a little uncomfortable: “Nurse Practitioners: Growing Competition for Family Physicians?” If it does, I hope your discomfort arises, not from a feeling that family practice risks losing some turf, but from far more defensible…
Letters
Reimbursement Strategies
Coding & Documentation
Complying with prepayment requests for E/M documentation | Documentation checklists | Referrals from chiropractors | Scope of prolonged services codes | Fracture care in a nursing home
Care Plan Oversight: New Codes, Same Old Medicare Policy
This year's CPT code changes for care plan oversight (CPO) have caused quite a lot of confusion among physicians and their billing staffs. We hope this brief update will help to set the record straight. (For more information on Medicare coverage of CPO, see “Getting Paid for…
Use New Diagnosis Codes to Avoid Claim Denials
If it's October, it must be time to update your list of diagnosis codes. Granted, reviewing the latest that the ICD-9 manual has to offer doesn't exactly sound like interesting reading. But you're probably interested in reducing the number of your claims that are rejected or…
Monitor
MONITOR
AAFP launches research initiative | Don't expect many Medicare choices soon | New HEDIS measures focus on care family physicians provide
Office Suite
Altruism in Practice Management: Caring for Your Staff
The advent of managed care and capitation has demanded that the physician become more than just a leader in his or her practice. For the practice to compete in the increasingly corporate world of health care, the physician must also be an efficient and effective manager. This…
Remind Patients of Your Scope of Practice
I often lament the fact that my patients do not realize the full scope of family practice — or of my practice. It is not uncommon for them to self-refer for what they perceive as specialty care. Fortunately, I’ve discovered one highly effective and very economical way to…
FP Stats
Does Your IPA Act Like an HMO?
Physician-led independent practice associations (IPAs) are supposed to be more physician-friendly than managed care organizations, at least in theory. But that may not be the case for IPAs in highly competitive markets. According to a recent study of 53 physician-led IPAs in…