APRIL 2002

Three forces are making it difficult to be a family physician today, but there are reasons to be optimistic.

Small changes can make a big difference in how you deal with the pressures of practice.

Here’s how to assess and improve the level of service your practice is currently providing.

Two potent influences in health care today are evidence-based medicine and rapid-cycle quality improvement – EBM and QI. It’s fascinating to me that the two should be ascendent at the same time, since in some respects they seem to get along about as well as the Montagues and…

Letter to the editor

Letter to the Editor

By planning ahead, you can take at least some of the red ink out of giving flu shots.

After-hours codes in the ED | ICD-9 codes for newborn visits | Coding injections

Docs expected to refuse new Medicare patients due to payment cuts | PRACTICE PEARLS from here and there | Medicare payment error rate lowest to date | Burned out already? | Insuring your own | Patients urged to speak up | No harm in full disclosure | A force to reckon with

You can use this encounter form to improve your documentation and your care.

A friend in need | Drug money | A service profession

This spreadsheet helps you compare the long-term costs of electronic medical records systems.

Discounts for uninsured patients | Covering call for ob/gyns | Billing for patients seen in your absence | Buying into a practice

Never underestimate the effect common courtesies can have on your patients, your staff and your life.