The transition from pediatric to adult care can be a rocky one. For many rheumatology patients, any problems in the move can cause gaps in care. To address this issue, the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) joined the American College of Physicians’ (ACP) Pediatric to Adult Care Transitions Initiative. The Initiative is a project spearheaded…
Documenting evaluation and management (E/M) services involves many factors, and it’s important to code to the most appropriate level of service to avoid compliance risks. To assist providers with documentation, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) provides its 1995 and 1997 Documentation Guidelines for Evaluation and Management Services. For billing purposes, either version…
In Part 2 of how to thrive as a new manager, our experts expand on how age can affect the transition to management, what it’s like to join a new practice as a manager and how to take charge with grace…
The transition from employee to manager in a rheumatology practice can be daunting. But according to experts, setting clear roles and responsibilities and cultivating professional relationships with your employees ultimately help make you and the practice successful…
Using social media goes beyond self-promotion, says David Deutsch. “If you can give prospective patients something that changes their lives, they will care about you.” A few thoughts on social media and rheumatology practices…
For arthritis patients who live in farming communities, just getting to rheumatologist Lynne Peterson, MD’s, office in Bismarck, N.D., can take a lot of time and energy. “Because of the shortage of rheumatologists, patients living in rural areas tend to receive inadequate rheumatologic evaluation and care,” says Dr. Peterson, whose clinic is located at Sanford…
Implementing a new electronic health record (EHR) system is no easy task—and one that a physician shouldn’t tackle alone. From the onset, you need to get buy-in from your practice’s colleagues. To do this, designate a physician champion to take charge of the effort. “This is a challenging position, because it’s difficult to convince people…
NEW YORK (Reuters)—Express Scripts Holding, the largest manager of U.S. drug benefits, on Thursday launched a program aimed at tightening spending on drugs for pricey inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis. It is the latest Express Scripts effort intended to reduce spending on prescription drugs, such as last week’s announcement of a diabetes program. Early…
(Reuters Health)—For every hour doctors spend treating patients during a typical workday, they devote nearly two more hours to maintaining electronic health records (EHR) and clerical work, a small U.S. study suggests. Time spent in meaningful interactions with patients is a powerful driver of physician career satisfaction, but increased paperwork and time on the computer…
SAN FRANCISCO—“We’ve known for a long time that prescription medications and illicit drugs can both mimic and actually induce the autoimmune syndromes treated by rheumatologists,” Jonathan Graf, MD, professor of medicine at the University of California–San Francisco in the Division of Rheumatology at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH), said at the California Rheumatology Alliance…