James "Butch" Rosser, MD, has found through his research that surgeons who “warm up” for procedures by playing video games such as Super Monkey Ball and Wii Golf are more efficient and make fewer mistakes in minimally invasive surgery. "So as far as I'm concerned, we cannot rest until...
HCPro is working on a new book about OPPE, and we’d like you to be a part of it. Our goal for the book is to feature case studies of organizations that have implemented an effective OPPE program or process and are excited about sharing their experience and forms with their peers.The new book...
As the Affordable Care Act increases health insurance enrollment, and thus patients seeking care, physician assistants (PA) are opening primary care clinics in Washington’s Spokane Valley, the Inlanderreported earlier this week. Janice Jordan and her husband Kevin Bichler, both certified...
A controlled study of 11 nursing homes indicates that switching from on-call to telemedicine physician coverage during off hours could reduce hospitalizations, and generate cost savings to Medicare in excess of the facility’s investment in the service. However, the savings were evident only at...
Credentialing Resource Center Digest - Volume 15, Issue 6
CMS has extended a delay in the enforcement of Final Rule 1599-F by prolonging the probe and educate period. This is the third time CMS has delayed enforcement of the policy, which requires a patient to stay in the hospital for more than two midnights before CMS will reimburse a hospital at...
Credentialing Resource Center Digest - Volume 15, Issue 6
Hospitals can be very dangerous places for patients, according to a KevinMD blog post by Robert Pearl, MD, earlier this week. Pearl outlined four risks that hospitals pose, along with their causes and possible solutions that could save lives. The risks are: psychological harm, physical harm,...
Credentialing Resource Center Digest - Volume 15, Issue 6
The Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) has announced that its Federation Credentials Verification Service (FCVS) will implement a new procedure for identity verification. Effective February 6, each applicant will be required to complete and mail a Certification of Identification (CID)...
Credentialing Resource Center Digest - Volume 15, Issue 6
Roughly 61% of healthcare organizations nationwide reported some form of security breach, data loss, or unplanned downtime this past year, Healthcare IT News reported earlier this week. According to a new health IT report by MeriTalk, these security events cost U.S. hospitals an estimated...
What does pay for performance mean for locum tenens physicians? Since locum tenens physicians may work at multiple locations within a year, it is vital for them to keep up with their own procedure logs from all work locations, according to Di Hall, CPCS, CPMSM, director of compliance and...
Here’s some good advice from the news this week: Locum tenens physicians are asked to “have patience with the administrative needs of the [review] process.” Di Hall’s advice could be applied to other physicians as well. If your organization is looking for a way to save both MSPs’ and...
