A lawsuit filed in Sacramento. California, alleges physicians used bogus hardware in spinal surgeries and took kickbacks from a Corona del Mar, California, hospital executive, while middlemen and hospitals profited by inflating the cost of the devices.
The AMA House of Delegates last week approved a set of principles to ensure appropriate coverage of and payment for telemedicine services. The principles set out a number of conditions for coverage and payment, including abiding by state licensure laws and following evidence-based practice...
H.R. 3402, the "doc fix" legislation that President Barack Obama signed on April 1 to provide additional temporary Medicare Sustained Growth Rate funding--and avert a 24% pay cut for physicians--included a provision to postpone the deadline for ICD-10 implementation to at least...
In quality improvement circles, Just Culture came to healthcare with strong recommendations from other high-risk professions. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)'s patient safety glossary, a Just Culture is defined as "a culture that recognizes...
Citing feedback that required further research, The Joint Commission last week announced it will postpone implementation of its revised diagnostic imaging requirements for hospitals, critical access hospitals, and ambulatory care organizations. The changes were intended to take effect July 1...
"What if the federal government told you that pharmacists were not healthcare providers even though they have been providing healthcare since the birth of our nation?” wrote pharmacist Greg L. Alston in a recent MultiBriefs post. Section 1861 of the Social Security Act recognizes...
