When MedTech Journal last looked into billing systems, a little more than a year ago, practitioners had several major concerns -- most notably, the impending (or, in some offices, recent) transition from paper-based to electronic medical records (EMR), and a steady slide in reimbursements which, noted Coker Group COO Keith Solinsky, had "been steadily declining over the last three to five years." Obviously, not much can (or has) changed since October 2007, and related trends in billing have continued as well. Read more...

The lament is so commonplace, and so seemingly intractable that it should probably be something you can place on an insurance code sheet. "Not enough time" would have to include sub-codes, as well: a) to talk with patient, b) to confer with other doctors, c) to research the case, d) to set up thorough, well-planned follow-up plan.

The list could go on and on, of course, and the causes of the "not enough time" problem can be argued endlessly (if only we had the time). But the first issue, not having enough time to communicate with patients, may be the most crucial. Read more...

The problem is simple: your practice is storing more and more digital documents every year. And documents -- especially images such as x-rays, MRIs, and PET scans captured by popular PACS (Picture Archive Communication Systems) are huge. A typical chest x-ray, consisting of two images, requires about 20 megabytes of storage space, for example. Read more...