Two weeks ago, doctors started receiving step-one notification emails regarding the newly mandated HIPAA audits. The Health and Human Services, the Office of Civil Rights, is NOT ACCEPTING the excuse that their notification went to your SPAM file. Jump on this webinar to find out the facts regarding this new round of audits and how to protect yourself.  Register for Surviving the NEW, July 2016, Random Physician HIPAA Audits! on Thursday, Aug. 4, 2016 at 12:30 p.m.

Need continuing education hours to maintain your Texas license? Looking for ways to develop your team? The Texas Chiropractic Association has plenty of options for you this fall. Sign up for now for the following one-day seminars across the state: Medicare Decoded, HIPAA: Protecting Your Practice in an Over-regulated World and Neurosurgeon reveals: Leg Length Inequality the Cause of LBP, Hip and Knee Disorders.

In the "turf wars" fought by common medical practitioners, allowing nonphysicians to practice at the top of their license is still questioned. The shortage of primary care physicians, the aging of baby boomers, the expansion of coverage under the Affordable Care Act, and the increased drive towards value-based care, would suggest that allowing nonphysicians to practice at the top of their license would be a good thing. Yet the turf wars continue.

What evidence is the insurance industry using to make their decisions in this evidence-based world?  Despite results to the contrary, 57% of health plan executives believed the United States healthcare system should be a value-based model versus fee-for-service or some other approach, compared with just 33% of physicians.

A recent poll demonstrates that, likely due to clever marketing by the health insurance industry, patients don’t know what their health insurance policy covers. Insurance companies need to pay reasonable charges, rather than set arbitrary rates that don't even cover the costs of care.  State and federal lawmakers need to ensure that health insurance plans provide adequate and fair payment. 

TCA members can take advantage of July specials through the association’s group savings program with Office Depot/Office Max. In addition to saving off products you use every day in your practice, a portion of your purchase will be donated back to TCA to advance the chiropractic profession in Texas.

A physician member of the Texas Board of Acupuncture Examiners resigned after it came to light that, according to a 2011 order by the Texas Medical Board, he "inappropriately" prescribed stimulants and anti-anxiety drugs without adequate evaluations.  

At their May meeting the TBCE proposed several rules amendments.  Proposed changes to rules 72.6, 74.1, 74.2, and 78.6 serve to reflect present processes and procedures concerning examinations, to clarify definitions, reflect the transfer of administration duties from the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) to the Texas Medical Board (TMB) as required by Senate Bill 202, and to update the present fee for the TBCE’s jurisprudence examination.

July 16-17, 2016 –AMARILLO: 2016 TBCE Class–Includes required hours for risk mgmt (1), ethics and doc/coding (3)

The Obama administration announced the largest nationwide healthcare fraud takedown in 9 years.  The Medicare Fraud Strike Force charged 301 defendants in 36 districts with a total of $900 million in fraudulent billings.  Those facing charges include 61 healthcare professionals, among them 28 physicians as well as nurses, pharmacists, physical therapists, and home healthcare providers.

A CDC advisory committee recommended that the live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) should not be used for the 2016-2017 influenza season.  It recommended its removal from the federally-funded Vaccines for Children program citing data presented to the CDC in May showing that its effectiveness  was only 3% against any flu virus.  The inactivated influenza vaccine effectiveness was only 63% during the 2015-2016 influenza season. While LAIV comprises only 8% of the total influenza vaccine supply, over half (55%) of school-based influenza vaccination programs use LAIV which is only 3% effective.

The head of the CMS promoted a new law that shifts reimbursement from fee-for- service (FFS) to pay-for-performance.  MACRA replaced Medicare's sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula with the Quality Payment Program (QPP) that takes effect in 2019. The QPP has two tracks. The default track, and the one in which most physicians will initially participate, is the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). 

Medicare’s new way of paying physicians could have dangerous consequences, especially for small-scale providers.  In its proposed rule, CMS made the parameters for advance payment eligibility so narrow that only about 8% of providers would qualify. Those who don’t qualify will default to the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System and most small practices will stand to lose. CMS’s own analysis estimates that 87% of eligible clinicians in solo practices and 70% of practices with two to nine clinicians will have a negative adjustment due to a below average score. 

Mental disorders alone cost more than $200 billion a year in the United States.  The top ten medical conditions for estimated spending are mental disorders, heart conditions, trauma, cancer, pulmonary conditions, osteoarthritis, normal birth, diabetes, kidney disease, hypertension.

Americans are spending billions out-of-pocket for chiropractic services and other complementary health approaches according to a new report.  Findings show that 8.4 percent of U.S. adults used spinal manipulation care. There was an increase in such services for children with about 3.3 percent of American children receiving treatment in 2012 – compared with 2.8 percent of children in 2007. Chiropractic was the most frequently used of the complementary services for children.

The use of chiropractic services in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system has seen a steep rise over more than a decade.  Data collected between 2004 and 2015 demonstrates an increase of more than 800 percent in the number of patients receiving the services of doctors of chiropractic. 

It’s never too early to start saving for your long-term needs, but if you’re still early in your career and training, how can you build a savings habit? More than one-half of young physicians feel they don’t spend enough time on financial planning, and nearly 9 in 10 feel somewhat or not at all protected in the event that a disability would prevent them from practicing.  Here are five basic strategies for building a strong financial foundation.