Archive for July, 2008
Healthcare Payment Reform
24 July 2008 In many ways, the nation’s current healthcare payment system creates inefficiencies by adding cost and complexity to healthcare administration. Achieving payment system reforms will require a level of cooperation among all stakeholders.
In the current volume-based payment system physicians and others who provide high-quality, efficient care and thereby reduce the volume of patient services, [...]
Virtual Office Visits
4 July 2008 The doctor doesn’t have to see you now. Thanks to new technology, patients may not always need a face-to-face visit with their doctor to get the care they need.
And thanks to a growing awareness of this fact on the part of health plans, structured, Internet-facilitated and reimbursable “virtual visits” are on the verge [...]
How Are Employer Medical Premium Dollars Being Spent?
4 July 2008 The Texas Medical Association and the National Federation of Independent Businesses have teamed up to help their members, most of which are small business owners, find out how much of their medical premium dollars are actually being spent by insurers on health care.
Thanks to a little-known piece of legislation passed by the Texas [...]
Physician Costs and Getting Paid Properly
4 July 2008 Administrative complexity and inefficiency are major cost-drivers in a largely fragmented health care delivery system. A typical physician practice contracts with a dozen or more health plans and must contend with each payer’s way of contracting, credentialing, preauthorizing, coding, billing and reimbursing.
Health insurer contracting and billing represent the major sources of administrative burden [...]
