Category: Members
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Families First Coronavirus Response Act (HR6201) Summary
Last night President Trump signed what is being called the second coronavirus stimulus bill. It provides for free coronavirus screening, $1 billion in additional unemployment insurance funding to all states, a bump in Medicaid FMAP, $1 billion in food aid, and two provisions to provide paid sick leave to employees. Emergency Paid Sick Leave This…
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Telehealth in Alabama during COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE)
prepared by Kim Huey, MJ, CHC, CPC, CCS-P, PCS, CPCO, COC March 19, 2020 The most important thing to remember is that payers have differing definitions of what they consider telehealth. I recommend checking with the applicable insurer for the most up-to-date information affecting requirements for coding and billing of telehealth services. A few things…
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President’s Statement on Coronavirus COVID-19
We now have thirty-two confirmed cases of the new coronavirus infection in Alabama. We have all seen how this new virus has spread around the world from its beginning in China just a few months ago. The World Health Organization has now classified this as a pandemic. However, please remember that compared to the flu,…
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Shift in Patient’s Right to Access Medical Records
By: Kelli C. Fleming, Burr & Forman The Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”), the government agency tasked with HIPAA compliance and enforcement, recently announced a change impacting a patient’s right to access his/her medical records—a change which is, given OCR’s history, surprisingly favorable to providers. One of the long-standing premises of HIPAA has been a…
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Appropriate Use Criteria for Advanced Diagnostic Imaging
Contributed by: Gregg Everett, Gilpin Givhan The Protecting Access to Medicare Act (PAMA) was passed in 2014. PAMA required the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to establish a program that promotes “Appropriate Use Criteria” (AUC) for advanced diagnostic imaging. AUC’s are evidence-based criteria that assist professionals who order and furnish certain imaging services…
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Striking Your Best Deal: Things to Look at on the Front End of Negotiating an EHR Vendor Contract
Article Contributed by Christopher L. Richard, Gilpin Givhan, PC Backdrop Imagine you’re selling your practice . . . or leaving your practice . . . or retiring. You want to continue to have access to the patient records you’ve maintained through the practice over the years, and in fact, you have an obligation to do…
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Top 4 Dos and Don’ts For Audits and Investigations
In the spirit of college football season and the inevitable argument about which four college football teams are in the college football playoffs, this article addresses the undisputed top 4 dos and don’ts that physicians should follow during an audit or investigation. I have represented countless medical practices and individual physicians with a variety of…
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Staff Retention Leads to a Successful Practice
I visit many practices throughout the year performing medical practice assessments. One of the first items to review is staffing levels, length of service and each staff member’s role. The administrator is a key component to engaging the staff. Increasing the level of staff engagement can raise productivity 20% and reduce the probability of a…
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Better Together: Physician-Lead, Team-Based Care
Working as a team is unquestionably the best and most efficient way to maximize the skill sets of a specific group of people. In medicine and depending on the particular needs of the practice, a team-based approach can include various combinations of physicians, nurses, physician assistants, pharmacists, social workers, case managers and other health care…
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Physician Burnout
BACKGROUND While employees in many professions report burnout, physicians appear uniquely susceptible and the consequences can be detrimental. Physicians are fifteen times more likely to suffer burnout than other professions and statistics indicate that at a given time…