Video: Every Case Tells a Story| Webinar: ACR/CHEST ILD Guidelines in Practice

An official publication of the ACR and the ARP serving rheumatologists and rheumatology professionals

Practice Support

Subcategories:Billing/CodingEMRsFacilityInsuranceQuality Assurance/ImprovementTechnologyWorkforce

Ryan Wants to End Obamacare Cost Protections for Sick Consumers

David Morgan  |  

WASHINGTON (Reuters)—U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) called on Wednesday for an end to Obamacare‘s financial protections for people with serious medical conditions, saying these consumers should be placed in state high-risk pools. In election-year remarks that could shed light on an expected Republican healthcare alternative, Ryan said existing federal policy that prevents…

Technological Advances Linked to Medical Misadventures

  |  

For keen students of American politics, the unending intrigue of the 2016 presidential race has been riveting. With an assemblage of aspiring candidates that, at its start, included a bevy of U.S. senators and former governors, a media-savvy real estate mogul, a renowned Hopkins neurosurgeon and an ophthalmologist, political junkies among us have feasted on…

Practicing Mindfulness Can Help Alter Patients’ Experience With Chronic Rheumatic Diseases

Practicing Mindfulness Can Help Alter Patients’ Experience with Chronic Rheumatic Diseases

C. Ronald MacKenzie, MD  |  

Mindfulness is a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while acknowledging and non-judgmentally accepting one’s feelings, thoughts and bodily sensations. Known in Sanskrit as smrti, meaning “to remember,” in Pali, the language of early Buddhist scriptures, it is recognized by the word sati (mindfulness).1 Derived from ancient meditative Buddhist disciplines,…

Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015: What You Should Know

Joan M. Von Feldt, MD, MSEd, FACR, FACP  |  

There is no denying that the past few years have been a time of immense change in healthcare. Sweeping pieces of legislation have fundamentally altered the way we practice medicine. This is absolutely the case when it comes to the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA, for short). MACRA is an enormous…

6 Tips for Writing a Good Clinical Case Report

  |  

“That’s a great case. Why don’t we write it up?” It’s a question I’ve heard many times throughout medical school, residency and fellowship. It’s typically intended to be more of a politely worded request than a rhetorical question. We must acknowledge that the process of writing, editing and submitting a case report is onerous, but it…

Rheumatology Coding Corner Question: Coding & Billing Basics

  |  

When reporting E/M service levels, if time spent counseling and/or coordinating care dominates the session, which of the following is true? Total time must be documented Greater than 50% of the time must be for face-to-face counseling and/or coordinating care The extent of the counseling and/or coordinating care must be documented All of the above…

Rheumatology Coding Corner Answer: Coding & Billing Basics

  |  

Take the challenge. 1. D: All of the above Rationale: Per CPT, if time spent counseling and/or coordinating care dominates the session, then total time must be documented; greater than 50% of the time must be for face-to-face counseling and/or coordinating care, and must be documented as such. Additionally, the extent of the counseling and/or…

How to Decipher the American Medical Association’s Billing, Coding Processes

  |  

The American Medical Association consists of two key groups: 1) the Relative Value Scale Update Committee (RUC), which oversees the annual updates to the physician work relative values, and 2) the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) Editorial Panel, which assigns new or revised codes in the CPT book. The CPT Process Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) was…

Opinion: Politics Should Not Trump Science in Medicine

John A. Goldman, MD  |  

I tell my patients there are three types of science: 1) investigative science, which sometimes gets it right; 2) science in the courtroom, which is junk science; and 3) science in Washington, D.C., which is political science. Our decisions are based on art and science; our patients’ medications are brought to market based on science….

Tips for Selecting Best Job Candidates to Fill Positions, Avoid Turnover

  |  

As much as 80% of employee turnover can be attributed to bad hiring decisions, the Harvard Business Review reported.1 And turnover costs are high—one report estimated them to be 100–300% of the base salary of a replaced employee (with 150% commonly cited).2 Given this, the importance of hiring the right employees can’t be underestimated. So…