By Jason M. O’Dell, David B. Mandell, Kim Renners
If you are like most Americans, you feel less secure about the U.S. economy.  Certainly, this is justified.  While we may be technically out of the recession, our dependence on foreign oil, behemoth deficits, and the weak dollar are all fundamental threats to our national fiscal health and our investment marketplace that are not going away anytime soon.  For this reason, it is crucial that savvy investors, including physicians, learn from the past two years and adjust their investment behavior accordingly.  This …

By:  Michael G. Calahan, PA, MBA
Physician practices are inundated with requests for medical information of every nature: encounter note copies, health and life insurance authorizations, managed care referrals, handicap parking certificates – forms to sign, forms to copy, forms to mail out … it is a never-ending stream of administrative requests all based on medical record (MR) documentation.  Documentation, whether paper-based or in electronic form, is critical to the long-established and far-reaching responsibilities of the modern physician practice.
It is also from documentation that oversight entities for federal and state programs …

By Daniel A. Ringold, MD
Endoscopic ultrasonography, or EUS, provides an important bridge between a suspected diagnosis and appropriate therapy. The procedure uses a thin, flexible endoscope containing a tiny ultrasound probe to examine the upper and lower gastrointestinal tract as well as nearby organs such as the pancreas, gall bladder and liver.
EUS enables gastroenterologists specially trained in its use to identify, evaluate and stage a wide range of benign and malignant conditions. Although its therapeutic applications have been expanding recently, EUS still might best be described as an intermediary diagnostic …

By Karen Wolk Feinstein, PhD
Americans are exposed to more preventable medical errors than patients in other industrialized nations. Each year, 1.7 million infections occur in U.S. hospitals, associated with upwards of 100,000 deaths. It is estimated that preventable errors cost the United States $17-$29 billion per year in healthcare expenses, lost worker productivity, and disability. And as healthcare expenditures grow at more than seven percent each year, patient safety is improving by no more than one percent per year.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius recently had the unhappy duty …

By Daniel M. Bernick, Esq., M.B.A.
Loathed by associate physicians and loved by practice owners, non-compete clauses are standard features in physician contracts.  An understanding of these provisions is thus essential for all concerned.
What exactly is a “non-compete” or “restrictive covenant” clause?  The standard provision prohibits a departing associate from practicing in the immediate vicinity of his former employer.  For example:
“Physician agrees that upon his termination of employment by Medical Practice for any reason, and for two (2) years thereafter, he shall not practice [insert medical specialty] with a 5 air …

By Ken Frantz and Mark Newman

Physicians and other healthcare providers are more concerned than ever about how they will implement electronic health record (EHR) systems in their practices by 2011 to qualify for the first phase of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds and ultimately be eligible for the maximum reimbursement. The systems can be complex, the reporting requirements and processes for demonstrating meaningful use are not yet clear, and the resources to help are still emerging.
With the recent release of the Final Rule for “meaningful use” requirements for …

Fast food outlets could provide statin drugs free of charge so that customers can neutralize the heart disease dangers of fatty food, researchers at Imperial College London suggest in a new study published this week.
Statins reduce the amount of unhealthy “LDL” cholesterol in the blood. A wealth of trial data has proven them to be highly effective at lowering a person’s heart attack risk.
In a paper published in the Sunday 15 August issue of the American Journal of Cardiology, Dr. Darrel Francis and colleagues calculate …

By Alan Lyndon
Physicians News
Telemedicine as a technology is advancing so rapidly that it seems like something you might have seen on Star Trek.
Telemedicine as policy has become an integral part of the law as $27 billion was earmarked for health care information technology as part of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) stimulus plan.
But telemedicine as a successful practice or an everyday tool for physicians and patients has remained a mystery.  Until now.
Physicians will ask: How do I squeeze telemedicine in between my daily 35 – 40 patient …

By Nielufar Varjavand, MD
Many are concerned about the looming physician shortage, particularly in primary care. It may become worse as a result of the goal of the health care reform bill to provide health insurance for the currently uninsured. The July 2010 issue of Physicians News Digest highlighted the upcoming need for physicians in our region.  Patricia Costante, CEO of MD Advantage and writer of that article, clearly proposed numerous viable possibilities of addressing this shortage.  We suggest that another way to address the physician shortage is to return inactive physicians …

By Carolyn R. Kaplan, M.D.
Cancer Therapy and Women’s Fertility
Each year, cancer is estimated to occur in 113 per 100,000 women under age 50 in the United States. Treatment of cancer has improved dramatically over the past several years, and it is estimated that 77% of patients under 45 survive at least 5 years. The trend toward delaying childbearing means that many patients will not have had children when they are diagnosed. While there is recognition that cancer therapy can affect a patient’s fertility, less than 25% of oncologists inform their …