Company Model Kickbacks In The Hospital Setting
In an article last August (OIG Disapproves Two Referral Arrangements as Kickbacks), I addressed the issue of kickbacks disguised as management fees and in the form of the so-called “company model.”
Those arrangements, which began in the anesthesia but which are by no means limited to it, originated in the outpatient facility setting.
Prior to the formation of the “company,” specialty services are provided by physicians for their own, or their group’s, account. After formation, only those specialists who become employed or subcontracted remain, with a significant share of the fees redirected to the
Imaging’s Conversation Has Changed
If there was one lesson to be learned at last weekend’s meeting of the California Radiological Society—for which a great deal of the content was supplied by the ACR’s new Radiology Leadership Institute—the final words of a presentation by Dr. Larry Muroff may have been it: “The future of radiology is bright, but the future for radiologists is uncertain.”
Indeed, it was a weekend of striking polarity, with the very distinguished faculty of speakers oscillating between hope for the specialty’s future and dismay at its current state. I was relieved to learn
Medscape Survey: Is Medicine All About the Benjamins?
It’s not often that my recreational reading intersects with my professional reading, but I was fascinated by the discussion in the comments of this Gawker post, which briefly remarks on the now-notorious Medscape survey in which only 54% of physicians said they would choose a career in medicine if they had it to do over.
“What gives?” was the question that drove me to the discussion underneath, hoping Gawker’s famously prosaic commenters would offer some additional insight. From an outsider’s perspective, few other fields would seem to combine the fulfillment of helping others with such
The ABCs of ACO Economics
If the hospitals at which your group provides services haven’t already approached you and your fellow members of the medical staff about ACO formation, the chances are high that they will in the not too distant future.
Expect that pressure to be great. After all, the hospital will argue, ACOs, or “accountable care organizations,” are all about increasing the quality of care through collaboration.
But recall that Benjamin Disraeli, the great British Prime Minister, once commented that there are lies, damned lies and statistics. I say that it’s time to add acronyms
Don’t Shoot Holes in Your Physician Liaison’s Marketing Efforts
The business landscape in radiology and imaging center marketing can seem like a combat zone. It’s rough out there. You and your physician liaison just might have battle scars.
Where are you in this picture? Competition is increasing or shifting dramatically. Reimbursement—never a simple matter—is extra thorny. Overhead and expenses are up. Independent physicians and medical groups have rolled-up into new business entities. Imaging centers look alike to self-referring patients. And once-solid referral sources have defected or disappeared behind rival lines.
And what’s worse, we find business owners, imaging centers executives,
Seven Key Reasons to Harness Video Power Now, Ahead of Your Imaging Competition
Many, if not most, of the top imaging business websites fall short on their revenue building potential—far short. And they waste precious marketing resources in the process.
In our survey of the websites of the 60 top imaging centers and radiology practices in the US, Healthcare Success Senior Consultant Steve Smith reports good news and bad news from a marketing perspective.
We could rate only a couple of these websites as “excellent” and a few others as “good.” Overall, there’s much room for improvement, but the bad news continues.
Most sites offered
Don’t Fear the Reaper
I first started writing about radiology in 2006, when the hot topic was, of course, the DRA. It was the first in a seemingly endless series of blows to radiology’s reimbursement that would hit in the ensuing half-decade. Unlike my colleagues Cheryl Proval and Curtis Kauffman-Pickelle, who have both witnessed plenty of ups and downs over their time in this industry, I’ve never known radiology when it wasn’t in crisis mode.
The doom-crying was pretty heavy-duty back in 2006, so I hope I can be forgiven for having wondered, as an imaging naïf, what I’
ACR economic update
At last, the moment you’ve all been waiting for—the ACR’s economic update, delivered by Maurine S. Dennis, MPH, MBA, director of economics and government relations at the ACR. The room was packed with eager attendees as Dennis began her presentation on the expected pessimistic note. (Is it just me, or has the theme of this RBMA meeting been mordant pessimism?) Dennis illustrated the reimbursement forecast simply: a big orange arrow pointing down. The assembled audience laughed, of course, but I got the sense it was a laugh-so-you-don’t-weep situation.
“Just to give you an
MIPPA accreditation requirements are coming. Are you ready?
Well, the sun is setting on Phoenix and I’m checking in from the Sky Harbor airport just a few minutes before my flight back to LA. But never fear! Thanks to the miracle of mobile broadband, I can bring you one last update from the show. And it’s a doozy: Leonard Lucey, JD, legal counsel for the ACR, on the new accreditation requirements created by MIPPA.
First, a lesson in recent history. MIPPA was passed by the House of Representatives in July 2008, after a presidential veto; the legislation was primarily created to extend expiring Medicare
