MINNEAPOLIS—Information is critical and tapping into performance metrics can save hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to Rick Divers and Nicole Faucher, MS, of MedQuest Associates, Alpharetta, Ga., who spoke July 28 at the annual meeting of AHRA.

MINNEAPOLIS—Practices must take concrete steps to build patient loyalty because remaining content with the status quo with regard to marketing services can endanger their future, according to a July 28 presentation at the annual meeting of AHRA.

When it comes to accepting acquisition by hospitals, many cardiology practices are increasingly all in. Can radiologists buck the trend?

As adults, most of us understand responsibility can be a heavy burden. It’s also a privilege that can be lost. Some days it’s downright unpleasant to take responsibility, but those who shirk it often ultimately wind up paying a high price. That may be why physicians' responses to the survey about “major responsibility” for healthcare costs published in the July 24/31 edition of JAMA seemed so frustrating.

A majority of doctors abdicated “major responsibility” for reducing healthcare costs in a physician survey about cost control. They also expressed a lack of enthusiasm for eliminating fee-for-service payment models.

Legislation recently drafted by a bipartisan group of Congressmen aims to reduce doctor payments by reevaluating the current pricing system used by Medicare and most private insurers, according to a report from the Washington Post.

Physician integration into hospitals as large providers continue to acquire practices could be driving up costs, the opposite effect of what was touted from such arrangements, according to the results of a poll conducted by the American College of Physician Executives (ACPE).

Recent research has challenged the American College of Emergency Physicians’ (ACEP) advocacy positions on pricing and costs, revealing emergency department (ED) care to be a larger slice of the overall healthcare spending pie than previously thought, according to an editorial published online July 18 in Annals of Emergency Medicine (AEM).