Evidenced-based Advocacy: The Argument for POHs

Nicholas A. Bonazza, MD

One of the less-discussed provisions of the Affordable Care Act is the ban on the expansion of existing physician-owned hospitals (POHs) and the formation of new ones. The ban was founded on concerns about physician self-referrals and possible conflicts of interest. Similar concerns led to the passage of the Stark Act in 1989, which prevented self-referral of Medicare patients.

Documentation Guidelines for Medical Decision Making

Margaret M. Maley, BSN, MS; M. Bradford Henley, MD, MBA

Thousands of pages of regulation have been generated since the American Medical Association (AMA) first introduced Evaluation and Management (E/M) codes to describe inpatient and outpatient visits in 1992. When originally published, the E/M code descriptors were ambiguous and unclear, resulting in the reporting of erroneous levels of service and the inability to audit or oversee the delivery of services to Medicare beneficiaries.

Census Examines Orthopaedic Workforce Trends

John Cherf, MD, MPH, MBA; Angela Buckley, MPA

The Orthopaedic Practice in the United States (OPUS) Survey, also known as the orthopaedic census, gathers demographics and practice data on U.S. orthopaedic surgeons.