Ancillary Services Offer Opportunity for Improved Care, Value, and Pay

Peter Pollack

"Why do we need to understand ancillary services?" asked Peter L. Althausen, MD, MBA, speaking at the annual meeting of the Orthopaedic Trauma Association. According to Dr. Althausen, providing ancillary services can help enhance the care orthopaedists provide to patients and can also offer ways for physicians to supplement their incomes. Dr.

Study: Costs of Certain Orthopaedic Procedures Lower at an ASC

According to research recently published in the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (JAAOS), direct costs for select orthopaedic procedures were significantly less when these procedures were performed at an ambulatory surgical center (ASC) rather than at a university-based children's hospital (UH).

CPT 2017 for Foot and Toes

Michael R. Marks, MD, MBA

Every autumn, the American Medical Association's (AMA) Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) book is updated with changes for the next year. In 2016, minimal changes were made, possibly due to the implementation of the International Classification of Diseases, 10th edition (ICD-10) and a desire to not overload physician practices. In a prior article, 2017 changes for the spine area were presented. (See "2017 Spine CPT Code Changes," AAOS Now, November 2016.

Are You Ready for SHFFT?

Laura Phieffer, MD; Alexandra E. Page, MD; Douglas W. Lundy, MD, MBA

In a proposed rule announced on July 25, 2016, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) introduced three new Episode Payment Models (EPMs) for episodes of care surrounding acute myocardial infarction, coronary artery bypass graft, and surgical hip/femur fracture treatment, excluding lower extremity joint arthroplasty (SHFFT).

Ransomware: A HITECH Shakedown

Michael R. Marks, MD, MBA

Imagine arriving at your office bright and early one Monday morning only to learn you are unable to access your practice's electronic health record (EHR) system. Your system has been hacked, locking you out of all your data, including patient charts, radiographs, billing, and claims. To make matters worse, you receive a notice that you must pay thousands of dollars to retrieve this information.