We all have our own roles to play as we do our part to promote health in society. From the patient perspective, special attention to preventative care, nutrition, exercise, and getting vaccinations when recommended by a physician are examples of what ordinary people can do to cut down on the costs of healthcare in this country. From the perspective of medical practices, getting ready for MACRA and MIPS is an essential aspect of streamlining healthcare services and being more efficient in how we diagnose and treat each patient.

Inefficiencies in the way we provide medical services to patients in the United States have led to increasing costs while not necessarily leading to equivalent improvements in the outcomes of each sick and injured person being treated. Doctors and other medical professionals with an overriding goal to help others above all else may be dismayed when they consider how much emphasis is placed on finances rather than the healing arts.

Your medical organization routinely sees a large number of patients who are covered by Medicare or Medicaid. This may be attributed mostly to your location, such as near retirement facilities, senior care organizations and other entities charged with serving the elderly and other eligible patients. Or, the nature of your practice attracts more people who rely on government-funded medical coverage. Regardless of the reasons why you are treating more people under Medicare and Medicaid, you are also concerned that you are getting the appropriate financial incentives from the government. Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the government began offering Medicare and Medicaid incentives to medical professionals in exchange for them attesting to Meaningful Use.

Recent headlines demonstrate some patients will experience yet another change in healthcare coverage in 2017. Aetna plans to sharply reduce their participation in the healthcare exchanges (dropping coverage in 75% of the states they cover now), leaving them only offering policies in four states when the new year rolls around. They are joining other major carriers like United Healthcare and Humana who say operating in some states creates onerous financial burdens they aren't willing to face going forward.

As winter approaches, savvy owners and managers of medical practices are already looking ahead to 2017 with an eye toward seeing what regulations, financial incentives, and other factors will affect their bottom line.

Big changes are coming to how we provide healthcare services in the United States. In a bid to improve efficiencies and treat more patients more quickly with less waste, we are going to be transitioning from the older model based on fees for services to a new one that is dedicated more to value-based reimbursements.

Anyone who has endured spending too much time in a crowded waiting room waiting for a doctor can appreciate the benefits of an early and much-missed aspect of our healthcare system: the humble house call. And if you’ve ever felt so sick that you would much more prefer having a doctor see you at home than endure spending even a minute in a waiting room with other coughing individuals, a house call would be ideal. It helps conserve your strength as well as keep you from infecting others in public.

Telemedicine Program Reinventing Traditional Medicine With Twenty-first Century Technology If your organization is considering implementing a telemedicine program but you currently have limited experience with telehealth systems, it’s prudent to become familiar with industry best practices before you begin.

The following excerpt is from an article found on www.healthitoutcomes.com. It was written by Christine Kern. -------------------------- Population health initiatives are growing in number and popularity across the nation as one way to reduce overall healthcare costs and improve patient outcomes. Recently, PwC's Health Research Institute (HRI) released Population health: Scaling up in which they interviewed executives in leading healthcare, research and academic institutions on how organizations can better scale their efforts.

Since the passing of MACRA, the Medicare Access & CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, healthcare providers who treat Medicare patients will be making changes in how they report on the level of quality they provide. New information about the impending changes came from the Department of Health and Human Services this year. The Department of HHS released its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in April of this year in an effort to begin implementing MACRA. It’s a bid to overhaul and modernize the way healthcare providers report information necessary before getting paid. With a goal to reduce the burden of healthcare costs on American taxpayers, MACRA is designed to help providers report data on the quality of services. With that in mind, here are five important things every physician needs to know about MACRA, which will begin implementation in 2019.