equate response to the association’s call to establish a robust mechanism for col- lecting and sharing problems with EHRs. The CentrEast Regional Extension Center developed such a resource with its EHR Support Center, http://bit .ly/15LODzr. The online adverse event reporting tool gives physicians a place to submit EHR problems and to share techniques that improve EHR use. TMA encourages physicians to use the tool to report EHR problems. To review TMA’s advocacy efforts and
read TMA’s letter to federal officials, log on to
www.texmed.org/EHRincentive and scroll down to Advocacy.
For more information on the audits, call the Texas Medical Association’s Health Information Technology Depart- ment at (800) 880-5750, or email HIT@
texmed.org. TMA recognizes the complexities of the EHR incentive program and recom- mends physicians struggling with the program consider contracting with one of the Texas regional extension centers (RECs). Details about the REC program are available from the Texas REC Re- source Center on the TMA website, www
.texmed.org/rec.
State hires Medicaid meaningful use auditor
The Texas Health & Human Services Commission hired Austin-based Da- vila, Buschhorn & Associates to audit payments to Texas physicians under the Medicaid electronic health record (EHR) incentive program. The Garden City, N.Y., accounting firm of Figliozzi & Company is examining Medicare EHR incentive payments.
Physicians who fail the Medicaid au- dit may have to repay the money they received. They have the right to appeal. Details about the audit process and ap- peals are available on the Texas Medic- aid & Healthcare Partnership website,
http://bit.ly/H6foFf.
Medicaid EHR auditors may ask you for information on patient volume that determines your eligibility to participate in the incentive program, as well as compliance in meeting the meaningful use measures. Pediatricians must have at least 20 percent of their patients on Medicaid, and all other specialists must have at least 30 percent to qualify. To prepare for a possible audit, docu- ment how you calculate your patient volume, and keep screenshots or reports. Also, document meaningful use calcula- tions and maintain all reports used for attestation.
December 2013 TEXAS MEDICINE 49
AMA studies physician practice arrangements
The American Medical Association re- leased new data on physician practice arrangements showing that private prac- tice medicine remains strong despite an increase in hospital employment. This is the first nationally representative study of physician practice arrangements in five years. AMA President Ardis Dee Hoven, MD, said the data “shows that while there has been an increase in hospital em- ployment, 53 percent of physicians were self-employed in 2012, and 60 percent worked in practices wholly owned by physicians. Needed innovation in pay-
ment and delivery reform must recog- nize the wide range of practice types and sizes that exist today so all physicians can participate in the move to a more patient-centered system that rewards high-quality care and reduces costs.” While this new study reports 60 per- cent of physicians in physician-owned practices, a trend toward hospital em- ployment has been seen during the past five years. In 2012, 29 percent of physi- cians worked either directly for a hospi- tal or for a practice that was at least par- tially owned by a hospital. A 2007–08 AMA survey did not distinguish between direct hospital employment and employ- ment in a hospital-owned practice but found 16 percent of physicians worked in one of the two settings.
Other important findings include:
• The percentage of physicians who were practice owners in 2012 de- creased 8 percent from 2007 to 2008.
• Eighteen percent of physicians were in solo practice, down 6 percent in five years.
• Single-specialty practice was the most common practice type in 2012, ac- counting for 45 percent of physicians.
This study is part of AMA’s Policy Re-
search Perspective series, available on- line at
http://bit.ly/1753CYo. n
Crystal Zuzek is an associate editor of Texas Medicine. You can reach her by telephone at (800) 880-1300, ext. 1385, or (512) 370-1385; by fax at (512) 370-1629; or by- email at
crystal.zuzek@texmed.org.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68