Late on March 21, the House of Representatives passed two pieces of legislation that, together, would reform the U.S. health system and impact most employers, virtually all taxpayers, and all segments of the health care industry. First, the House by a vote of 219-212 approved H.R. 3590, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as passed the Senate in December of 2008. Thus, this bill was cleared for signature by the President which subsequently occurred on March 23. Second, the House by a vote of 220 to 211 approved the “Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010,” i.e., the “Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute to H.R. 4872, as amended.” The Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute amended the health reform bill that the Senate passed in December to make it more palatable to House members. Assuming this second, “follow-on” bill passes the Senate (only a simple majority is needed under the reconciliation rules), it too will be cleared for the President’s signature, thus completing a massive overhaul of the U.S. health care system.

Click here to download this important LBA Alert to learn more.

October 2009

Proposed 21.2% Reduction for the Physician Fee Schedule is Frozen

Posted Oct. 31, 2009

The 2010 Federal Register that announced the Physician Fee Schedule (released on 10/31/09) included a comment period through 11/25/09. Legislation was passed to the Senate to halt the reduction after the House approved the postponement as well. The reduction is currently frozen until 2/28/2010.

2010 Annual Participation Enrollment Program Extension

Because of the delay in the 2010 fee schedule, Medicare (CMS) has extended the 2010 annual participation enrollment program end date. The enrollment period now runs from November 13, 2009- January 31, 2010. Medicare contractors will accept and process any participation elections or withdrawals made during the extended enrollment period that are post marked on or before January 31, 2010.

Click here to download this important LBA Alert to learn more.

April 2009

Red Flag Rules Compliance Deadline is May 1, 2009 – Are You Ready?

Posted April 27, 2009

Physicians and physician groups may be unaware that they have a looming deadline for compliance with complex new federal regulations. The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and other federal agencies issued a set of rules that require “financial institutions” and “creditors” holding consumer or other “covered” accounts to develop and implement an identity theft prevention program that originally required compliance with the regulations by November 1, 2008. The FTC subsequently postponed enforcement of these rules until May 1, 2009. These rules, commonly referred to as the Red Flag Rules (the “Rules”), affect individual physicians, physician groups, hospitals and other healthcare organizations that qualify as “creditors” based upon billing and collection practices. The Rules provide guidelines for identifying patterns, practices and specific forms of activity – in short, red flags – that indicate the possible existence of identity theft.

Click here to download this important LBA Alert to learn more.

March 2009

Medical Economics: Transparency of President’s HIT Bill

Posted March 20, 2009

Well, it is official; President Obama has signed the American Recovery and
Reimbursement Act of 2009, which includes $20 billion for Healthcare IT. What
this means for physicians is the purchase of an Electronic Medical Record (EMR)
through a conditional “IOU.”

Click here to download this important LBA Alert to learn more.

June 2008

New Faces, New Places - Healthcare Alert

Posted June 23, 2008

copy to come

Click here to download this Alert.

September 2007

September 2007 Healthcare Alert

Posted September 13th, 2007

This month’s Healthcare Alert includes several industry updates including those relating to Medicare payments, HIPAA, the 2007 Physician Quality Reporting Initiative, HMO Settlements and Managed Care. Click here to download the PDF.

July 2007

LBA Healthcare Releases Salary Survey Results

Posted July 10th, 2007

LBA Healthcare Consulting Services, LLC has conducted its fifth semi-annual Salary & Benefits Survey for administrative and clinical positions within physician practices in Northeast Florida. This survey serves as a valuable resource to hundreds of local practices and acts as a benchmark when reviewing salaries and benefits for staff members and planning budgets for the upcoming year.

This year’s results reveal that 64% of respondents have a bonus program in place for their employees. This can be accredited to the constantly changing healthcare environment and the competitive nature of physician billing and collection issues due to the many changes in insurance payments over recent months. Physicians may have learned that providing appropriate incentives to their staff can result in more efficient billing and collection activities.

With health insurance costs experiencing a plateau over the last couple of years, 90% of the responding practices now offer their employees a health insurance plan, but only 46% offer a plan that covers the families of their employees. Similarly, 64% of the respondents offer an employee dental plan, while only 39% offer a family dental plan.

This year’s survey saw several increases in salaries for administrative and clinical positions within Northeast Florida. Practice Administrators experienced an average $5.61 per hour increase; Billing Supervisors, $4.44 and Registered Nurses, $2.27. This representation could be attributed to the types of practices that responded to this year’s survey, as several respondents were highly specialized practices.

Participants in the survey received a copy of the results at no charge. Additional copies may be obtained through LBA at a cost of $50.00. To obtain a copy, please call (904) 396.4015.

April 2007

April 2007 Healthcare Alert

Posted April 17th, 2007

The most up to date information on N.P.I. Numbers and Medicare, as well as the details on LBA’s upcoming office move, are provided in this month’s news. Click here to download the latest Healthcare Alert.

March 2007

Healthcare Alert

Posted March 9th, 2007

Several deadlines are approaching, including the requirement for N.P.I. numbers. Read the latest Healthcare Alert for details on this hot topic, as well as some recent Managed Care News. Click here to download the PDF.