News 5/26/11

Aetna earned the top spot for major payers in athenahealth’s sixth annual PayerView Rankings, while BCBS-RI was named the overall best performer. The rankings consider ease of doing business based on a variety of performance criteria. Compared to last year, payers averaged payment one day faster with 5% fewer denied claims. State Medicaid providers were the worst performers in terms of AR and denial rates.

Kareo publishes a clever piece entitled, “How to Handle Medical Billing After a Zombie Apocalypse.” The strange title is based on a recent CDC post on how to prepare for a zombie apocalypse (or other emergencies like hurricanes, earthquakes, and the like.) Kareo’s recommendations for medical billing include using a Web-based, easy-to-use software that allows employees to work remotely and includes code-scrubbing tools and free EMR.

The Massachusetts REC leads the country in enrolling primary care providers for its services. Massachusetts eHealth Institute’s goal was to recruit 2,500 PCPs and is the first REC to fulfill its enrollment milestone.

Seven US senators send Secretary Sebelius a letter urging HHS to withdraw its proposed ACO rules, saying “the proposed ACO regulation will fail to accomplish its purpose” of better quality care and lower costs. The senators claim the proposed rules do not align incentives and accountability and include requirements that are too complex and an ROI that is uncertain.

MED3OOO announces the general availability of InteGreat V6.4, which includes the components required to meet Meaningful Use standards. The release also includes an enhanced visit entry module and improved patient communication capabilities.

Doctors behaving badly:  more than 70% of physicians say that disruptive physician behavior occurs at least once a month at their organizations, and more than 10% say that such incidents occur on a daily basis. The types of disruptive behavior physicians encountered range from profanity to refusal to follow established protocols and occasionally physical assault.

Phreesia announces its patient check-in system now integrates with over 85 unique workflow solutions.

Baylor Health Care System (TX) affirms its plans to implement GE Centricity EMR across its entire HealthTexas Provider Network of more than 500 physicians. A reader tells me the “affirm” wording alludes to the fact that Baylor was at one time consider switching vendors, though clearly they changed their mind.

MGMA reports that median compensation for first-year specialists in multispecialty practices was $258,677 in 2010, compared to $240,596 for specialists in single-specialty practices. Median compensation for primary care doctors was $172,400 in multi-specialty groups versus $165,000 in single specialty practices. More than half of first-year doctors were paid signing bonuses and relocation packages.

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