What the Sunshine Act Brings to Light

Richard N. Peterson, JD

Pharmaceutical and medical device companies have long provided physicians with promotional materials, ranging from imprinted office supplies, gifts, and meals, to consulting fees and sample products. In recent years, however, questions have been raised about the impact of such materials on both prescribing and purchasing habits and patient care and safety.

Establishing a Service Line Co-management Agreement

Nicholas Colyvas, MD

Most orthopaedic surgeons are aware of the rapidly growing trend of physicians seeking hospital employment. But many orthopaedic surgeons currently in private practice may want to increase their alignment and integration with hospitals and medical groups, without becoming hospital-employed physicians. Co-management agreements enable orthopaedic surgeons to achieve this goal.

Surgical Modifier Application during the Global Period

Mary LeGrand, RN, MA, CCS-P, CPC

The first step in understanding how to use modifiers during the postoperative global surgical period is to review the definitions for the global surgical package. There are differences in the way the global surgical package is defined under the American Medical Association’s Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) rules and under Medicare. CPT and Medicare vary on what services may be reported during the global period and when those services may be reported.

How Much Life Insurance Do You Need?

Nicole Dierking

Understanding why you need life insurance isn’t difficult, especially if you have a family. Life insurance helps protect the financial future of your family should something happen to you. If you don’t have a family, life insurance can help protect the future of your business or provide a meaningful legacy for a cause in which you believe. Determining how much life insurance you need, however, may be a little harder.

Building an Organizational Culture

Liz Ferron, MSW, LICSW; Daniel J. Whitlock, MD, MBA; Robert Stark, MD

In “The Importance of Organizational Culture” (AAOS Now, February 2013), we discussed the results of a survey, conducted by Physician Wellness Services and Cejka Search, that focused on cultural attributes important to physicians’ overall satisfaction. A companion survey of hospital administrators helped to identify the gaps between these attributes and the physicians’ satisfaction with their organization’s focus on them.

How Helpful are Mobile Healthcare Apps?

Orrin I. Franko, MD

The use of mobile technology to assist physicians and patients, recently dubbed “mHealth,” has firmly established its presence in hospitals and training programs nationwide. One of the most visible aspects of mHealth includes the use of mobile smartphones and tablets that run applications (apps) that can function as clinical examination tools, reference databases, technique guides, or medical calculators. The use of mobile apps for the treatment of disease is not without concern.

The “Persistent” Locality Rule

Marc D. Ginsberg, JD, LLM

The concept of standard of care is familiar to physicians who have been participants in medical negligence cases as defendants or expert witnesses. Trial testimony relating to deviation from, and compliance with, the applicable standard of care is often key in determining whether medical negligence occurred.