The following is an excerpt from an article originally published on Medscape. It was written by Leigh Page. Getting to Know MACRA The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) is a multifaceted law that's going to change the way you practice for years to come.

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.

The following excerpt is from an article written by Bill Kleyman. It originally appeared on Health IT Security. From data center security to healthcare cloud security, organizations need to consider numerous aspects when managing healthcare security orchestration.

Standalone software is often suitable for smaller practices that are just starting out and do not have a large patient population or multiple specialties. Your IT team installs the electronic health record application on your own servers and you take care of upgrades on your own whenever the software provider issues an update (such as a module for selecting the proper ICD-10 code or to address new regulations).

What many people envisioned as simply a tool to collect and share comprehensive health records has evolved over the past couple of decades into a multi-faceted, data-driven workhorse that can improve workflow, generate new revenue streams and improve patient outcomes significantly. To get the most from your electronic health record (EHR) you need to understand the power of the software beyond surface. Let's look at how the technology empowers medical providers to take control of their workflow in the practice, clinic or hospital setting.

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.

Mental health providers face a uniquely complex billing environment. From session-based codes and time-specific documentation to varying insurance rules and privacy regulations, billing for behavioral health services is anything but straightforward. A standard EHR often isn’t enough. For practices to stay financially healthy and compliant, it’s essential to use an EHR tailored for mental health medical billing—one that aligns clinical care, compliance, and reimbursement. Here are five critical features to look for when evaluating your system.

The following excerpt is from an article by Meeri Kim. It originally appeared on Modern Healthcare. In 2001 the Institute of Medicine reported on the need to close the gaping “quality chasm” in U.S. healthcare. The report stressed the importance of delivering patient-centered care.

It’s quite clear that small typographical errors can result in major consequences. A simple transposition of numbers in a patient’s birth date or a mistake in the name of a disease or medication are examples of mistakes we want to eliminate in medical practices. Attention to detail and being diligent about catching mistakes must be balanced with meeting the data entry objectives that you’ve established for your staff (such as completing a certain number of records per hour). You want to guard your revenue stream, but not to the point where things slow down to a crawl.

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.