US Physicians’ Administration Costs Four Times Higher Than Single-payer Healthcare Providers

Going by a recent survey by the researchers with Cornell University and University of Toronto – which has unearthed alarming fact about relatively higher administrative costs in the United States: physician practices incurring nearly $83,000 in administrative costs per physician each year, nearly four times the amount spent by their Canadian counterparts – it is quite imaginable the extent of its implication on physicians’ fees, and patients’...

Level of Preparedness for Smooth Transition to ICD-10

US Federal Government, which has earmarked October 1, 2013 as the deadline, has sought to replace the 30-year-old ICD-9 with the radical ICD-10 – believed to be harbinger of sweeping changes across all facets of healthcare organizations: providers, staff, processes, insurance carriers, and systems and technology. But, given the experience in other countries – UK, France, Australia, Germany, and Canada, which prior to adopting ICD-10 in...

The Need for a Long-Term Solution to the Perennial SGR Problem

The decade old uncertainty over fixing a permanent solution to Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) is set to continue with the House deciding not to set off the accumulated deficit (25% for 2011) against primary care physicians till the end of this year. Although a temporary relief for doctors, the absence of a permanent solution will always keep doctors apprehensive every year. What is more, the accumulating deficit is destined to move upwards. Primarily...