March 2009

Electronic Health Records Adoption and Utilization
The recently passed HITECH Act (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act) provides funding for CMS (Medicare) to pay annual incentive payments to physicians for EHR adoption before 2015, once certain requirements are met. As much as $44,000 per physician may be available. There are some current EHR users that are very close to meeting these requirements; however, the vast majority are not. Studies estimate that less than 10 percent of all physicians utilize EHRs in a meaningful way for their workflow and documentation requirements. Read more...

Retirement Plans for Medical Practices
Although retirement plan assets have declined in value during the financial crisis and economic downturn, there are still many compelling reasons for a medical practice to sponsor a qualified retirement plan. Qualified plans are a way for physicians to convert current income into savings for the future. They deliver valuable tax benefits. And sponsoring a plan can help attract and retain valuable employees. There are several different types of qualified retirement plans. Which plan, or combination of plans, is right for your medical practice depends on many factors. Your and your fellow physicians' savings goals should top the list. Read more...

Somerset Health Care Executive Roundtable
The next Somerset Health Care Executive Roundtable will be held at Somerset's office in Indianapolis, Indiana on Thursday, April 30, 2009--please save the date. Speakers will include Susan Ziel from Krieg DeVault LLP and Jeff Boomershine from Somerset. More details will be available soon.

CMS Continues to Expand RACs Nationwide
As Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) continues to expand the Recovery Audit Contractors (RACs) program nationwide, your practice could receive a RAC medical request letter in the next few weeks (if you haven't already). RACs seek to identify overpayments and underpayments by CMS to Medicare providers. For an overview of the program, visit the CMS web page on RACs. MGMA, along with 101 other national and state medical associations, recently sent CMS a letter outlining its concerns about the RAC program. To prepare MGMA members for RAC audits, MGMA will conduct a webinar on April 7. Visit their site for details.

The Business of Medicine Blog
Recent posts on The Business of Medicine blog include "Is Your Local Hospital Employing Physicians and Are You Next?" and "HITECH - What Does It Mean for Your Practice?" Please visit the blog and post your comments and questions. We'd love to hear from you.

Medical Briefs
Insurance Rates Fall - Following years of soaring increases, 93% of medical liability insurance companies reported that premiums fell or stayed the same in 2008. The average drop in premiums for 2008 was 4.3%. Read more...

Department of Labor Publishes COBRA Model Notices
On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. ARRA includes a requirement that the Secretary of Labor, in consultation with the Secretaries of the Treasury and Health and Human Services, develop model notices. These models are for use by group health plans and other entities that, pursuant to ARRA, must provide notices of the availability of premium reductions and additional election periods for health care continuation coverage. On March 27, the Department of Labor (DOL) announced the availability of the model health care continuation coverage notices required by ARRA. Read more...

Somerset Health Care Team News
 

Estes Park Institute 'Future Forum' - Charlie Mason and Jim Hamilton will be faculty members at this conference being held in Palm Springs, California from March 27 to 28. For more information, please visit the Estes Park web site.

2009 ASC Conference - Cathy Weaver will be a speaker at the national Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) Association conference being held in Nashville, Tennessee from April 22 to 25. Her presentation topic is "Health Savings Accounts & High Deductible Plans." Please visit ASC online for more information.

HFMA Indiana Pressler Memorial Chapter 2009 Spring Institute - Somerset will be participating in this Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) Vendor Show and Finance Forum on April 28 to 29 at the Marriott East in Indianapolis, Indiana. For more information, please visit HFMA Indiana online.

2009 AAOE Conference - Somerset will be sponsoring and exhibiting at the upcoming American Academy of Orthopaedic Executives (AAOE) annual conference in Austin, Texas from May 3 to 6. Mike McCaslin will be presenting "Income Distribution Methodologies" and "Practice Mergers, the 90's Revisited?" Jeff Boomershine will be a panelist in a discussion about "Orthopaedic Ancillaries Update on Financial/Operational Benchmarks and Regulatory Developments." If you are attending this conference, please visit us at Booth 619. For more information about the conference, visit AAOE online.

St. Vincent Health Medical Informatics Summit - On Tuesday, May 5, Somerset will participate as an exhibitor in the St. Vincent Health Medical Informatics Summit that is being held at The  Marten House - Lilly Auditorium in Indianapolis, Indiana.

IMGMA Golf Outing, Spring Conference and Trade Show - As a Gold sponsor of the Indiana Medical Group Management Association (IMGMA), Somerset will be participating in this event that will be held at the Indiana Memorial Union in Bloomington, Indiana from May 13 to 15. For more information, please visit IMGMA online.

2009 RBMA Radiology Summit - Somerset will be exhibiting at this Radiology Business Management Association (RBMA) event that is being held in Orlando, Florida from June 7 to10. Please come visit us at Booth 101. For more information, please visit RBMA online.

In Other News...
2009 Seminars. Our seminars calendar for 2009 keeps expanding--we just added "What Does Not Kill Us Makes Us Stronger: Strategies for Individuals to Survive and Thrive in a New Reality." Also, don't miss our popular Somerset Practical MBA Program, which includes a live webinar simulcast so those of you outside the Indianapolis area can participate. Please go online to see the schedule and register.

Somerset Client Satisfaction Survey. If you are a Somerset client, please take our survey concerning the services we have provided to you. Our goal is to improve our overall relationship and better serve you. Go to survey.

Somerset publishes a variety of newsletters in addition to Health Care Commentaries--such as Wherewithal, Tax Times, Wealth Management Bullets and several others. Please visit the Newsletters page of our web site to read the archives and sign up to have new issues delivered to your email inbox.
  

Health Care Commentaries is provided by Somerset’s Health Care Team for our clients and other interested persons upon request. Since technical information is presented in generalized fashion, no final conclusion on these topics should be made without further review. For additional information on the issues discussed, please contact a member of our Health Care Team. This document is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of avoiding tax penalties that may be imposed on the taxpayer.