Anesthesia’s Best Payors for 2011
It can be difficult to determine which payor is the best payor because physicians often find benefits and drawbacks from each company. According to Medscape’s Insurer Ratings Report 2011, 54 percent of physicians say the level of payment is the most important factor in making a payor their best payor. Other important factors include that the company is easy to do business with (15 percent) and the frequency of denials (13 percent).
The survey was sent to 307,000 physicians in the United States and gathered 10,214 respondents.
Here are the top two “best” payors indicated by physicians in different specialties. Overall, 29 percent of physicians reported Blues Plans as their best payor with Aetna a distant second, at 10 percent.
Anesthesiology voted for :
- Blues Plans: 21 percent and
- United Healthcare: 12 percent
HIPAA Mega-rule Due June 2012
The HIPAA mega-rule has reached its final hurdle and is expected to be released in June 2012.
The mega-rule will include:
- Changes to privacy and security rules the HITECH Act mandates
- Requirements for new enforcement and higher penalties
- Final regulations of HITECH Act’s breach notification rule
- Changes to HIPAA to incorporate Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act
Just as you will have to adjust to the new provisions in the final rule, you will be under increased scrutiny to comply with them. The government is intensifying its enforcement to protect patients’ confidential health information due in large part to the increased number of security breaches that have resulted from the lack of staff training. Practices will have an arduous task incorporating all of the changes to avoid those HIPAA headaches and potential fines. The most proactive practices have begun to update privacy & security policies as well as re-train employees.
