August 2015

Data collection has to be improved in order for physicians to be able to convince payers to support certain types of costly therapy, a panel of physicians.

Many healthcare reforms are dramatically changing the payment landscape for oncologists.

It may be too early to say whether EHRs have increased or decreased liability for physicians as a whole, but some say the technology generally reduces total medical errors and has no effect on insurance rates.

Next-generation sequencing is an advance in medicine that has many physicians and researchers excited, but substantial concern remains about the usefulness of the data generated.

Oncologists can only stand by wistfully as their documentation needs grow and current electronic health record technology remains inadequate to the task of easing the workload.

As medical director of radiation oncology at Lowell General Hospital in Massachusetts, Matthew Katz, MD, is well attuned to trends in breast cancer treatment.

The rise of electronic medical reporting and value-based standards and measures for improved medical care is supported by the best of intentions, but the implication is that physicians now spend more time behind the computer terminal and less time with patients.

Today, scientists continue to work on cloning technologies with the hope that someday we will be able to offer new body parts to people afflicted by disease and injury.