November 2016

Quality improvement is a method for ensuring that all the activities necessary to design, develop, and implement a product or service are effective and efficient with respect to the system and its performance.

Staff attrition generally does not come in the size and shape it did for a small New England practice that constitutes the last independent oncology practice in Maine.

If any doubts remained that oncology practices were not going to be specific targets in the hacking of medical data, a breach at Central Ohio Urology Group has set the record straight.

For years, linear accelerator technology has had to be encased in concrete walls 3 to 4 feet thick so as to protect people on the outside from exposure to radiation.

We all know that healthcare is at a crossroads: to the left, there is rationed care, and to the right, you have economic insolvency, if we remain on our current course.

Louisiana leads the nation in cancer mortality—and not in the good sense. The state’s cancer mortality rate is 14% higher than the national average. Much of the problem lies in late diagnosis. Louisiana residents are less likely than other Americans to undergo recommended screenings, so their tumors tend to be more advanced upon detection.

Assessing the value of treatment options has become much more complex over the past several years, according to Constantine Mantz, MD, chief medical officer and radiation oncologist at 21st Century Oncology in Fort Myers, Florida.

In the old days, not too long ago, doctors’ offices were full of paper records, which filled shelf after shelf. This cumbersome form of keeping track of patients was effective in its own way, but with the rise of modern medicine and the power of computing, there is a need to move beyond.

One group of oncologists has found a way to generate more business while at the same time addressing the unwillingness of people to come for screening.

The OCM program is a good start on a path that is as rough as it gets in our healthcare system that needs reform, which can't come from legislation such as Obamacare.

When CMS switched from ICD-9 to ICD-10 last year, the new diagnosis classification list allowed coders to translate additional elements of doctors’ language to billers’ language. However, some coders would like to see that vocabulary expand further, particularly in the area of comorbidities and complications.

The tide of closings, mergers, and acquisitions among independent oncology clinics remains strong but appears to be tapering a bit