SummaryThe 2018 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule reduces the base unit value for screening colonoscopy from 5 to 3—a 40 percent reduction that translates into an estimated 28 percent reduction in reimbursement, based on an average of 7.2 units billed. CPT codes 00740 (anesthesia for upper GI procedures) and 00810 (anesthesia for lower GI procedures)...

Will Latham, MBA President, Latham Consulting Group, Inc., Chattanooga, TNIn despair at the way its programs were organized, the business school at one university recruited as the director of programs a successful businessman, who had made a modest fortune in his own business and wanted to move on to a new career. "I will soon put some order in thi...

Following on the heels of President Trump's declaration of the opioid epidemic as a national public health emergency, the president's commission on the opioid crisis last week issued its final report containing more than 50 recommendations for addressing what has been called the most serious drug problem in U.S. history. The report, the heightened ...

Anesthesia groups currently find themselves in the uncomfortable position of being a target of the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Health and Human Services, the largest inspector general's office in the federal government, with approximately 1,600 people dedicated to combating fraud, waste and abuse in government programs, i...

Depending on how much fun you're having in the OR each day, at some point, you may decide to "discontinue full time professional engagement." Please note that I did not use the "R" word or the "W" word. With so many negative connotations, including declining physical and mental abilities and boredom, retirement, in the traditional sense of the word...