By EWA MATUSZEWSKI

I’ve been hesitant to dip my toe into the artificial intelligence (AI) discussion in this forum because so much has been written about it in a short period of time. What can I add at this early juncture? I changed my mind after a healthcare tech colleague recently asked me to test out a platform using AI that helps clinicians access evidence-based guidelines or even determine if a patient needs to have a consult with a specialist. While I’m not a clinician, it’s not unusual for me to test products and services that may help our healthcare provider members in their quest to provide high quality care. Following [Read More]

By SUSAN ADELMAN, MD
As most might guess, marijuana is the commonest illegal drug in the United States. An estimated 48.2 million people used it at least once in 2019. The percentage of U.S. drivers with marijuana detected in their blood was 8.6% in 2007 and rose to 12.6% in 2013-14. Should marijuana be legalized nationally? For safety’s sake, are there legal blood limits for drivers?

Marijuana and hemp come from the Cannabis sativa plant.  Legally, hemp is defined as any part of the cannabis sativa plant that contains 0.3 percent or less of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), while marijuana contains more than 0.3 percent THC. THC is the substance that causes a high. [Read More]

By DANIEL AYYASH

Overview

At its core, hospice provides palliative care and support for terminally ill individuals and their families. People who elect to receive hospice care generally receive this care in the home setting by a team of professionals and caregivers who are specially trained to address the sensitive needs of those nearing end of life. In addition to meeting patients’ physical needs, hospices provide care for the “whole person,” which includes care that meets their emotional, social, and spiritual needs. Being able to provide beneficial, high-quality care is critical to the successful efforts of hospice providers. Recently, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) indicated that they have noticed [Read More]

By RALPH Z. LEVY & CYNTHIA A. MOORE

Adverse tax issues can arise for physicians and other professional practice groups interested in issuing equity to attract and retain junior physicians.  If equity is issued at below fair market value, the new equity owner will incur significant federal income tax consequences on issuance.  If the new practice entity owner leaves the practice, the practice entity could experience difficulty in funding the amount needed to repurchase the equity from the departing professional.  These adverse tax and other consequences at buy-in and buy-out can be avoided by proper planning and a well-designed buy-sell agreement.

 Issues for the New Practice Owner

Federal tax law taxes income of [Read More]

Lansing Lines is presented in cooperation with MIRS, a Lansing-based news and information service.

Universal Lead Testing Bills For Children Heading To Gov’s Desk

Young children must be tested for lead poisoning, with records of their testing placed on the same immunization certificate used to document childhood vaccines, under legislation currently on its way to the Governor’s desk.

“What this legislation does is it requires universal testing for minors for lead, and really what this is about is making sure that we are giving protection to kids from a variety of potential vectors of exposure to lead,” Sen. John Cherry (D-Flint) said to members of the media today, speaking about HB 4200 and his own SB 31 , [Read More]

By HARRIS MEYER
As regulators review Kaiser Permanente’s proposed acquisition of a respected health system based in Pennsylvania, health care experts are still puzzling over how the surprise deal, announced in April, could fulfill the managed care giant’s promise of improving care and reducing costs for patients, including in its home state of California.

KP said it would acquire Danville, Pennsylvania-based Geisinger — which has 10 hospitals, 1,700 employed physicians, and a 600,000-member health plan in three states — as the first step in the creation of a new national health care organization called Risant Health. Oakland-based Kaiser Permanente said it expects to invest $5 billion in Risant over the next five years, [Read More]

By SUSAN ADELMAN, MD
I am a pediatric surgeon. I have operated on babies who were born without a functional anal orifice, but I have never operated on babies who were born with what were called ambiguous genitalia. It just never came up in my practice. These were specialized procedures done by surgeons with advanced training and experience in such delicate matters.

With that caveat, let me weigh in on the subject of surgery designed to transition a child from his or her biological gender to the opposite gender. When I was in practice, a request for this type of surgery primarily came up in the case of babies with ambiguous genitalia [Read More]

By EWA MATUSZEWSKI
We’re a smart bunch in healthcare. We are always innovating, elevating and evolving with a tech-centric mindset. But in our quest to achieve quality scores of 3.0, 4.0 or the coveted 5.0, have we forgotten some of the basics so critical to quality, patient-centric care?  The recent hospital stay of a family member fraught with missteps and a mind-boggling lack of communication and human connection, has me thinking of a decidedly old-fashioned tool that needs to be re-emphasized in the health care context: the satisfaction survey.

In modern terms, it’s actually the user experience survey, but for our purposes it’s the patient experience of care survey. I can hear [Read More]

By SHEA MACE & DANIEL AYYASH
Wachler & Associates, P.C.

Overview

On Aug. 1 the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule establishing the Medicare hospital inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) rates and long-term care hospital prospective payment system (LTCH PPS) rates for the 2024 fiscal year (FY). CMS is required to publish annual payment rates by law, which are based on factors such as diagnosis, patient condition, treatment provided, and the local cost of labor. Inpatient hospitals who participate in the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) program and show adequate utilization of an electronic health record (EHR) will see a payment increase of 3.1%. Long-term care hospitals will [Read More]

By ALLISON TUOHY
Dickinson Wright

Hospitals play a vital role in ensuring the well-being of communities by recruiting and employing skilled physicians. However, physician recruitment in compliance with the Stark Law can be a complex task for hospital administrators, especially as hospitals and medical practices face an average 7.6% annual physician turnover rate.[1]

The Stark Law, which was enacted to prevent potential conflicts of interest and ensure the integrity of physician referrals, prohibits physicians from referring patients for designated health services to entities in which they have a financial interest unless an exception applies. At face value, physician recruitment arrangements present potential Stark Law violations if hospitals expect referrals from physicians [Read More]