News
Time for single payer? ColdironCare
Here is my plan for single-payer health care. Call it ColdironCare.
Opinion
Lemons into lemonade: The 2019 Medicare physician fee schedule
This year’s proposed rule was particularly disturbing because of major changes in reimbursement proposed by CMS.
News
The compounding struggle continues. Write now to help your patients
Do not be naive. This is a national scope of practice issue that could determine how physicians can use medications in their offices.
News
Produce and promises
Any barrier between the patient and the physician is bad, and two or three barriers makes things logarithmically worse.
Opinion
The 2019 Medicare proposed rule might just make your head explode
When sitting through interminable meetings, endless reports, and unfocused discussions, I often feel a building pressure in my head that, if it...
Opinion
Unlikely mentors
I understood I could meekly go along - or get angry. I chose the latter, and it has greatly changed my career.
Opinion
Why contribute to your political action committee?
Having a PAC gains you access and lets you be heard. In today's noisy world, it is not easy to get your congressional representative's attention...
Opinion
Melanoma in situ: It’s hard to know what you don’t know
A recently published study that found PAs performed 36% more skin biopsies per melanoma in situ diagnosed argues for closer collaboration to...
News
Tanning is the new tobacco
I still read and hear media reports about the health benefits of tanning.
News
The Rest of the Story: Anthem rescinds modifier 25 reductions
When I was a kid, there used to be a radio show by Paul Harvey called “The Rest of the Story.” I loved this show because there was always a big...
Opinion
It takes a missile to focus your mind
I was among the dermatologists sitting in a lecture hall during a meeting in Maui when our muted smartphones suddenly started howling in unison....
Opinion
Sentinel node biopsy: Who needs it?
If completion node dissection does not save lives, why do a sentinel node biopsy?
Opinion
‘We have met the enemy and he is us’
A New York Times analysis found that independent billing by PAs or NPs accounted for more than 15% of the skin biopsies billed to Medicare in 2015...
Opinion
Well, I figured it out ... I owe my soul to the company store
The basic plan of these groups is to pay you 5-8 times EBITDA up front, which works out to be about 2 or 3 years net profits.