Print this page

HealthBeat Newsletter

Healthbeat provides updates on industry news and valuable information on trends and developments within the healthcare market place.

____________________________________________________________________________________

April 4, 2012 Issue

Can I deduct this?
With the personal tax deadline on the horizon, HORNE's health care financial and tax team is working hard to ensure that accurate and timely returns are being filed for our clients. During this busy time of year, the number one question we hear is, "Did I get a refund?", and following close behind  is, "Can I deduct this?".

With the multiple Super (and not so super) Tuesday primaries and local election campaigns, we feel it is important to remind our clients that political deductions are NOT tax deductible. Donations to "Friends of <insert your favorite politician's name here>" cannot be taken as a deduction on a tax return.

Read the full article here.

Bad Debt Expense for Health Care Entities
Many health care entities recognize patient service revenue (PSR) at the time the services are rendered regardless of whether or not the entity expects to collect that amount. Such accounting practices could result in a gross-up of PSR and the related provision for bad debts. Because health care entities make their own judgments regarding adjustments to revenue and bad debts, those judgments are different from one health care entity to another, making analysis difficult for financial statement users.

Read the full article here.

ICD-10 Implementation Deadline Postponed
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced Thursday, February 16, 2012, that it will initiate a process to postpone the implementation date for the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Edition diagnosis and procedure codes (ICD-10). A new implementation date was not specified.

Read the full article here.

What does it mean to provide "value" in health care?
Value can be defined by the standard equation of quality divided by cost. This formula makes sense for many industries.  For example, most people would consider a well-built, affordably priced car to be a good value.  But in health care, value can be harder to characterize.  What exactly is health care "quality"? And does cutting costs result in poor quality?  These are important questions as our health care system moves away from a productivity-based system.

Read the full article here.

Common Physician Compensation Survey Misconceptions in Fair Market Value
Physician compensation surveys are one useful tool for establishing fair market value physician compensation. However, the user of survey data must take care to avoid some common misconceptions often encountered regarding the use of various survey data benchmarks. While not an exhaustive list, the following addresses some of the more common misconceptions found in the marketplace.

• "Anything below median (or 75th) percentile is FMV"
• "Since I'm a high producer and have already covered my fixed overhead, I should be paid more per WRVU than a low producer."
• "Employed physicians can be paid the same for taking ED call as physicians in private practice."

Read the full article here.

________________________________

HealthBeat from 2011