Every cloud has a silver lining.

On Wednesday, July 6, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a proposal to change the length of the Meaningful Use reporting period for 2016 from a full calendar year to only 90 days. "These changes include a proposal for clinicians, hospitals and critical access hospitals to use a 90-day EHR reporting period in 2016—down from a full calendar year for returning participants,” CMS stated in its announcement. “This increases flexibility and lowers the reporting burden for hospital providers.”

The public comment period for the newly proposed MACRA rule ended this past Monday. As expected, the new program, put forth by CMS, created a lot of controversy in the medical industry. While not all of the 3,700 comments from healthcare providers and professionals were negative, the proposed rule was far from perfect in the eyes of many.

Compliance never sleeps, especially if you're a specialty physician and important dates are upcoming that you need to be aware of in your practice. Whether you're a dermatologist, ophthalmologist or a plastic surgeon, ensure that your practice addresses these compliance items in the coming days and weeks.

All 50 states may not be on board the telemedicine train as of now, but don't count the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs among the detractors. According to a report from Politico, the VA's Chief Officer for the Office of Connected Care, Neil Evans, announced at an American Telemedicine Association event that the VA performed approximately 750,000 medical visits via telemedicine in 2015.

Results from Medscape Education’s two-year study on generational factors and their impact on patient engagement reveals that providers need to help equip patients across generations with the skill set for shared decision-making concerning their health. Each generation has its own set of values, communication style and expectations about their approach to health and relationships with their providers. Therefore, specialty providers must first understand the different expectations and unique needs of their multigenerational patients in order to deliver the right information and support needed to fully participate in their care.

The ICD-10 transition last October brought much stress to the healthcare community. With more than 144,000 codes and so much to learn, providers wondered how it would impact their practices, financially and administratively.

For specialty providers, especially those practices who rely on referrals from other doctors, maintaining an online presence may not be at the top of the priority list. But just like any other business, it is imperative that specialty medical practices make an effort to be online. Naturally, the next question is how do you go about solidifying our practice's online presence? Here are three ways to accomplish just that.