More medical schools are publishing literary magazines and artistic journals that encourage doctors, nurses and patients to express their feelings through artistic endeavors, such as painting, writing and photography. Not surprisingly, the field of art therapy is rapidly expanding in physician practices.

With managed care and the rising cost of running a medical practice continuing to eat away at physician incomes, it would be easy to assume that the gap between compensation in academic practices versus private practices would have narrowed. That assumption would be wrong. A recent survey shows compensation in academic practices continues to lag that of private practices.

Medical identity theft is a disturbing and growing trend, and the onus is on physician practices to guard patient records. The cost of not doing so can be considerable: A new survey shows it takes twice as much time to detect medical fraud and more than twice as money on average to remedy each case.

More physicians are attempting to boost revenue by charging patients new "add-on" fees for such things as missed appointments, filling out medical school or work forms, providing copies of records, or general administrative work. But doing so effectively without incurring the wrath of your patients is key.