Medscape Business of Medicine has released a report detailing 12 stocks for physicians to enhance their portfolio.

This article is written by Michael J. Sacopulos is the CEO of Medical Risk Institute.

The past several years have witnessed explosive growth in HIPAA and HITECH Act enforcement actions against medical providers. Many of these actions relate to misadventures by vendors and business associates of the providers. In 2012, the Minnesota Attorney General's office announced a $2.5 million fine levied against a medical collections firm for data breaches.

At the 19th Annual Ambulatory Surgery Centers Conference in Chicago on Oct. 26, 2012, author, television commentator and business journalist Suzy Welch moderated a panel discussion on the best ideas and biggest threats to ambulatory surgical centers today.

Stephen Hochschuler, MD, founded Texas Back Institute in Plano in 1977 with Ralph Rashbaum, MD, and Richard Guyer, MD. During that time, consensus seemed to believe that the physician's role was to focus on taking care of patients and not to worry about the business of medicine, according to Dr. Hochschuler.

This conference includes great spine, orthopedic and pain management physician leaders as speakers. These include speakers such as Charles Gordon, MD, of Texas Spine and Joint Hospital; David Rothbart, MD, of Spine Team Texas; Richard Wohns, MD, of South Sound Neurosurgery; Scott Glaser, MD, of Pain Specialists of Greater Chicago; Kenneth Pettine, MD, of The Spine Institute and Loveland Surgery Center; Brian Cole, MD, of Rush University Medical Center; Laxmaiah Manchikanti, MD, of the American Society for Interventional Pain Management Physicians; John Caruso, MD, of Parkway Surgery Center; John Peloza, MD, of the Center for Spine Care; and James T. Caillouette, MD, of Hoag Orthopaedic Institute will all lead informative sessions about the biggest ideas, challenges and trends in spine, orthopedics and pain management.

Spine practices can follow one of several different business models with a focus on either surgical cases, non-surgical cases or a mix of both. When founding his group, Sonoran Spine Center, Dennis Crandall, MD, chose a model that emphasized treating all different types of patients.

Here are eight business opportunities for pain management center to take advantage of in 2012.

This article was written by Blair Rhode, MD, Sports Medicine Orthopedic Surgeon and owner, RoG Sports Medicine

"Doctors have less and less authority today, it continues to be taken away... yet they have more and more responsibility."— Lanny Johnson, MD

Here are eight best practices for managing orthopedic and spine surgery centers.

Here are 12 ways ambulatory surgery center leaders plan to improve the experience of their ASC physicians in 2012.