Two more data breaches were revealed this week, one in South Carolina and one in Georgia, with the latter involving patients’ protected health information (PHI). Well over a million records have been exposed in several security breaches over the past month.
The South Carolina Health and Human Services Department announced the improper transfer of more than 200,000 Medicaid beneficiaries’
By Lawrence G | April 20, 2012 | Electronic Medical Records News, Healthcare Laws and Regulations, Medical Billing Software |
With many citizens of the country likely engaged in medical assistance and consultation that they do not want publicized, organizations like HHS step in to present sanctions when this basic right to privacy is violated.
By Lawrence G | April 20, 2012 | Healthcare Laws and Regulations |
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced this week that Arizona-based Phoenix Cardiac Surgery, P.C. has agreed to pay a $100,000 settlement and implement corrective actions to protect patient information.
An extensive investigation by the HHS Office for Civil Rights was launched because the practice was reportedly posting patients’
By Lawrence G | April 19, 2012 | Healthcare Laws and Regulations, Medical Billing Software |
The Top 100 Hospitals according to Thomson Reuters have been found to be more fully utilizing Electronic Medical Records (EMR) systems, as determined by HIMSS Analytics.
There is a higher percentage of the hospitals in question (including Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, NJ, Baystate Medical Center in Springfield,
By Lawrence G | April 18, 2012 | Electronic Medical Records News, Healthcare IT, Healthcare Laws and Regulations |
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced that 27 Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) have entered its Shared Savings Program, created by the Affordable Care Act to facilitate coordination and cooperation among providers to improve the quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries.
The 27 ACOs have entered into agreements with CMS to take part in the program,
By Lawrence G | April 13, 2012 | Electronic Medical Records News, Healthcare Laws and Regulations |
A recent study suggests that twenty percent of the over two trillion dollars spent annually in the United States on healthcare is being wasted. The authors, Dr. Donald Berwick (former administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) and Andrew Hackbarth (policy analyst for the RAND Corporation), published their findings in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
By Lawrence G | April 12, 2012 | Electronic Medical Records News, Healthcare Laws and Regulations |
The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) has been very vocal in recommending that medical facilities across the country do their best to implement ICD-10 provisions as quickly as possible, regardless of the deadline extension.
By Lawrence G | April 12, 2012 | Healthcare Laws and Regulations |
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a proposed rule on April 9th to delay the compliance date for ICD-10 (International Classification of Diseases, 10th Edition) by one year, to October 1, 2014. The rule would also add a requirement for NPI (National Provider Identifier).
The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) has expressed its preference for “no delay”
By Lawrence G | April 11, 2012 | Healthcare Laws and Regulations, Medical Billing Software |
While the ICD-10 implementation deadline was in limbo for multiple weeks, HHS recently came forth to propose a concrete one-year extension of the original start date, meaning that healthcare providers would have until October 2014 to get the necessary coding metrics in order.
By Lawrence G | April 11, 2012 | Healthcare Laws and Regulations |
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has posted the full set of proposed measures that eligible providers, hospitals, and Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) would need to use to qualify for Medicare and Medicaid Stage 2 Meaningful Use bonus payments beginning in 2014.
Some of these measures have not yet been endorsed by the National Quality Forum and are therefore subject to change,
By Lawrence G | April 9, 2012 | Electronic Medical Records News, Healthcare Laws and Regulations |
