A Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) official reported that there will be 257,000 penalties levied for failing to meet Medicare Meaningful Use and notices will begin going out January 1, 2015. The penalty letters will state that there will be a 1% reduction in Medicare payment for not meeting Meaningful Use criteria.
By Lawrence G | January 6, 2015 | Electronic Medical Records News, Healthcare Laws and Regulations |
Any provider who received electronic health record (EHR) incentive payments for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program or the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program may be subject to an audit. According to The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) website (cms.gov) Figliozzi and Company will be performing the meaningful use audits and if you are selected for an audit,
By Lawrence G | December 23, 2014 | Electronic Medical Records News, Healthcare Laws and Regulations |
Expect EHR audits in 2015. The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has requested a $400 million budget for 2015. Part of this budget will be spent on 284 new full time employees to help bolster their audits and reviews with much scrutiny on IT security and electronic health records. Daniel Levinson,
By Lawrence G | November 10, 2014 | Electronic Medical Records News, Healthcare Laws and Regulations, Healthcare News |
In my opinion, (and without taking sides of the political table), the jury is still out on whether or not ObamaCare is a good thing or not. From a consumer standpoint, the rise in costs is certainly not a good thing. While I understand that health plans now have to cover more conditions/illnesses than they did before since ObamaCare eliminates pre-existing conditions and that might be why the cost is going up,
By Lawrence G | November 7, 2014 | Healthcare Laws and Regulations, Healthcare News |
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS.gov) recently updated their ‘Payment Adjustments & Hardship Exceptions Tipsheet for Eligible Professionals’. The information pertains to Medicare Eligible Professionals who are not meaningful users of Certified Electronic Health Record (EHR) and the payment adjustments that will be applied beginning January 1, 2015. Meaningful use is using certified electronic health record (EHR) technology to: improve quality,
By Lawrence G | October 9, 2014 | Electronic Medical Records News, Healthcare IT, Healthcare Laws and Regulations |
New Jersey failed to submit a revised plan by last Thursday’s deadline for using a federal grant to help uninsured citizens receive medical coverage. The $7.6 million Affordable Care Act grant, intended to assist the state with setting up its own insurance marketplace, has expired and is now forfeit, according to the U.S.
By Lawrence G | February 26, 2014 | Healthcare Laws and Regulations |
Section 179 of the IRS Tax Code allows a business to deduct the full purchase price of certain types of financed or leased equipment and software for the current tax year. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), as well as other stimulus acts including 2013’s American Taxpayer Relief Act, have increased the Section 179 deduction limit,
By Lawrence G | November 15, 2013 | Healthcare IT, Healthcare Laws and Regulations |
AHMC Healthcare, based in Alhambra, CA, reported that the theft of two laptops has resulted in 729,000 patients’ protected health information (PHI) being compromised. This is the 11th largest HIPAA breach so far.
Surveillance video showed that a transient broke into an administrative office on October 12th and made off with two password-protected laptop computers,
By Lawrence G | October 29, 2013 | Healthcare IT, Healthcare Laws and Regulations |
The compliance date for ICD-10 implementation is just fourteen months away, and the new code set is inspiring negativity in some. With over five times as many codes as the current ICD-9 set, and a radically different structure to boot, “ICD-10 will be one of the most significant changes the physician practice community has ever undertaken –
By Lawrence G | August 9, 2013 | Healthcare IT, Healthcare Laws and Regulations |
With the adoption of any new technology, there will be a perfect bell curve each time. However, EMR adoption was accelerated by the Medicare EHR Incentive Program, also known as Meaningful Use. By providing a financial incentive, Meaningful Use sped the process up by approximately 7-10 years.
The maximum incentive possible from Medicare in 2009-2011 was $44,000.
By Lawrence G | July 17, 2013 | Electronic Medical Records News, Healthcare Laws and Regulations |
