A draft bill is being circulated among Congress that outlines a plan for achieving interoperability (the ability of any authorized user to read a medical record from any source) by year 2018. This bill is Rep. Mike Burgess’ (R-Texas) plan to appoint a 12 member committee to help develop standards and stop Electronic Health Record (EHR) software from blocking other interfaces.
March 17, 2015 | By Lawrence G |
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently conducted a week long test wherein 660 volunteer Medicare fee-for-service providers, clearing houses and billing companies submitted about 15,000 test claims, and Administrator Marilyn Tavenner says CMS is ready. Of the claims submit 56% were from professionals, 38% were from institutions and 6% were supplier claims.
The goal of the test is to have providers successfully submit claims using ICD-10 codes to the Medicare Fee-For Service (FFS) claims systems,
March 13, 2015 | By Lawrence G |
March 20th is now the deadline date set for 2014 Meaningful Use Attestation. The date was originally set at February 28th, but Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) extended the deadline to allow providers more time to gather and submit their data. During this extension period, providers an also utilize their one “switch” from Medicare to Medicaid or Vice Versa.
March 10, 2015 | By Lawrence G |
mHealth is an abbreviation for mobile health, a term used for the practice of medicine and public health supported by mobile devices. The term is most commonly used in reference to using mobile communication devices for health services and information and includes technology such as apps (applications), wearables and cloud services. The market for these technologies is growing and as more options become available,
March 2, 2015 | By Lawrence G |
Weaknesses in cyber security surely exist and the recent Anthem breach has many believing that this is just the start of an awful trend. As well as the actual medical and miscellaneous personal information, social security numbers and financial information (for payment to providers) are all in one place – providing the winning trifecta for hackers.
February 24, 2015 | By Lawrence G |
Last week in the Annual Budget presented by President Obama, the White House asked Congress to “encourage efficient care by improving incentives to provide care in the most appropriate ambulatory setting.” What this means in plain English is that the White House is looking to close the existing gap in payments that Medicare (the government health insurance program for those over 65 or disabled) makes to independent doctors vs.
February 17, 2015 | By Lawrence G |
After several delays, much debate and worry from providers across the nation, ICD-10 finally seems to have the green light, at least based on the interpretation from 2 senators of the recently released report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) feel that the conversion will meet the October 1,
February 13, 2015 | By Lawrence G |
Under the 2009 economic stimulus package, medical providers who demonstrate meaningful use of certified Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems can qualify for Medicaid and Medicare incentive payments. The American Medical Association (AMA) is leading a coalition of 35 medical societies and this group recently sent a letter to the National Coordinator for Health IT recommending major changes to the certification program.
February 9, 2015 | By Lawrence G |
Though there have been delays and many continue to lobby for further delays citing that ICD-10 ‘costs too much’, has ‘too many codes’, and has ‘too many other mandates’, there are many that are championing the new code set. One such advocate states that another delay could threaten national security.
Juliet Santos of consultancy Leidos Health recently published an article at ICD-10 Monitor that states,
February 2, 2015 | By Lawrence G |
2015 is here and with the ICD-10 coding standard deadline set for October 2015, organizations and providers continue to ready themselves for the new coding. Here’s what’s happening …
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will be conducting a weeklong ICD-10 end-to end test using approximately 850 volunteer providers.
January 27, 2015 | By Lawrence G |
