Legislation was recently passed which will allow hardship exemptions from financial penalties for failing to meet Stage 2 meaningful use electronic health record (EHR) requirements in 2015. Spearheaded by Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) and as reported on Practice of the Future, “A patient-centered health care system relies on the principles of quality and responsiveness.
By Lawrence G | January 8, 2016 | Healthcare Laws and Regulations |
October 1, 2015 – less than a month away and the ICD-10 transition will be one of the largest healthcare transitions ever seen in the US. The switch will affect all healthcare providers and patients – it is an across the board switch, so providers are all ‘in it together’ focusing on the switch and the planning the implementation.
By Lawrence G | September 4, 2015 | Electronic Medical Records News, Healthcare Laws and Regulations |
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT is a staff division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (ONC). They recently published nearly 250 public comments that it received regarding the draft of its nationwide interoperability roadmap. The comment period was open for 90 days and ended on May 1, 2015.
By Lawrence G | June 19, 2015 | Healthcare Laws and Regulations, Healthcare News |
On April 16th, President Obama signed into law the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA CMS reform). This historic Medicare Reform has several very important effects on Medicare.
The legislation permanently repeals the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR), creates a framework for rewarding clinicians for value over volume,
By Lawrence G | May 20, 2015 | Healthcare Laws and Regulations |
On March 26th the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation (with a 392-37 vote) to permanently replace the Medicare sustainable growth rate formula and reimbursement mechanism. The senate did not review the bill before its 2 week recess. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said that the Senate will act quickly on the legislation when the session resumes on April 13 stating,
By Lawrence G | April 14, 2015 | Healthcare Laws and Regulations, Healthcare News |
Groups including American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Academy of Family Physicians recently wrote to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) voicing their concerns stating that “the transition to ICD-10 represents one of the largest technical, operational, and business implementations in the health care industry in the past several decades” and arguing that there needs to be industry wide end-to-end testing as the current testing shows results only for a broad overview of claims.
By Lawrence G | March 24, 2015 | Healthcare Laws and Regulations, Healthcare News |
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.
By Lawrence G | March 17, 2015 | Healthcare Laws and Regulations, Healthcare News |
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,
By Lawrence G | March 13, 2015 | Healthcare Laws and Regulations, Healthcare News |
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.
By Lawrence G | March 10, 2015 | Electronic Medical Records News, Healthcare Laws and Regulations, Healthcare News |
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.
By Lawrence G | February 17, 2015 | Healthcare Laws and Regulations |