Meaningful Use Sees Impressive Payouts since Beginning CMS recently released the numbers for the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs through February 2013. About $12.6 billion has been paid out to participants by the program so far. Although only 4,299 hospitals are actively...
HHS Releases RFI on Interoperability and HIE HHS, CMS and ONC have released a Request for Information (RFI) seeking input on policies and programs to encourage health information exchange (HIE) through interoperable systems. Although the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs and...
Deciphering the HITECH Omnibus Rule: Business Associates Since the HITECH Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) was released in July of 2010, covered entities and business associates have been waiting (im)patiently for the Final HITECH Omnibus Rule to be released. As of this past...
ONC Setting Stage for NHIN Governance Guidance Last year, ONC announced that it would not be moving forward on establishing governance regulations for the Nationwide Health Information Network (now called the “eHealth Exchange”) as a result of the comments and feedback it received. ...
Kaiser Permanente Faces Investigation Over Inappropriate Storage of Patient Records by Contractor Kaiser Permanente is facing investigation over the handling of approximately 300,000 patient records by a contract storage firm. According to an article in the LA Times, Kaiser contracted...
HHS Rings in 2013 with News of Settlement for Small Breach We hope all of our readers had a happy and relaxing holiday season, and we wish you all the best for this New Year! It seems fitting for the first post of the year to revolve around HHS’s announcement of its first breach settlement...
CMS Releases Meaningful Use Changes in Interim Final Rule with Comment CMS has announced the release of an Interim Final Rule with Comment (“IFC”) that makes several changes to the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs and 2014 EHR Certification Criteria. Short and sweet, the...
OIG Finds Fault with CMS Meaningful Use Oversight In a report released on November 29, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) chastised CMS for not doing a better job of pre and post-payment oversight for the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs (Meaningful Use). As of September...
OCR Releases HIPAA De-identification Q&A Guidance With the weekend coming up, why not take a break from the holiday frenzy and read through OCR’s new HIPAA De-identification guidance. The approximately 30-page guidance document is an easy read, even for those of us who aren’t...
SERCH Project Recommendations for HIE and Disaster Preparedness As Helen noted in her post on Thanksgiving, Superstorm Sandy re-emphasized the need for health care organizations to have plans in place for disaster preparedness, data backup and recovery. As New York and New Jersey...
Last Call for Hospital Attestations CMS is reminding hospitals that Friday, November 30, is the last day to register and submit their attestations for FY 2012 Meaningful Use incentive payments. Hospitals must attest to having successfully met all Meaningful Use requirements in order to...
Guess What? OIG DOES Care about EHRs and Meaningful Use Today marks the last day for hospitals to return an 18-page, 54 question survey inquiring about their EHR practices, security, coding and other potential EHR fraud and abuse vulnerabilities. Hospitals using certified EHR...
“Final Countdown” to the HITECH Omnibus Rule The date for publication of the HITECH “Omnibus Rule” has become a contest for some. Data breach consultant, IdExperts, has launched a “Final Coundown” contest for individuals to guess the date on which the Omnibus Rule will actually be...
BCBS Plans Defend against Antitrust Class Actions Back at the end of July, a class action lawsuit was filed against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama (BCBS Alabama), the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (the “Association”), and multiple BCBS Plans for antitrust violations. The...
August Goes Out with a Bang: Stage 2 Final Rule & HIPAA Arrest August ended in a whirlwind of federal activity, with CMS and OCR publishing the long-awaited Meaningful Use Stage 2 Final Rule and its accompanying Standards & Certification Criteria. And, as if Stage 2 wasn’t...