Policy and Legislation
With the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid and Office of the National Coordinator recently releasing the proposed requirements for Stage 2 meaningful use and 2014 certification of electronic health records, hospital executives are looking for viable data storage options to meet their needs.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on Friday significantly increased the number of medical records that can be requested by Recovery Audit Contractors from hospitals and other institutional providers.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released its latest proposed rule aimed at self-employed religious organizations who object to paying for preventive services and contraceptive coverage for their employers.
CMS released its final rule Friday on Medicaid eligibility. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act widens eligibility for Medicaid to adults with incomes 133 percent of the federal poverty level, or $14,856 for an individual and $30,656 for a family of four.
The federal Health Insurance Exchange regulations were released in final form last week. Now that the regs are final, Pennsylvania and the rest of the states had better get cracking, because they are all supposed to have functioning exchanges by January 1, 2014.
For the second time, the government has delayed enforcement of HIPAA 5010, CMS said Thursday. The new enforcement date is June 30, 2012.
In conjunction with NPR news, Kaiser Health News reported this week that the state of Connecticut is divvying out a new plan to replace home nurses with hired home health aides, in order to administer medications for patients with chronic illnesses.
As part of The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services effort to dramatically reduce hospital readmissions by 2013, the agency has announced 23 new organizations that will participate in its Community-based Care Transitions Program (CCTP).
In a panel discussion at the Nashville Health Care Council, one veteran Washington journalist -- along with think-tank analysts and an insurance executive -- predicted that the Supreme Court is likely to uphold all provisions of the Affordable Care Act this spring.
The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) has decided to continue its participation with a committee that helps to determine how much the government pays doctors despite that committee's rejection of most of AAFP's demands.