AMA Health System Reform Insight
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act—health system reform legislation signed into law by President Obama on March 23—contains a number of key provisions for you and your patients. Some provisions may have an immediate impact on your practice and patients, while others will not take effect for some time.
Given the new direction for [...]
Berwick Nominated for Medicaid-Medicare Post
President Obama will nominate health-care scholar Donald Berwick to oversee Medicare and Medicaid, the nation’s health insurance programs for the elderly and the poor, an administration official said Saturday.
Berwick, who runs the nonprofit Institute for Healthcare Improvement in Massachusetts, will be tapped as the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a position [...]
e-Prescribing Controlled Substances
The Office of the Federal Register has made the DEA’s Interim Final Rule (IFR) on electronic prescribing of controlled substances public. It covers the rules for providers to follow to lawfully prescribe controlled substances electronically.
The Interim Final Rule is to be published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, March 31 and will include a 60 day comment period.
To view the [...]
House Passes Health Reform Legislation
On March 21, 2010, the United States House of Representatives passed H.R. 3590, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Also passed was H.R. 4872, the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act, which contains additional refinements. Historically speaking, these two bills are perceived to be as important as the creation of the Medicare program.
Medical Office Data Retention Webinars on 3/23 and 3/24 2010
Harmony Healthcare IT will host, on 3/23 and 3/24 of 2010, webinars on how to securely store legacy practice management data to meet state and federal record retention regulations.
Are you familiar with state and federal mandates that determine how long your practice should store historical data from your practice management system?
As practices move to electronic health [...]
Rationale for Adopting ICD-10 Code Sets
Implementation of ICD-10 and the Updated Transaction Code Sets is intended to
improve patient care quality and data reporting
enhance claim processing
promote interoperability across all industry stakeholders
What is the rationale for adopting ICD-10?
ICD-9-CM is the current code sets standard adopted by the Secretary of HHS under HIPAA. ICD-9 is used by all covered entities to report diagnoses [...]
MGMA shows ‘meaningful use’ may cause decrease in physician productivity
The Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) conducted research to determine the ability of medical groups to meet the meaningful use requirements and qualify for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) electronic health record (EHR) incentive programs. To review key findings from the research, click here.
According to an MGMA press release, it is suggested that the changes [...]
ZirMed Achieves Accreditation Recognizing Excellence in Health Data Processing
ZirMed®, our partner provider of leading national revenue cycle management solutions for healthcare has achieved full accreditation with the Healthcare Network Accreditation Program (HNAP) from the Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC). EHNAC’s HNAP accreditation recognizes excellence in health data processing and transactions, and indicates compliance with industry-established standards and HIPAA regulations.
Through a consultative review process, EHNAC [...]