For those providers and entities that think HIPAA violations are no big deal or that have yet to implement required policies and procedures, they are well advised to review the Department of Health and Human Services July 27, 2010 press release announcing a $1 million dollar settlement related to allegations…
The Medicare hospice benefit is a fully reimbursable Medicare Part A benefit option, which covers the multidisciplinary services addressing the physical and emotional pain associated with terminal illness through palliative treatment. To be eligible to elect hospice care under Medicare, an individual must be entitled to Part A of Medicare,…
Governor David Paterson has called for a mandatory session with the state legislature to address the remaining portion of the state budget. This comes after local governments around New York threatened to suspend their Medicaid payments to the state as a consequence of New York’s chronic cash shortage. The special…
Hospice providers are facing ongoing claims scrutiny, highlighting the importance of compliance. On June 8, 2010, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) held a national outreach session to educate hospice providers regarding specific vulnerabilities involving hospice services, with specific emphasis on the provision of hospice services to beneficiaries…
Federal authorities conducted the largest Medicare fraud bust ever in five different states (including Michigan and New York), arresting dozens of suspects accused in scams totaling $251 million. In total, 94 suspects have been indicted and 36 were arrested this morning including doctors and nurses in Detroit, New York City,…
Robert A. Vito, Acting Assistant Inspector General, CMS Audits, testified before the Subcommittees on Federal Financial Management of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Preventing and Recovering Government Payment Errors. In his testimony, Mr. Vito expressed concern over OIG’s June 2010 report on Invalid Prescriber Identifiers on…
A recent doctor survey study by the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) found that while physicians support the professional commitment to report all instances of impaired or incompetent colleagues, when faced with these situations, many do not report. Conducted by a team from Massachusetts General Hospital, the study used…
CMS just released its first in a series of articles that will disseminate information on Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) high-dollar improper payment vulnerabilities. The objective of such articles is to provide education regarding RAC demonstration-identified vulnerabilities to prevent the same problems from happening in the future. CMS notes two high-risk…
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced its plan to expand the use of electronic health records (EHR) through incentives payments, to improve Americans’ health, increase safety and reduce health care costs. Under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009, health care…
In addition to the many aspects of the new HIPAA rules modifying the existing HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules, if the proposed rules are finalized, covered entities will be required to make “material modifications” to their Notice of Privacy Practices (“Notice”) therefore triggering obligations to revise and distribute the “new”…