Western PA may now be ready for Narrow network contracting. Attached is the ACMS March 2015 Bulletin article for further information.… Continue Reading
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a Bill late last week, which will take effect as of January 1, expanding telehealth coverage in New York. This law does three things which are on the leading edge of telehealth coverage: First, it requires commercial insurance and medical assistance to provide telehealth coverage, which provision is often … Continue Reading
Mike Cassidy was published in the December 2014 Allegheny County Medical Society Bulletin. You can review the article here on page 500.… Continue Reading
The Pa. Departments of Health and Insurance have established a website in an attempt to provide ongoing information and guidance regarding the termination of the Highmark – UPMC relationships. see: Stayinformed.pa,gov… Continue Reading
Interesting in our Pittsburgh area that is renowned for the quality of its healthcare that St. Clair Hospital in Mt. Lebanon , PA is the only Truven Top 100, and for the 3rd year running.… Continue Reading
The March 20th edition of Modern Healthcare reports on a “patient centered telemedicine policy” to be voted on by the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB). I’ve attached links to both the article and to the FSMB model policy. The model policy, if approved, will be a recommendation to state medical boards regarding telemedicine. The … Continue Reading
Lee Kim, Tucker Arensberg attorney and Chair of the mHIMSS Legal/Policy Taskforce, will be a panelist at the American Conference Institute’s Legal and Business Guide to mHealth and Wireless Medical Technology in Washington, D.C. on April 30, 2013. Her panel will cover securing mobile devices, networks, data in the “cloud” and cybercrime.… Continue Reading
Health Industry Watch reported the following: According to the OIG, 57% of Medicare physicians used an electronic health record (EHR) system at their primary practice location in 2011, based on a sample of 2,000 physicians who provided at least 100 evaluation and management (E/M) services in 2010. Almost one quarter of physicians (22%) first began … Continue Reading
The Insurance Department has determined that the annual assessment to be levied for calendar year 2012 shall be 23% applied to the prevailing primary premium for each participating health care provider. The total assessment cost for 2012 will be $203,824,513. This amount is $26,741,075 more than what was collected form the 2011 assessment to cover claims, … Continue Reading
In Klutschkowski v. PeaceHealth, the Oregon Court of Appeals held that Oregon’s statutory cap on non-economic damages does not violate the state’s constitution remedy and jury trial clauses in an action brought to recover injuries sustained during child birth. Oregon law provides, with certain exceptions, “in any civil action seeking damages arising out of bodily…the amount … Continue Reading
In CMS Advisory Opinion AO-2011-01, CMS has issued a favorable advisory opinion allowing the physician recruitment arrangement with a hospital and a physician practice which imposes a restrictive covenant upon the recruited physician. Restrictive covenants and recruitment arrangements had initially been prohibited by the Stark Rules. However, bowing to industry comment, CMS amended the physician recruitment … Continue Reading
Google announced it will shut down its Google health personal health record service by the end of this year. The Company plans to make existing data recoverable through the end of 2013, after which it will be permanently deleted.… Continue Reading
Several physicians employed by Court Street Family Practice, a division of the Sisters of Charity Health Systems Inc. (Health System) resigned to join a competing practice owned by a competing health system. The employment contracts included a “Limitation of Practice” clause which “forbade them from practicing medicine with Central Maine Health Care Corporation, its affiliates or … Continue Reading
The last day for eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals to begin their 90-day reporting period for this fiscal year for the Medicare EHR incentive program is July 3, 2011. Hospitals and critical access hospitals must begin their 90-day reporting period by this date if they still want to successfully demonstrate meaningful use and receive … Continue Reading
On November 15, 2010, the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Health and Human Services jointly issued an amendment to the interim final rules relating to status as a grandfathered plan under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. With the amendment, insured group health plans are now able to … Continue Reading
There have been many articles written about the negotiation and enforceability of physician restrictive covenants, but there are just a few fundamental concepts crucial to understanding and successfully navigating these issues. 1. The Myth of Unenforceability. Many physicians either completely ignore or dismiss the significance of restrictive covenants because of the mistaken belief that restrictive covenants … Continue Reading
The Health Information Technology for Clinical Health Act (the "HITECH" Act) provides economic incentive for the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology and qualified Electronic Health Record systems ("EHR"s). A physician, other professional, or hospital shall be deemed to be a meaningful EHR user if: 1) Certified EHR technology is used in a … Continue Reading
Thanks to the commenters of the linkedIn Health Innovations Group for highlighting the Harvard study concluding that hospital computing modestly improves processes, juxtaposed with CMS announcement of intent to publish EMR incentive payment and meaningful use regs in early January. http://www.federalregister.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2009-31217_PI.pdf http://www.amjmed.com/webfiles/images/journals/ajm/AJM10662S200.pdf… Continue Reading
In Wojnicki v. Warren Geriatric Village, Inc. a malpractice action against Dr. Manisha Gupta and Anchor Senior Medical Services, LLC., a Michigan state court ruled that the nursing facility must indemnify Dr. Gupta for failing to provide the tail portion of a claims made malpractice policy. The issue in this case was which party is … Continue Reading
One component of the ongoing health care reform debate is the cry for tort reform. While tort reform would certainly be welcome in the health care industry, the need for tort reform is more an issue of justice than controlling health care costs. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Congressional Research Service provided a report (Medical … Continue Reading
The Pennsylvania Insurance Department published a notice in the Saturday October 24, 2009 PA Bulletin announcing the 2010 MCare assessment to be 21% of the “prevailing primary premium,” which is the Joint Underwriting Association’s (JUA) occurrence rate. … Continue Reading
