Contributed by Lee Kim, Esquire
The American Medical Association has posted HIPAA Security Rule guidance for physicians. It recommends that electronic protected health information ("ePHI") should be encrypted and suggests that AES technology should be used (as a more secure alternative to RSA technology). Both data at rest (e.g., files which reside on your hard drive…
Section 6003 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), which is the 2010 Healthcare Reform Act, imposes a new disclosure requirement for in office ancillary service referrals of imaging services. Section 6003 requires that referrals of MRI, CT, PET, and other designated health services as specified by the secretary, must be accompanied…
Contributed by Albert Lee & Katherine Koop
alee@tuckerlaw.com, kkoop@tuckerlaw.com
Graduating from medical school, joining a practice and staying until retirement rarely happens these days. (Although nationwide physician turnover rates have been on the decline, from 6.7% in 2006 to 6.1% in 2008, some estimate that 40% of newly practicing physicians leave their initial practice …
Medicare Explains Timely Filing Requirements for Medicare Fee-For-Service Claims
On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), which amended the time period for filing Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) claims as one of many provisions aimed at curbing fraud, waste, and abuse in the Medicare program.
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Contributed by Lee Kim, Esquire
lkim@tuckerlaw.com, 412.594.3915
The mention of the HIPAA security rules often provokes an irrational fear in people who are not so technically inclined, but there is a difference between knowing the legal compliance requirements and being an information technology specialist. Here is a simple summary of your security obligations and…
All are invited to join a White House Conference Call on Health Insurance reform today, Thursday April 1 at 5:00PM EST. Call 800-230-1951 (a phone number for the AT&T teleconference service) a few minutes prior to the scheduled time and ask the operator for the "Health Care Call." Thank you to Lynn Sweet, columnist and…
The Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS") is hosting an online question and answer session open to the public at 7PM Eastern with a question and answer session.
Here is the link to the webcast:
Cases with opposing interpretations on this issue were decided within the past month. Heretofore, the basic question had been whether medical staff bylaws constituted contracts under state law. The majority of courts deciding these cases have concluded that medical staff bylaws were valid contracts. In the states with the opposite holdings, the basic theory was that bylaws merely…
Information Regarding the Holding of April Claims for Services Paid Under the
2010 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (3-26-2010)
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is working with Congress, health care providers, and the beneficiary community to avoid disruption in the delivery of health care services and payment of claims for physicians, non-physician…
Senate failure to pass 30-day extension causes 21.3 percent cut to Medicare physician payments on April 1.
The Senate has adjourned for 2 weeks without postponing the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) Medicare Physician Fee Schedule reduction. For the past several months, since the problem arose 1/1/10, carriers have responded by advising physicians to …
