Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield plans to follow the Medicare reductions for the technical component of multiple diagnostic imaging services beginning in the spring of 2007. Following is a quote from the announcement in the December 2006 PRN:
“Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield plans to reduce payment for certain diagnostic imaging services when more than one…
It seems that electronic health records (EHRs) are constantly being touted as the next best way to improve both healthcare quality and medical practice profitability, but adoption of EHRs by physician practices continues to languish. The range for provider adoptions in small and solo practitioners’ offices, as determined by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is somewhere…
The Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 contains provisions to improve health savings accounts (HSAs):
1. HSA Funding Contributions: The Act allows rollover contributions from flexible spending accounts (FSAs) and health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) into HSAs as long as the contributions are no more than the balance of those accounts as of…
Assuming siganture by the President of the "Medicare Improvments and Extension Act of 2006" , the following will be the major Medicare changes for the coming year. The complete text of the changes and Committee reports are avaialble on the link in the article posted here yesterday.
1. 2007 PHYSICIAN FEE SCHEDULE: The conversion…
Both Houses of Congress have approved the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006, which eliminates the planned 5% Medicare Physician Fee Schedule cut for 2007. The bill now goes to the White House and President Bush is expected to sign it. The bill contained other key health care provisions which we intend to explain in…
BNA Health Care Daily has reported that House & Senate leaders have agreed upon a compromise that will eliminate the physician fee schedule pay cut which would have been implemented by the SGR fee schedule mechanism. The House and Senate are expected to vote on the measure today.
Henry Butler, M.D. asks what the PA MCARE report means in laymen’s language. Although the surchaerges are decreasing, the unfunded liability is $2.33 and rising! Physician migration from PA appears to have remain unchanged during the program. PA desires to end the program and encourage privitization of the excess or second layer of covergage. Worthy…
Pennsylvania allows health care facilities or health care providers to charge fees for the reproduction of medical records. Below is the exact text of the announcement in the
December 2, 2006 Pennsylvania Bulletin (Vol. 36, No. 48, pages 7345 and 7346) announcing the approved fees for 2007:
Under 42 Pa. C.S. § § 6152 and 6155…
The Pennsylvania Commission on the Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error Fund (MCARE Fund) was created in December of 2005 for the purpose of investigating methods to reduce the unfunded liability of the MCARE Fund and the phasing out of the MCARE Program. The MCARE Program was created by Act 13 of 2002 to replace…
All health care providers covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) must begin using the standard unique identifiers for healthcare providers and health plans mandated by HIPAA no later than May 23, 2007. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services release on November 17, 2006, “every covered health care…
