In the Proposed Rules, the link for which was provided in the August 29, 2006 MedLaw Blog post, CMS announced proposed changes to the reassignment exceptions for purposes of Medicare billing and to the definition of “centralized building” for purposes of the ancillary services exception of Stark II.
REASSIGNMENT
CMS is basically proposing to treat…
CMS and the OIG are concerned with the potential for erroneous payments for either unjustified or medically unnecessary services in the independent diagnostic testing facilities (IDTF), which concern is initially based upon an audit performed for fiscal year 2001 by the OIG (A-03-03-00002). Therefore, in the August 22, 2006 Proposed Regulations, a link to which was…
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued the 2007 Proposed Physician Fee Schedule in the August 22, 2006 Federal Register: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/quarterlyproviderUpdates/downloads/cms1321p.pdf. In addition to the fee schedule reductions arising out of the proposed revisions to the work relative value units (RVUs) as proposed in…
JCAHO MS.1.20 (i.e. the proposed medical staff by-laws standards to be adopted by the Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations) has been generating significant controversy since amendments were first proposed in January of 2004, which amendments would have required approval of both the medical staff and the hospital governing board to adopt and…
An adverse peer review report to the National Practitioner Data Bank is a threat frequently used by hospitals to leverage physicians into otherwise unacceptable peer review compromises. Once the report has been made to the Data Bank, the alleged adverse peer review of action is public knowledge and significantly jeopardizes physicians’ continued practice opportunities. Although the Data…
Following is the text from the payment delay reminder issued by HGSAdministrators (now Highmark Medicare Services):
A brief hold will be placed on Medicare payments for all claims during the last 9 days of the Federal fiscal year (September 22 through September 30, 2006). These payment delays are mandated by Section 5203 of the Deficit…
The final rules for the Stark excetions allowing entities to provide non_monetry assistance for electronic health records and e-prescribing systems were issued in final form and are avaialable on the CMS web site mentioned in the press release reproduced in the MedLaw Blog.
Continue Reading Stark Exceptions for E-Prescribing and E-Health Records Final
The Pennsylvania Legislature enacted the Health Savings Account Act (the "HSA Act") 72 P.S. §§3402b.1-3402b.6, on July 14, 2005, to be effective sixty days thereafter. As enacted, Section 4 of the HSA Act did not provide an exclusion from Pennsylvania tax for contributions by employers and employees to health savings account plans. Accordingly, there were not deductions…
This article is a reprint of the article as presented In the Allegeny County Medical Society Bulletin of July 2006.
Continue Reading Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) Provide Alternative to Health Insurance With Savings Opportunity
CCHIT was awarded a contract in September of 2005 by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop and evaluate criteria and to establish an inspection process to provide certification for electronic health records. CCHIT has been endorsed by the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and the American…
