January 8, 2013 John DeGaspari
news
A Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute study shows that fewer than one in five healthcare providers meet Medicare Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) requirements. Those that meet PQRS thresholds now receive a 0.5 percent Medicare bonus payment. In 2015, bonuses will be replaced by penalties for providers who do not meet PQRS requirements. As it stands, more than 80 percent of providers nationwide would face these penalties.
January 7, 2013 Mark Hagland
blog
It's so easy to go straight to quotes from classic movies, isn't it? On the other hand, this one from Bette Davis just seems to fit perfectly, right now: "Fasten your seat belts. It’s going to be a bumpy night!" But the uncertainly in Washington shouldn’t delay healthcare IT leaders' work building the new healthcare.
January 5, 2013 Mark Hagland
article
In the wake of the so-called “fiscal cliff deal” that averted the effects of federal budget sequestration for two months when it was passed by Congress on Jan. 1 and signed by President Obama on Jan. 2, Blair Childs, senior vice president for public affairs at the Charlotte-based Premier health alliance, spoke with HCI Editor-in-Chief Mark Hagland about the current policy and political situation on Capitol Hill. To paraphrase Bette Davis, healthcare providers need to expect a bumpy ride throughout 2013.
January 4, 2013 Rajiv Leventhal
news
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) Office of E-Health Standards and Services (OESS) announced this week that HIPAA-covered entities will have an extra 90 days to comply with operating rules for checking eligibility for health plan coverage and the status of healthcare claims electronically.
January 2, 2013 Rajiv Leventhal
news
Upon learning of the Jan. 1 news that Congress put into place a one-year “doc fix” to prevent a 26.9-percent immediate Medicare reimbursement cut to physicians, the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) is calling on legislation to repeal the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula.
January 2, 2013 Mark Hagland
article
At approximately 11 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 1, the U.S. House of Representatives concluded voting, by a margin of 257 to 167, to approve a bill that the U.S. Senate had approved at about 1:57 a.m. Tuesday, to avert the so-called “fiscal cliff” triggered on Tuesday by prior legislation passed in 2011. The legislation forestalled for several weeks the triggering of federal budget sequestration, which would have unleashed $110 billion in across-the-board federal spending cuts, including across-the-board 2-percent Medicare reimbursement cuts to healthcare providers.
January 1, 2013 Mark Hagland
article
At approximately 1:57 a.m. eastern time on Tuesday morning, Jan. 1, the U.S. Senate passed legislation designed to avert a combination of automatic tax increases and budget cuts, less than two hours after the federal government had technically “gone over the fiscal cliff.”
December 31, 2012 Mark Hagland
article
Even as Vice President Joe Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell reached an agreement Monday afternoon, Dec. 31, on a tentative deal to stave off large tax increases beginning Tuesday, Jan. 1, they remained at an impasse on whether and how to prevent $110 billion in across-the-board federal spending cuts—among them Medicare reimbursement cuts, according to media reports Monday. As a result, the country will “go over the fiscal cliff,” to use a phrase initially coined by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to describe succinctly a federal budget sequestration process involving hundreds of billions of dollars in increases in federal tax rates combined with hundreds of billions of dollars in federal spending cuts, all of which begin Jan. 1.
December 26, 2012 Rajiv Leventhal
news
The Washington, D.C.-based Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance (MITA) has applauded members of Congress for voicing their concern about the significant cuts that have been made to Medicare reimbursement rates for medical imaging in a letter to House leadership led by Representatives Jim Gerlach (R-PA) and Gene Green (D-TX).
December 26, 2012 John DeGaspari
news
An analysis of nationally representative survey data found significant improvement in the delivery of underused care, but more limited changes in the reduction of inappropriate care in ambulatory health care settings between 1998 and 2009, according to a report published Online First by Archives of Internal Medicine.
December 22, 2012 Mark Hagland
article
On Dec. 20, Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, announced that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) had issued conditional approvals to three states as they move to implement health insurance exchanges. Meanwhile, the leaders of eight state governments have still not yet declared their intentions with regard to this mandatory element of the healthcare reform law.
December 21, 2012 Mark Hagland
article
Complications of partisan politics threatened to cripple efforts to resolve the so-called “fiscal cliff” crisis on the evening of Thursday, Dec. 20, as a House Republican plan popularly known as “Plan B” failed to garner enough support to lead to a floor vote, throwing the entire process into confusion.
