Articles and Blogs

Recently, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) published additional guidance for Medicare eligible hospitals seeking to avoid the 2016 Medicare EHR Incentive Program payment adjustment. Medicare eligible hospitals can avoid the 2016 payment adjustment by taking action by April 1 and applying for a 2016 hardship exception. The hardship exception application and instructions for Medicare... READ MORE

On February 6, the Food and Drug Administration (the “FDA” or “Agency”) released a finalized guidance (the “Guidance”) informing the public that the Agency does not intend to enforce any regulatory requirements applicable to several types of devices and software that transfer, store, convert, format and display medical data, specifically including medical image storage (“MIS”)... READ MORE

On January 20, 2015, the Food and Drug Administration (the “FDA” or “Agency”) published two draft guidance documents designed to fulfill promises it made in the multi-agency Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act (“FDASIA”) Health IT report. The first draft guidance is intended to promote the innovation of general wellness devices and... READ MORE

In November 2014, the ECRI Institute¹ issued a report discussing issues of patient safety and adverse events linked to health information technology (“IT”) products. The report comes in the form of an annual list of top ten health technology safety hazards. According to the ECRI Institute, although many facets of health IT have a... READ MORE

Health care data breaches are not new. The breach announced by health insurer Anthem on February 5, 2015 is notable mostly for its scope. According to Anthem’s statement, hackers utilized a very sophisticated cyber attack to gain access to the information of potentially 80 million current and former Anthem members. The information accessed included... READ MORE

In December of 2014, Massachusetts finalized a state law that requires physicians to demonstrate proficiency in using EHRs and/or being a “meaningful user” under the Department of Health and Human Services’ Meaningful Use Electronic Health Record Incentive Program (“Meaningful Use Program”) as a condition of licensure. Massachusetts’ changes to the license requirements are another indication of... READ MORE

Two proposed regulations under the Medicare & Medicaid EHR Incentive Program (“MU Program”) were submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) on December 31, 2014.  The two related proposed regulations relate to Stage 3 and the submission to OMB represents the first step toward the proposed regulations being published and available for review... READ MORE

This week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) announced that it is extending the deadline for eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals (“CAHs”) to attest to meaningful use for the Medicare Electronic Health Record  Incentive Program for the 2014 reporting year from 11:59 PM EST on November 30, 2014 to 11:59 PM EST on December... READ MORE

On October 31, 2014, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) released the Work Plan for Fiscal Year 2015 (“Work Plan”). The Work Plan confirms OIG will continue to concentrate a great deal of their enforcement efforts on the security and vulnerabilities of protected health information (“PHI”) contained... READ MORE

WEBINAR As we move into the second year of open enrollment through the Health Insurance Exchanges, it is time to revisit the issue of Premium Support Programs, an issue that had a bit of a rollercoaster ride during last year’s open enrollment. Has the dust settled enough that you can safely implement a Support... READ MORE