Articles and Blogs

CMS Releases Proposed Inpatient Prospective Payment Rule On April 24, CMS issued its annual hospital inpatient prospective payment system proposed rule for fiscal year 2019. Under the proposed rule, hospitals would get a $4 billion increase for inpatient services next year, which includes a $1.5 billion hike in uncompensated care payments. Acute care hospitals... READ MORE

Eligible Professionals participating in the Medicare Meaningful Use Electronic Health Record Incentive Program have until October 1, 2017 to submit a hardship application to avoid a downward payment adjustment in 2018. A participant may submit a hardship application if the Eligible Professional: Is a first-time Eligible Professional who intends to participate in the advancing care information performance... READ MORE

The news of the $155 million settlement between eClinicalWorks (“eCW”), several eCW employees and the U.S. Department of Justice has left many current users of the eClinicalWorks EHR (“eCW EHR”) wondering what impact it will have upon them. First, the terms of the settlement provide several rights to current users. Second, actions taken to... READ MORE

The Cures Act addresses certain electronic health record (“EHR”) difficulties faced by physicians who practice primarily in ambulatory surgery centers (“ASCs”). Section 16003 explicitly excludes physicians who furnish substantially all of their Medicare services at ASCs from the penalties imposed under various programs for failure to adopt a certified EHR. Under the current Medicare... READ MORE

This week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) announced that the attestation deadline for the Medicare Electronic Health Record Incentive Program (“Meaningful Use Program”) is changed from February 29, 2016 to March 11, 2016. The new deadline applies to all eligible professionals, eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals participating in the Meaningful... READ MORE

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

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