Andrea Kraynak, April 15, 2009. CMS continued its efforts this week to educate healthcare providers on the permanent Recovery Audit Contractor program with an Open Door Forum call for Medicare Part B providers on April 14. A similar call for Part A providers was held on April 8. Providers may wish to listen to the […]

HealthLeaders Media, April 16, 2009. A new survey of hospital CIOs finds that the federal government’s $36 billion “carrot” of financial reimbursements to install electronic health records won’t be nearly as powerful an incentive as the “stick” of reduced Medicare reimbursements if they don’t. The survey of 100 hospital CIOs was conducted in March and […]

Health Leaders Media – April 13, 2009. CMS today announced the 14 communities around the nation that have been picked for its three-year pilot project to eliminate unnecessary hospital readmissions that cost Medicare billions of dollars annually in preventable care. A study published this month in the New England Journal of Medicine found that nearly […]

Medical Economics – March 16, 2009. This material originally appeared in the March 6, 2009, issue of Health Lawyers Weekly, a publication of the American Health Lawyers Association (www.healthlawyers.org). On February 27, the Florida District Court of Appeal, First District, found that an insurance carrier forfeits its right under state law to contest the medical […]

HHS/CMS — April 6, 2009. CMS ANNOUNCES 2010 PAYMENT INFORMATION FOR PART C MEDICARE ADVANTAGE PLANS AND PART D PRESCRIPTION DRUG PLANS The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today issued the Announcement of Calendar Year (CY) 2010 Medicare Advantage Capitation Rates and Medicare Advantage and Part D Payment Policies.  The Announcement updates and […]

Analysis of 2003-2004 Medicare claims data reveals that almost one-fifth (19.6 percent) of Medicare beneficiaries in the FFS program discharged from a hospital were rehospitalized within 30 days, and more than one-third (34 percent) were rehospitalized within 90 days, according to an article in the April 2 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. […]

Federal Health Architecture Delivers Free, Scalable Solution Helping Organizations Tie Health IT Systems into the NHIN The Federal Health Architecture is making software available as a first step to help public and private health information technology systems communicate to the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN), a federal initiative to facilitate the electronic exchange of health […]

CCH® Medicaid – April 1, 2009. In November 2008, CMS issued the first changes in conditions for coverage for ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) since 1982 (see ¶180,745). The new rules go into effect May 19, 2009. At the American Health Lawyers Association Institute on Medicare and Medicaid Payment Issues on March 24th, Claire Miley, of […]