From the HHS Press Release: Proposed Rules Offer States Flexibility, Choices, Competition And Clout For Consumers And Small Businesses On July 11, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed a framework to assist states in building Affordable Insurance Exchanges, state-based competitive marketplaces where individuals and small businesses will be able to […]
From the HHS Press Release: Following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR), the University of California at Los Angeles Health System (UCLAHS) has agreed to settle potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy and Security Rules for […]
From the CMS Press Release: CMS announced Tuesday a number of proposed changes to Medicare home health payments for 2012 that if finalized will promote greater efficiency and payment accuracy. A proposed rule was displayed at the Federal Register today proposes a 3.35 percent decrease in Medicare payments to home health agencies (HHAs) for calendar […]
From the CMS Press Release: Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, nearly 500,000 people with Medicare Part D who reached the gap in coverage know as the “donut hole” have received an automatic 50 percent discount on their covered brand name prescription drugs. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) posted data today that […]
From the CMS Press Release: The Partnership for Patients is a new public-private partnership that will help improve the quality, safety, and affordability of health care for all Americans. The Partnership’s two goals are reducing harm in hospital settings by 40% and reducing hospital readmissions by 20% over a 3-year period. To achieve these goals, […]
From the CMS Press Release: Technology is Similar to Tools Used by Credit Card Companies, Builds on White House Campaign to Cut Waste On the heels of the White House launch of the Campaign to Cut Waste – an administration wide initiative to crack down on waste, fraud and abuse, the Centers for Medicare & […]
From the CMS Fact Sheet: The Federally Qualified Health Center Advanced Primary Care Practice (FQHC APCP) demonstration project is a new Affordable Care Act initiative that will pay an estimated $42 million over three years to up to 500 FQHCs to coordinate care for Medicare patients. This demonstration project, operated by the Centers for Medicare […]
From the CMS Announcement: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced two steps that will help modernize America’s health care delivery system by encouraging doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers to adopt and meaningfully use health information technology. Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, providers are receiving incentive payments through both […]
From the CMS Fact Sheet: On May 19, 2011, the Medicare EHR Incentive Program issued the first round of payments totaling $75 million to providers who signed up in the first two weeks of the program. On April 18 CMS opened a secure website through which eligible professionals (EPs), eligible hospitals, and critical access hospitals […]