During the current congressional recess, President Barack Obama appointed Donald Berwick, MD, current president and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, to fill the role of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) administrator.
The federal government's lawsuit over the new healthcare reform bill evolved into a war of words last week when the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) filed its motion to dismiss the constitutional challenges against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act brought by 20 states, the National Federation of Independent Business and individuals affected by the mandate to adopt healthcare insurance.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has delayed the Joint Commission’s requirement to implement CMS telemedicine standards for both general and critical access hospitals until March 2011.
The only alternatives to the federal healthcare reform that would have covered more Americans at a lower cost to the federal government were politically untenable, and would have included substantially higher penalties for those who don't comply with mandates, lower government subsidies and less-generous Medicaid expansion, according to research published in the June edition of Health Affairs.
"While efforts of the federal government, states and stakeholders to implement the HITECH Act are worthy of praise, there are course corrections that must currently be made to occur at both the legislative and regulatory levels," according to a report released by Manatt Health Solutions.
Federal attorneys, acting on behalf of Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, filed a 39-page brief in the U.S. District Court of Richmond in Virginia this week, in an attempt to dismiss Virginia’s lawsuit against the Obama Administration’s healthcare reform law.
According to the 13th annual Department of Justice (DoJ) Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program report for fiscal year 2009, the federal government won or negotiated approximately $1.63 billion in judgments and settlements and U.S. Attorneys' offices opened 1,014 new criminal healthcare fraud investigations involving 1,786 potential defendants.
Leadership and vision are crucial for an e-prescribing initiative because effective leadership is necessary to build commitment across a team, according to Diane R. Jones, JD, vice president of policy and programs at e-Health Initiative during an informational webinar on the current and future states of e-prescribing.
The Office for Civil Right (OCR) in the Department of Health and Human Services, in accordance with the Privacy Act, has proposed to modify the Program Information Management System (PIMS), regarding its use of data from organizations concerning breaches of protected health information.
President Barack Obama signed into law the Continuing Extension Act of 2010, which delayed the 21 percent cut in Medicare physician pay...again.
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Relaxing the meaningful use standards, as some physician organizations and members of Congress are urging the Department of Health and Human Services to do, would be a boon to the EMR industry, according to market research firm Kalorama Information. The report predicts the $13.8 billion market could, if properly driven by incentives, grow in double digits.
Nevada, Arizona, Indiana, North Dakota and Mississippi have joined the 13 attorneys general (AG) who are party to the suit challenging the healthcare reform law, filed by Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum. Two of the state governors, Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, have sidestepped their AGs to partake in the lawsuit.
Now that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is one year old, it’s time to ask if the federal government has gotten IT right, according to an editorial in the April issue of HealthAffairs.
Family medicine needs influential, aggressive allies, according to a commentary by Mary Nolan Hall, MD, and Jerry Kruse, MD, along with the Association of Departments of Family Medicine, that was published in the January/February edition of Annals of Family Medicine.
A number of healthcare organizations are urging Congress to pass legislation to stop a 21 percent cut in physician payments for Medicare that is scheduled to go into effect today. Meanwhile, in a replay of the situation that took place a month ago, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has instructed contractors to hold Medicare claims for the first 10 business days in April in order to give Congress time to pass legislation.
Thirteen state attorneys general (AG) have jointly filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Treasury and the U.S. Department of Labor alleging the healthcare reform bill signed into law by President Barack Obama March 23 is unconstitutional. The Virginia AG has filed a separate lawsuit, due to specific state laws related to health insurance coverage.
The American College of Radiology (ACR), American Board of Radiology, Radiological Society of North America and the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine have submitted joint comments to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) regarding proposed implementation of the Medicare/Medicaid program on meaningful use of certified EHR technology.
The U.S. Senate yesterday passed legislation that will delay the date of a 21.2 percent Medicare payment cut to physicians until Oct.1.
ATLANTA–At a roundtable discussion at HIMSS, David Blumenthal, MD, National Coordinator for Health IT, took a range of questions from about three dozen AMDIS members and physician IT leaders and emphasized the need for CMIOs and healthcare professionals to submit their comments to CMS as well as their congressional representatives.
Written by Jeff Byers
ATLANTA--Healthcare reform isn’t going to happen in the halls of Congress, but through improved data-driven quality throughout the U.S. healthcare system, said Susan DeVore, president and CEO of Premier, during an educational session Tuesday at HIMSS10.
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“We’re beginning a revolution the way information is collected, managed, used and purposed for patients in the U.S. healthcare system,” said David Blumenthal, MD, chair of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, in opening remarks at an audioconference training session on meaningful use and EHR certification last week.
In Part 1 of our closer look at the final rules for meaningful use and EHR certification standards, CMIO’s Jeff Byers spoke with David Blumenthal, MD, chair of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT. In Part 2, CMIOs weigh in with mixed reviews.
The framework for meaningful use is “something that had to be done and has been started intelligently,” John P. Glaser, PhD, vice president and CIO of Partners HealthCare System told CMIO. However, the challenges of becoming meaningful users and optimizing health information exchange will require unprecedented levels of communication within organizations and among healthcare systems, he said.
The contractual obligations in the notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on modifications to the HIPAA privacy, security and enforcement rules under the HITECH Act for business associates and downstream entities are game changers, according to Amy S. Leopard, JD, from Walter and Haverfield, during a webinar sponsored by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS).
Standardizing performance measures, with the help of health IT, will make it possible to collect the right data at the right time to support performance measurement, clinical decision support, clinical research and quality improvement, said Janet M. Corrigan, PhD, president and CEO of the National Quality Forum (NQF) during a webinar hosted by the forum on June 17.