Click the link to view the 2020 Pennsylvania Medical Record Fees:  https://www.pacodeandbulletin.gov/Display/pabull?file=/secure/pabulletin/data/vol49/49-49/1816.html#  …

A bipartisan group of senators has introduced the Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (CONNECT) for Health Act of 2019.  A summary produced by that bipartisan group is attached. If enacted, the CONNECT for Health Act solutions would be as follows: Create a bridge program to help providers transition to the goals of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) and the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) through using telehealth and…

Click on the link to an article published in the New York Times (12/4, Abelson) reporting the American Hospital Association and other hospital groups filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration “over a new federal rule that would require them to disclose the discounted prices they give insurers for all sorts of procedures.” The hospital groups claim the new rule “is unlawful, several times over,” because the Administration exceeded its authority by issuing the rule…

Attached are links to the CMS Press Release and the Trump Executive Order on Improving Price and Quality Transparency in American Healthcare to Put Patients First. The Trump Executive Order was first issued on June 21, 2019. The CMS Press Release indicates action on two rules. First, the “proposed” transparency and coverage rule would require health plans to: Give consumers real time, personalize access to cost-sharing information, including an estimate of their cost-sharing liability…

As another part of the Regulatory Sprint to Coordinated Care, OIG proposed revisions to the existing EHR Anti-Kickback Safe Harbor and added a cybersecurity component. The initial EHR Safe Harbor was developed in response to President George W. Bush’s 2004 initiative to extend EHR nationwide within 10 years, i.e. 2014.  The proponents of those EHR regulations presumably thought the task would be completed within that time frame, because the initial proposal had a 10 year…

On November 7, 2019, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (“HHS”) announced a $1,600,000 civil money penalty for violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Security and Breach Notification Rules. According to HHS, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (TX HHSC) “operates state supported living centers; provides mental health and substance use services; regulates child care and nursing facilities; and administers hundreds of…

On October 22, 2019, CMS and OIG (Office of Inspector General) released new proposed rules regarding Stark Law Exceptions and Anti-Kickback Safe Harbors in response to what has universally been christened as the “Regulatory Sprint to Coordinated Care”, first announced by HHS in June of 2018. As background, please remember that, although the Anti-Kickback Safe Harbors and the Stark Law Exceptions are confusingly similar with respect to their intended purpose, they serve the following different…