On December 10, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) collaborated on announcing proposed HIPAA changes, intended to “empower patients” and “improve coordination of care”. That’s encouraging, although one would have thought that to be unnecessary by now.  HIPAA was enacted in 1996.  It is a little surprising this remains a problem. The announcement and proposals occupy approximately 350 pages, accessible through this link, so…

The Pennsylvania Department of Health has announced “Amendments to Charge for Medical Records”.  Attached is the link for a copy of the notice.…

CY 2021 Physician Fee Schedule Update On December 27, 2020, the Consolidated Appropriations Act modified the Calendar Year (CY) 2021 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS): Provided a 3.75% increase in MPFS payments for CY 2021 Suspended the 2% payment adjustment (sequestration) through March 31, 2021 Reinstated the 1.0 floor on the work Geographic Practice Cost Index through CY 2023 Delayed implementation of the inherent complexity add-on code for evaluation and management services (G2211) until CY…

This article written by Michael A. Cassidy appeared in the December 2020 Issue of the Allegheny County Medical Society Bulletin.…

Recent reports indicate that House and Senate Committee leaders have apparently mutually agreed on a bipartisan arrangement for correcting or preventing surprise medical bills, although legislation has not yet been passed. Attached is an outline of the “No Surprise Act”, which essentially deals with insured patients receiving unexpected bills for medical services. Note that this must be distinguished from uninsured patients receiving medical bills, especially bills for “full fee services” when insured members…

EHR Safe Harbor Permanent The existing electronic health records items and services Safe Harbor in 42 CFR Section 1001.952(y) was amended by deleting the sunset provision, thereby making the protection permanent. Cybersecurity Technology and Services A new Safe Harbor for cybersecurity and technology services is added in 42 CFR Section 1001.952(jj) to facilitate improved cybersecurity.  The announcement states the healthcare sector is one of the most targeted industry sectors and that data breaches may have…

On December 2, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Office of Inspector General (OIG) and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will jointly publish the final regulations first proposed on October 17, 2019: 1.     AKS Safe Harbors: https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2020-26072.pdf 2.     Stark Exceptions:  https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2020-26140.pdf The regulations will become effective January 19, 2021. The Federal Register publications occupy approximately 2,000 pages. MedLaw Blog will publish a series of posts. This…