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Communication Tension or Breakdown
A scenario growing in frequency for physician practices and other healthcare organizations is the desire for patients to communicate with clinicians using the same tools as in everyday life. That desire translates to a preference for text messaging, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, iMessage, or any other number of third-party applications that enable quick and efficient communication. The convenience and ease of communication are also factors that give rise to a number of privacy and security
Health IT Proposals Must Do More for Patient Privacy
The American Medical Association (AMA) has submitted comprehensive comments to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) in response to the sweeping set of proposed changes to health information technology certification and implementation of the 21st Century Cures Act and to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in response to its proposal on patient access and interoperability.The AMA supports several of the proposed changes, especially around
Ignore HIPAA at Your Own Peril
After a lull in enforcement actions concerning HIPAA, the Office for Civil Rights re-entered the fray with a $3,000,000 bang. The settlement announced on May 6, 2019, imposes a significant fine after widespread non-compliance was found by OCR.As with many prior settlements, the factual scenario underpinning the latest settlement is fairly egregious. As one of many missteps, the party with HIPAA troubles, in this instance Touchstone Medical Imaging, LLC (TMI), had its troubles revealed to it by
Moving Beyond 2018 MIPS Successes and Challenges
With Q2 well under way, we’re taking stock of 2018 successes and challenges here at SA Ignite. As my colleague Leslie Athmer mentioned in her recent blog post, we submitted MIPS data for nearly 10,000 clinicians, earning an average score of 94% in the three categories submitted for their 2018 performance.Outstanding results like these don’t happen by accident. Our customers took what they learned from 2017, continued their proven processes, and tried some new tactics for 2018. Some were more
HHS To Deliver Value-Based Transformation in Primary Care
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma are announcing the CMS Primary Cares Initiative, a new set of payment models that will transform primary care to deliver better value for patients throughout the healthcare system. Building on the lessons learned from and experiences of the previous models, the CMS Primary Cares Initiative will reduce administrative burdens and empower primary
CMS Accepting New Measures for PI Program and Issues Proposed Changes for FY 2020
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) wants to remind eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals that the Annual Call for Measures for the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program is still open. Submit a measure proposal by June 28, 2019.Proposals submitted by the deadline will be considered for inclusion in future rulemaking.CMS is interested in adding measures that: Build on the advanced use of certified electronic health record technology (CEHRT) using 2015 Edition
HHS Extends Comment Period for Proposed Rules to Improve the Interoperability
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced it is extending the public comment period by 30 days for two proposed regulations aimed at promoting the interoperability of health information technology (health IT) and enabling patients to electronically access their health information. The new deadline for the submission of comments – June 3, 2019 – will allow additional time for the public to review the proposed regulations.The extension of the public comment period coincides
MIPS Cost Category 2019: What do we Know?
I often get asked what the biggest concerns are for organizations participating in MIPS. For the 2019 performance year, one of the biggest concerns is the unknowns with the Cost category. Because there are so many unknowns with this category, I’ll try to focus on what we do know.The Cost component of the total MIPS score continues to rise each year, with 2018 being the first year where 10% of the score is attributed to Cost. This will continue to ramp up each year until Cost is 30% of the score
CMS 2019 Rule Creates Incentive for Remote Patient Monitoring – How to Get Started
CMS is getting even more serious about keeping people out of the hospital, with each newly issued rule reflecting that commitment.Starting at the beginning of this year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services sought to further incentivize providers by building in reimbursement for home health monitoring applications and the labor required to make these systems successfully operate. In a final rule issued last November, the CMS clarified their stance, highlighting the three CPT codes in
Securing Data Using the “Duty of Care” Standard
The healthcare industry has a huge responsibility when it comes to information security and protecting sensitive PHI while abiding by its “duty of care” principles. However, the industry continues to suffer large data breaches despite multiple federal regulations that mandate the security and privacy of sensitive healthcare data.It’s not a lack of cybersecurity guidelines that has led to ongoing data security and privacy incidents. With the age of digital transformation in the healthcare field,
