Restructured Medicare DME Program Launches July 1
Barring congressional action, phase one of a competitive bidding program for Medicare durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics and supplies, or DMEPOS, is set for implementation on July 1 in...
View ArticleN.Y. Initiative Couples Payment and Practice Reform
A medical home pilot project under way in New York state is the first such pilot in the country to link primary care practice reform with fundamental changes in physician payment methodology. Data...
View ArticleHHS Hikes Value of Mental Health Services in Medicare
Family physicians treating seniors for mental health disorders, such as depression, recently got a pay raise from the federal government.
View ArticleRegister Now to Access 2007 PQRI Practice Data in July
CMS has issued a call to all physicians anxious to review their 2007 Physician Quality Reporting Initiative, or PQRI, quality measures data: Register now with CMS’ security system so that access to the...
View ArticleLow Physician EHR Adoption Rates a Concern
A recently released study examining physicians’ use of electronic health records, or EHRs, in the United States concluded that just 4 percent of physicians have an extensive, fully functional EHR at...
View ArticleGoogle Offers Consumers Online Health Record Access
Google Inc., familiar to millions of people around the globe as an Internet search vehicle, recently launched a Web-based health information service called Google Health that allows consumers to create...
View ArticleMerger Spells e-Prescribing Success for FPs
Effective July 1, RxHub and SureScripts, the nation’s two largest electronic prescribing, or e-prescribing, networks, consolidated their operations to become SureScripts-RxHub. The merger forms a...
View ArticleCMS Recruits Qualified Clinical Data Registries
Physicians who plan to use a clinical data registry to submit data for CMS’ 2008 Physician Quality Reporting Initiative, or PQRI, need to act quickly to ensure that their registry meets CMS criteria...
View ArticleNew Balance Billing Patients Rule in California
As of October 15, 2008, there is a new California state rule that bars hospitals and doctors from billing patients for the balance of emergency treatment not paid by insurance companies. Hospitals and...
View ArticleCaremore Healthplan of California
For well over a year now, we have been receiving EOBs from Caremore Healthplan of California with numerous under-payments and over-payments errors. Take for example, one check that we received: They...
View ArticleLook out for the new CMS 1500 forms
The new CMS forms were designed to change over from ICD9 to ICD10 diagnosis codes. During the implementation period when both versions are accepted, there will be an indicator added to designate which...
View ArticleCMS Reveals New Medicare Card Design
Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) gave the public its first look at the newly designed Medicare card. The new Medicare card contains a unique, randomly-assigned number that...
View ArticleCalifornia updates laws on protected health information
Effective Jan. 1, 2020, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, officially called AB-375, grants consumers the right to request a business to disclose the categories and specific pieces of...
View ArticleTricare Contracting and Credentialing Change
Tricare West recently announced a change that will take effect in the middle of this month. MHN (Managed Health Network), a sister company to Health Net Federal Services (HNFS) will no longer be...
View ArticleLow Physician EHR Adoption Rates a Concern
A recently released study examining physicians’ use of electronic health records, or EHRs, in the United States concluded that just 4 percent of physicians have an extensive, fully functional EHR at...
View ArticleGoogle Offers Consumers Online Health Record Access
Google Inc., familiar to millions of people around the globe as an Internet search vehicle, recently launched a Web-based health information service called Google Health that allows consumers to create...
View ArticleMerger Spells e-Prescribing Success for FPs
Effective July 1, RxHub and SureScripts, the nation’s two largest electronic prescribing, or e-prescribing, networks, consolidated their operations to become SureScripts-RxHub. The merger forms a...
View ArticleCMS Recruits Qualified Clinical Data Registries
Physicians who plan to use a clinical data registry to submit data for CMS’ 2008 Physician Quality Reporting Initiative, or PQRI, need to act quickly to ensure that their registry meets CMS criteria...
View ArticleNew Balance Billing Patients Rule in California
As of October 15, 2008, there is a new California state rule that bars hospitals and doctors from billing patients for the balance of emergency treatment not paid by insurance companies. Hospitals and...
View ArticleCaremore Healthplan of California
For well over a year now, we have been receiving EOBs from Caremore Healthplan of California with numerous under-payments and over-payments errors. Take for example, one check that we received: They...
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