Articles and Blogs

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”), the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (“ONC”) and the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) are accepting comments on their recently issued final FDASIA Health IT Report, entitled Proposed Strategy and Recommendations for a Risk-Based Framework. The agencies are seeking public comment on the questions... READ MORE

 On April 3, 2014, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”), the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (“ONC”) and the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) released their long-awaited final report on health information technology (“Health IT”), entitled Proposed Strategy and Recommendations for a Risk-Based Framework. According to the report, the degree... READ MORE

Marilyn Tavenner, the administrator of CMS, indicated that providers, payers and claims clearinghouses can look for no relief from the looming October 1 compliance deadline for the nationwide conversion to the ICD-10 family of diagnostic and procedural codes. She made this statement in her February 27, 2014 address to the HIMSS convention in Orlando... READ MORE

The Meaningful Use Workgroup provided its recommendations on Meaningful Use Stage 3 to the Health IT Policy Committee on February 4.  Stage 3 would focus on improving outcomes.  Further discussion of the recommendations will be held on February 14.  The proposed timeline sets proposed rulemaking for fall 2014 and final rulemaking for the first half of 2015. ... READ MORE

CMS announced last week that it is extending the deadline for eligible professionals to attest to meaningful use for the Medicare Electronic Health Record (“EHR”) Incentive Program 2013 reporting year from 11:59 PM ET on February 28, 2014 to 11:59 PM ET March 31, 2014.  This extension will allow more time for eligible professionals to submit their meaningful... READ MORE

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) published important payment adjustment information this week for health care providers participating in the Medicare Electronic Health Records Incentive Program (“Incentive Program”). Eligible Professionals (“EPs”) participating in the Incentive Program may be subject to payment adjustments beginning January 1, 2015. CMS will determine the payment adjustment based on meaningful use data submitted prior... READ MORE

Executive Summary On December 27, 2013, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) and Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) published final rules that amend regulations commonly known as the “EHR Donation Regulations.”  The EHR Donation Regulations consist of an exception to the physician self-referral law (Stark) (42 CFR 411.357(w)) and a safe harbor... READ MORE

Regulations to extend the exception from the Stark Law and safe harbor from the Anti-Kickback Statute for the donation of electronic health records (“EHRs”) have been cleared by the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) and will be published on December 27.  The relevant provisions of the amendments are: (1) the exception/safe harbor for... READ MORE

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (“ONC”) has announced a webinar regarding the proposed regulatory timeline for electronic health record (“EHR”) certification criteria for 2015.  The webinar will take place on Wednesday, December 18 at 4:30 PM and is scheduled to last 30 minutes.  You can register here. If you... READ MORE

CMS has indicated that it intends to extend Stage 2 of meaningful use attestation under the Medicare/Medicaid Electronic Health Record (“EHR”) Incentive Program.  In a recent blog post, CMS states that the new or modified Stage 3 requirements for becoming a meaningful user of a certified EHR technology will not be effective until 2017... READ MORE