Articles and Blogs

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) implemented changes to Internet-based PECOS to allow providers easier access to information. The following enhancements are now available:

The 2012 Consumer Health IT Summit will be held on September 10, 2012 from 10:00 am to 3:30 pm EDT at Hubert H. Humphrey Building in Washington, D.C.  Topics of discussion will include announcements about new policies and federal initiatives, creative approaches to motivate and support consumer engagement in health, and compelling consumer tools that…Read More

It is common for high level business executives, skilled professionals, physicians and other key employees to enter into employment contracts with their employers.  It is also common for these employment contracts to contain restrictive no-solicitation and no-compete provisions that prohibit these employees from competing with the employer in a defined territory and for a defined…Read More

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services Division of Quality Assurance (“DQA”) has issued DQA Memo 12-012, repealing the statewide variance permitting verbal and telephone orders to be authenticated within 48 hours.

The 2% across-the-board cut in reimbursement for Medicare providers, the result of last summer’s “Super Committee” failure, is scheduled to take place January 1, 2013.  The President recently signed legislation requiring a report detailing how the sequestration process will affect Medicare providers.  Skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) have already seen significant cuts to reimbursement; an additional…Read More

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Background A major study of the board structures, processes and cultures of large, private, nonprofit health systems in the United States has just been completed by Lawrence Prybil, Ph.D., President of Commonwealth Center for Governance Studies, Inc., and his research team, which included Rex Killian, President of Killian & Associates (“K&A”) and Of…Read More

Does this sound like a good and reasonable thing to say to an employee who has brought a complaint to your attention? “Please keep our discussions confidential while our investigation is ongoing.” Well, it may not be so good or reasonable according to the NLRB.  Employers faced with suspected employee misconduct have an obligation – in fairness…Read More

In a recent Public Notice the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) seeks to develop a more robust record in the pending Rural Health Care reform rulemaking, particularly with regard to the proposed Broadband Service Program (“BSP”). Through the FCC’s Universal Service Fund Program (“USFP”), the FCC has funded (on an eighty-five percent (85%) basis) infrastructure projects…Read More

Virtually all employers that have an Employee Handbook also have an acknowledgement of receipt of the Handbook.  It is very common in the acknowledgement for an employer to clearly spell out the fact that the employee is an “Employee-At-Will”.  Now this common employer practice is being challenged by the NLRB. Do Handbook Acknowledgements Violate the Law? In…Read More

CMS Issues FY 2013 Hospital Payment Rule On August 1, CMS issued the final rule for hospitals paid under the Inpatient Prospective Payment System (“IPPS”) and Long-Term Acute Care Hospital Prospective Payment System (“LTCH”).  The FY 2013 payment rates to general acute care hospitals will increase by approximately 2.3% and by 1.7% for all LTCHs, which is…Read More