Two hospitals in Anoka County have fired 32 employees for accessing the medical records of patients without permission or a legitimate reason to do so. The employees accessed the medical records of certain patients that were hospitalized due to a massive drug overdose stemming from a party; the overdoses were…
Recovery Audit Contractors (RAC) recovered $237.8 million in the six-month period that ended in March. This amount is already three times more than the amount of money recovered in the previous year. According to recent estimates, CMS alleges that the total sum of Medicare improper payments exceeds $47 billion annually.…
U.S. attorneys have issued letters to state officials addressing the illegality of medical marijuana. The letters were sent to several states (Washington, California, Colorado, Montana, and Rhode Island) warning them that everyone from licensed growers to regulators could be subjected to civil and criminal prosecution. These warnings have cause Washington…
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently published a checklist for physicians and treating practitioners to follow in order to help them comply with documentation requirements for the face-to-face examination that must occur prior to the physician ordering a Power Mobility Device (PMD) for a Medicare beneficiary. The…
Registration for the meaningful use incentive program began January 1, 2011 with more then 20,000 doctors registering for the program. This program was implemented as a means to incentivize physicians and hospitals to utilize electronic medical record systems. Certain metrics were established and participants must comply with them for 90…
The Durable Medical Equipment (DME) Competitive Bidding Program was implemented as a means to lower costs and improve beneficiary services in the DME industry. It consists of a bidding and selection process based on certain criteria determined by CMS. The Round 1 Rebid competition went into effect in 2009 across…
Those practices with electronic health record systems (EHR) in place appear to be very happy with the results. A survey conducted by the Medical Group Management Association found that 72% of practices with implemented EHR systems were “satisfied” with the results. Further, those practices which have optimized their EHR systems…
Despite efforts by various groups to have the face-to-face encounter requirement delayed for hospices and home health agencies, the requirement became effective as of April 1, 2011. For more information regarding this issue, please see a recently authored article by Wachler & Associates attorneys Amy K. Fehn and Jennifer Colagiovanni entitled…
On April 7, 2011 CMS held a telephone conference for hospitals to answer questions on the recently released Accountable Care Organizations proposed rule and to provide further instruction on the submission of comments to CMS for consideration. The CMS representatives stated that more information regarding the Centers for Medicare and…
CMS Recently released a proposed rule which would reverse the policy of heightening restrictions on suppliers of durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies (DMEPOS). The proposed rule relaxes previously onerous rules regarding the prohibition of telemarketing and beneficiary solicitation which were implemented on September 27, 2010. If you have…