The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Rush University Medical Center agreed to settle a qui tam lawsuit alleging that Rush violated the Federal False Claims Act (FCA). The lawsuit, filed on July 12, 2004, alleged that Rush had violated the FCA by submitting certain false claims for payment to…
A bill in Florida’s Senate would target Medicaid fraud through the creation of a Fraud Strike Force and the expansion of the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) within the Florida Attorney General’s (AG’s) office. The Fraud Strike Force would direct state and local authorities to work together to more effectively…
Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announced $162 million in awards created to help states advance the meaningful use of health IT through state health information exchange. The awards are part of a $2 billion effort, funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment…
The American Hospital Association (AHA) submitted comments to CMS on the proposed definition of “meaningful use” of Electronic Health Records (EHR). The Health Information Technology for Economic Clinical Health (HITECH) Act contains an EHR Incentive Program. That program is designed to encourage eligible providers to make “meaningful use” of EHR…
A New York Times article from March 15, 2010, documents the most serious problem with cuts to Medicaid payments to doctors: doctors dropping out of the program. The article focused on doctors in and around Flint, Michigan. According to the article, in 2008 Medicaid reimbursements averaged only 72 percent of…
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded the Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) and the Michigan Department of Information Technology (MDIT) a $14.9 million grant to encourage the expansion and success of health information technology (HIT) in Michigan. The funds, provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment…
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act passed signed into law by President Obama impacts providers in several ways. One of the areas of impact to providers is the expansion of the Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) Program. The Act expands the RAC Program to Medicaid by requiring that each state…
For the first time, Michigan providers must charge patients less than the previous year for copies of medical records. The Michigan Medical Access Act of 2004 regulates the access to and disclosure of medical records. Under the Act, the Department of Community Health has the responsibility to adjust on an…
The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) was issued in order to establish programs by which health IT technologies will be tested and certified. Such programs were mandated by the HITECH Act, which provides incentive payments to providers who demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic health record (EHR) technologies. Companion regulations…
A final rule published by the Department of Health and Human Services expanded the scope of the National Practitioner Data Bank to now include disciplinary information on all licensed health care professionals, including nurses, podiatrists, chiropractors, and physician assistants. Prior to this new rule, the databank, established under the federal…