At this juncture, healthcare providers, to a greater or lesser extent, have begun to acquire at least a basic understanding of the recent federal health reform legislation, commonly known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). At the same time, many in the provider community are looking beyond…
In a not surprising turn of events, days before the June 1st deadline, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced that it is again delaying the enforcement of the identity theft regulations through December 31, 2010. This latest delay came at the request of certain members of Congress while Congress considers…
On May 7, 2010, CMS promulgated Transmittal 697 to align the requirements governing the timely filing limits (for submitting claims for Medicare Fee-for-Service (“FFS”) reimbursement) with the requirements set forth in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the “PPACA”). By way of background, a service provider or supplier formerly…
As reported in the May 14th HLP blog, the Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Health and Human Services (HHS) recently released the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program (HCFAC) Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2009, which reflects that $2.51 billion was deposited to the Medicare Trust Fund in 2009,…
This month, the Office of Inspector General published its report of the activities and results of the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program for 2009. A few highlights from the report include: 1014 new criminal health care investigations opened, 583 fraud-related convictions concluded, and $1.63 billion in judgments and…
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid published an interim final rule on May 5, 2010, that begins implementation of certain provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) relating to Medicare and Medicaid program integrity. The regulations, with a comment period ending on July 6, 2010 (the effective date…
A recent New York bill, S04998, clarifies the scope of practice for physician assistants. Specifically, it authorizes physician assistants to perform medical services that the physician is otherwise authorized to perform, if the physician is supervising the physician assistant, and if the physician assistant has the necessary training to perform…
Meaningful use of electronic health records (EHR) technology has recently been expanded to include physicians providing services in outpatient facilities, according to the Continuing Extension Act of 2010. Initially, Congress had intended that only those physicians who purchased and implemented EHR technology would be eligible for the incentive payments, which…
The Continuing Extension Act of 2010 was signed into law on April 15. This law reinstates the March 31 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (Fee Schedule) rates for physicians, postponing, yet again, the anticipated-21.3% cut. The zero percent (0%) update to the Fee Schedule has been extended to May 31 will…
Pursuant to the healthcare reform bill that was signed into law by President Obama on March 23, 2010 (“the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” or “the Act”), physicians who furnish MRI, CT or PET tests within their practices for their patients are now required to provide their patients with…