The HIPAA Privacy rule currently provides the right of an individual to receive an “accounting of disclosures,” essentially a listing, of occurrences where a HIPAA covered entity has disclosed the individual’s information to others–but this rule has not considered disclosures made for treatment, payment, and health care operations information that must be included in the […]
Effective May 1, 2010, physicians, IDTFs and other Part B Suppliers furnishing Non-invasive Vascular Testing in Michigan must comply with new training and certification requirements. In part, the policy, as set forth in a new LCD, states: A. Training and Certification 1. The accuracy of non-invasive vascular diagnostic studies depends on the knowledge, skill, and […]
The recently passed health care reform bill–known more technically as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act–contains a provision bound to increase enforcement regimes for health care providers. For instance, at Section 6401(a)(7), the Act creates mandatory compliance programs for providers enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid. The Secretary of Health and Human Services is tasked […]
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 those tasks. These medical services […]
The tax provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the “Act”) will impact most taxpayers. To simplify matters, it is helpful to separate the changes that will take place in 2010 and 2011 from future changes. Changes in 2010 and 2011: – Starting in 2010, small businesses will receive tax credits for purchasing […]
Effective May 1, 2010, the Dr. Ron Davis Smoke-Free Air Law prohibits smoking in public places, food establishments, and workplaces. The prohibition applies to all health facilities, hospital long-term care units, nursing homes, hospices, and homes for the aged. Business operators must post “no smoking” signs, remove ash trays and other smoking paraphernalia, inform individuals […]
Huping Zhou, a former UCLA Healthcare System cardiothoracic surgeon is the first defendant in the nation to receive a prison sentence for a HIPAA privacy violation. After admitting that he illegally read private electronic medical records of patients and obtained individually identifiable health information without a valid reason, Zhou was sentenced to four months in […]
Medicare requires that services provided/ordered must be authenticated by the author with either a hand written or electronic signature (stamps are not acceptable), although there are a few exceptions: (1) facsimiles of original written/electronic signatures are acceptable for the certification of terminal illness for hospice; (2) some orders do not need to be signed, for […]
A Detroit-area man plead guilty last week to conspiracy to commit health care fraud in an elaborate kickback operation to recruit Medicare beneficiaries to a clinic owned by his co-conspirators. According to the U.S. Departments of Justice (“DOJ”) and Health and Human Services (“HHS”), Melvin Young recruited Medicare beneficiaries to become patients at Ritecare, LLC, […]
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (“HHS-OIG”) has revealed a new section to its website dedicated to the state Medicaid Fraud Control Units (“MCFUs”). MCFUs are intended “to investigate and prosecute fraud by Medicaid providers as well as patient abuse and neglect.” While MCFUs are administered by the states, […]
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