Part B News | Editors' Blog

CMS answers more meaningful use concerns in FAQs

by: Lauren C. Williams May 20, 2011

CMS released a new batch of FAQs Friday regarding Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs, which could aid your eager pursuit of attesting meaningful use. Some of CMS's responses include clarification on what "exchange of electronic information" means in the “capability to exchange key clinical information” objective, how to count patients in “swing beds” and in nursery day care as part of the meaningful use denominator and more.

CMS Innovation Center launches 3 ACO initiatives

by: Grant Huang May 17, 2011

CMS is launching three new initiatives relating to Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) that have nothing to do with the ACO proposed rule, but come instead from the agency's new Innovation Center. Remember: The Innovation Center was established by the health reform law as a testing ground for new Medicare payment models aimed at curbing the unsustainable cost of the nation's priciest entitlement program.

CMS debuts National 5010 Testing Day

by: Lauren C. Williams May 12, 2011

CMS has designated June 15 as National Testing Day to ensure your practice will be HIPAA 5010 compliant come January 2012.

The decision came as a response to the Medical Group Management Association’s (MGMA) letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius from October 2010.

“Designating a national testing period in advance of the compliance date will focus the industry’s attention to prepare internal systems for the move to Version 5010 and begin testing electronic transactions with trading partners,” MGMA wrote in its letter.

CMS chief puts personal stamp on push for EHRs

by: Grant Huang Apr 18, 2011

CMS's push for you and your peers to adopt electronic health record (EHR) systems by 2016 has a passionate advocate in Administrator Donald Berwick, MD, a former pediatrician appointed by the Obama administration. Dr. Berwick, who is generally well regarded in the physician community, appears in a four-minute YouTube video released last week to make a personal case for EHR adoption. Dr. Berwick describes the benefits of an EHR from his clinical perspective, and tells an interesting anecdote of treating an autistic native American child in a remote reservation.

AMA issues wish-list of demands to CMS

by: Grant Huang Apr 15, 2011

What would you like CMS to give you for Christmas? The AMA is showing its cards -- in a recent letter sent to CMS chief Donald Berwick, the top physician advocacy group provided a long list of "the most burdensome regulations [physicians] deal with" and asked for change.

The letter is intended as a response to President Obama's Jan. 18 executive order asking federal agencies to remove or reduce regulations that unnecessarily have a negative impact on small business. The AMA's response takes aim at a dozen Medicare and Medicaid regulations and policies, including a few recent favorites you'll recognize.

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