by Gary Pritts | May 18, 2016 | CMS Quality Payment Programs, General News
Why is Meaningful Use not dead? For hospitals, and for physicians participating in the Medicaid MU program, no imminent change is expected in the Meaningful Use rules. However, CMS is exploring options for updating these programs to reward providers for outcomes, to allow providers flexibility, to promote innovation and new technologies and to encourage interoperability.
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by Eagle Editor | May 16, 2016 | General News, HIPAA
Despite the high stakes, some healthcare providers have been rather blasé about security. But, a failure to comply with HIPAA rules can lead not only to penalties of up to $50,000 per record depending on the level of negligence but also to a class action suit in a civil court and criminal charges. What can you do about that?
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by Gary Pritts | Apr 21, 2016 | General News, HIPAA
The HITECH Act, enacted by Congress in February 2009, mandated that the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) enhance its enforcement efforts through the use of random HIPAA audits. OCR conducted a pilot audit program in which an audit protocol was created and 115 covered... Read More
by Gary Pritts | Apr 21, 2016 | General News, HIPAA
Over the last 6 months the HHS Office of Civil Rights (OCR) has announced an average of a settlement or other enforcement action per month. While most affected organizations were hospital systems or national companies, one small organization also was included. Here is... Read More
by Gary Pritts | Apr 21, 2016 | General News, Health Information Technology
Ransomware is a type of malware that quickly encrypts the files of the host computer system, rendering them unusable, and then displays a message demanding a ransom within a short period of time. If the ransom is paid, the victim may receive a decryption key to... Read More
by Gary Pritts | Apr 21, 2016 | CMS Quality Payment Programs, General News
Yesterday, Senators Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Michael Bennet (D-Colorado), along with U.S. Representatives Renee Elmers, Tom Price, M.D., Bobby Rush and Ron Kind introduced the Flexibility in Electronic Health Record (EHR) Reporting Act, which would shorten, in... Read More
