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CMS announced updates on several fronts. They are removing pain management from patient survey questions so that over medication will not be done. They are angering hospitals by making payments site neutral. This may discourage the purchasing of physician offices. They are also adding and changing some quality measures. The AMA backs the neutral payment site rule.
The House has issued a report about the Obama administration's spending of money on Obamacare without Congressional approval. This is central to the recent court loss by the administration on Obama's overreaching his authority on the subsidies. There were never any funds earmarked to that part of the Obamacare plan. Even the administration realized their problem and requested and then rescinded the request for $4 Billion annually for the cost sharing program.
The House has voted to expand conscience protections for healthcare providers and physicians who do not believe in abortion. The Republicans sans one and three Dems voted for the proposal. The bill would allow those who believe they have been made to do things against their conscience the right to sue. The bill will probably die in the Senate.
Both houses have passed and sent for signature a bill that allows NP and PAs to prescribe buprenophine to treat opiod addiction. There is no funding for the bill and there does not seem to be a need for any except for a feasibility study to see if physician training is needed.
The feds have barred Elizabeth Holmes, the chief exec and founder of Theranos Labs, from owning or operating a medical laboratory for at least two years. The have also revoked the certification of its laboratory from Medicare and Medicaid as well as issued them an undisclosed fine.
The North Dakota Insurance Commissioner has fined Sanford Health Plan $22,000 for not leaving out information in their Medicare supplement insurance advertisements and not complying with state regs.
The Illinois Department of Insurance has ordered a start-up Obamacare insurer not to pay $31.8 million it owes to the feds for the risk adjustment. The Land of Lincoln Health Plan is in financial trouble and the shut down would hurt competition in the state, according to the Department. As it turned out most of the co-ops under the Obamacare plan are going under.
The Connecticut Insurance Commissioner had place the Obamacare insurer HealthyCT under an order of supervision. This means they can not write any new policies or renew any. The reason is the feds requirement that the insurer pay $13.4 million to the risk adjustment program. This differs from Illinois by allowing the payment and penalizing the patients.
The Connecticut Governor does not like that the non-profit hospitals are making millions of dollars and not pay taxes. He therefore unilaterally withheld funding to the hospitals no matter their size. Last year he released $14 million to six small hospitals and not he has released $115 million t all the hospitals. This has been a advertising war with the hospital advertising about the cuts and the governor has released a list of salaries and benefits of large hospital CEOs.
The HHS Office of Civil Rights has fined Catholic Healthcare Services of Philadelphia $650,000 for HIPAA violation in six nursing homes that Catholic Health Services operated as a business associate. An employee I-phone was stolen with extensive information on it that was unencrypted and not password protected. The organization had no policies addressing the use of cell phones containing PHI nor what to do in the event of a security incident. They also had no risk analysis nor risk management plan.
DISCLAIMER: Although this article is updated periodically, it reflects the author's point of view at the
time of publication. Nothing in this article constitutes legal advice. Readers
should consult with their own legal counsel before acting on any of the
information presented.