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The following is from CMS:
Announcing the redesigned CMS web page dedicated to providing all the latest NPI news for health care providers! Visit http://www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalProvIdentStand/ on the web. This page also contains a section for Medicare Fee-For-Service (FFS) providers with helpful information on the Medicare NPI implementation. A new fact sheet with answers to questions that health care providers may have regarding the NPI is now available on the web page; bookmark this page as new information and resources will continue to be posted.
For more information on private industry NPI outreach, visit the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI) NPI Outreach Initiative website at http://www.wedi.org/npioi/index.shtml on the web. Top
In an interpretation of the new JCAHO evidence based credentialing and privileging standards that have not yet and may never be approved, hcPro, a company that is a master at self promotion, tells it like it isn't. The proposed standards may require better documentation for privileges. This may be impossible to get for office based practitioners. The article implies, erroneously, that the MSPs will be the ones to make the decisions on the physicians. In fact, MSPs only gather the information and all decisions are or should be made by physicians about physicians. In the entire article there is no mention of the physician's input. hcPRO is playing to its constituents by this article so that they will continue to recommend the organization for other paying consultations.
Pathologists need special training in reading Pap smears. They and the technologists are required to take proficiency exams. The problem is that the flunk rate 41%. The CMS now states that the pathologists no longer need to take the exam. The tests are being rewritten. Those that have flunked three times in the past will remain ineligible to read pap smears until they take 35 hours of a course and score over 90% on the test that is no longer given.
JCAHO has a new sentinel event that hospitals must obey. This one is accuracy of medications as patients are sent from unit to unit or from practitioner to practitioner. There needs to be a systemic approach to the reconciling of medications. This includes giving patients a list of their meds. Top
In the People's Republic of Massachusetts, the Governor has agreed to spend $200 million on additional care for the uninsured. This is to help the Democratic legislators devise a healthcare plan before they lose $385 million in federal funds. The Democratic state legislators still want mandatory employer heath care and to force all citizens to purchase health insurance.
Joining their brethren on the East Coast, some of the San Francisco Left Coast Board of Stupes have proposed that all employers with twenty or more employees give either heath insurance costing about $345 per employee. This includes those employees who only work in San Francisco but live elsewhere. The idea is supported by the San Francisco Labor Council and decried by all businesses. The plan would cost an aggregate of $307 a year to the businesses and would probably force some to close or relocate. The San Francisco Stupe who originally had this brainstorm now has rethunk it. He now recommends only a $50-$75 per month per employee. He refuses to have an independent cost analysis of the bill since that would delay the vote.
Hillary is at it again. She and Representative Dingell another liberal Democrat from Michigan continues to push her program of HMOs at the expense of private Medicare. She wants to reduce the money to be paid to the private companies by $22 Billion. Top
Georgia has always been a backward medical legislative state. They may finally come up with the other 49 states in allowing advanced nurses such as mid wives and nurse practitioners prescribe meds. Probably for turf reasons, the state medical association is fighting this proposed legislation. The legislation is for access to care and the medical association it is a patient safety issue. Top
The California Air Resources Board has voted 6-0 to place secondhand tobacco smoke as a toxic air pollutant and therefore a candidate for regulation. They adopted a study that there is a connection between secondhand smoke and breast cancer, which no other organization has agreed with. The Board expects to initially only to provide education especially in the use of smoking in the car. Top
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.