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The feds have announced the makeup of Obamacare to date and it is not pretty. The 55-64 year olds are the heaviest sign ups with 34%. The young invincibles are only 19%. They need to be about 40% of the population to keep the premiums down to just expensive. The administration does not know how many of the 2 million are newly insured and how many are changing policies. About 80% of those who signed up are getting help with their premiums. Most of the sign-ups were female and 4 states accounted for 50% of the signups.
The Spanish language Obamacare computer site is probably worse than healthcare.gov. It is not only problem prone but is also not written in Spanish but Spanglish. Very few people have registered for the program using the site. This site was not operational until December 6. People who use this site may be asked to fax in immigration papers.
Gee, who would have thunk it?? California Healthline reports that in 2015-16 Covered California (the California state run exchange of Obamacare) will run a $78 million deficit. This is when the feds stop funding the state exchanges. State law prohibits general funds from putting money into Covered California. The organization does not know where the money to keep it in business will come from. Top
A new report by the OIG shows for the second time that converting to electronic medical records is a great potential for fraud. The report states that CMS has been remiss in not giving more guidance to it's contractors to detect the fraud. All know that using EMS it is easy to copy and paste therefore generating upcoded bills. The report estimates this may be hundreds of millions of dollars in fraudulent billing. In a prior report the OIG found that three quarters of the hospitals did not have a policy regarding copy paste. This will be a priority in the coming year. CMS answered the criticism in the usual way of saying that fraud is a top priority but not stating what they will do to prevent it. The AHA also commented with its usual garbage that hospitals already have strong safeguards and no further regs are necessary. The AHIMA is more realistic. They say that the use of copy paste is the only way physicians can manage the documentation process.
The EMR is a bane to the physician. Now some are taking care of the problem by hiring scribes to enter the information they dictate. This may let physicians finally do what they do best, treat. There is now companies called ScribeAmerica or PhysAssit that will provide scribes for hospitals and clinics. The main downside is some loss of patient privacy and cost for physicians. 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.