CMS has changed the PECOS program for physicians for the
better. Physicians will not have to give a patient a referral for a
visit to a specialist as they would have under the old rule. Physicians
will still have to use the NPI to register to care for Medicare or Medicaid
patients. CMS also come into the new century albeit 12 years late by
allowing on line enrollment and not paper.
Hey, fellow physicians! You have until June 30 to
send 10 prescriptions to a pharmacy by CPOE in order to prevent having your
hand slapped for being a bad physician. This will cost you money in
2013, 1.5% of your Medicare billings. By the way faxes do not count,
only computer to computer prescriptions. If you are a rural physician
and want an exemption you must apply by June 30. You must do a lot more
than the above not only to avoid the penalty but also to get a
bonus.
The GAO wants to change horses in mid stream. They
believe that physicians should submit even more data if they want to get
meaningful use money. They believe that the physicians will game the
system and it will be hard to get the money back once the scofflaws are
found. The detail of the information to be required may tip the balance
in favor of forgetting about using EMR.
The CMS HIT committee is debating whether or not to make
physicians into typists. The debate centers around whether or not the
typing into an EMR must be done by the physicians, wasting his time, or can be
done by a scribe. If it is the latter then the physician will miss out
on the wonderful decision tree that only pops up once and will have to rely on
their own knowledge and experience. Of course, if the typist is not the
physician, the physician will still have the liability for what is typed and
any consequences that ensue.
HHS has announced that Obamacare will bring primary care
physicians caring for Medicaid patients up to the same pay as those who care
for Medicare. You will probably notice an announcement of some good from
the law several times a week until either the Supreme Court rules or the
election or both.
Remember two years ago when McAllen, Texas, got the bad rep
from the east coast writer. It was touted as a place that cost Medicare
way too much money. It is, after some more information came to light, a
cheaper place for Medicare than many hospitals including Washington, DC's
Medstar Hospital. The article two years ago was wrong as was Obama to
rely on it without any investigation as to the facts. He has done this
several times.
The Obama administration is attempting to sway the Supreme
Court's decision on Obamacare by quietly telling the Court what would happen
to Medicare if the law is overturned. Medicare was never mentioned in
the suit. They warn that the payment system could freeze up if Obamacare
is overturned. Of course it was there prior to the law being passed and
has not changed since the law was passed. It is possible that Medicare
physicians might be entitled to refunds if the law were repealed and that may
force delays. Alas, poor Berwick, also moans that the quality aspect
that physicians were being paid on would also be gone. Of course the
quality aspects were about money and not true quality.
If people wonder why California is in the financial bind
that it is in, wonder no more. Outside of the massive legislative
entitlements, CalPERS, the organization that runs the public employees retirement
has just announced a 5.7% increase in contributions to all state employee
pensions. Governor Brown, who has no power over the organization, called
it dumb. California's Governor Brown has removed from a state agency
a physician who is advertising against state proposition 29, a $1 tax on each
pack of cigarettes. The physician has caught flak from other physicians
who back the proposition. The physician has the side backed by the
tobacco industry and this is being used to scare off other physicians from
speaking their mind. Top
HIPAA
As usual once people become
comfortable with a law, it changes. A new requirement would force all
companies that deal with health care data to be liable for breaches.
This include all business entities as well as such far flung companies as
those that provide cloud services that have health care services on
them. Top
Hospitals
Since Governor Quinn of Illinois
promised to make non profits live up to their name or lose their designation
17 hospitals have applied for non profit status and none have been given the
designation. There has been significant lobbying in the known crooked
state against the state's position.
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