Joint Commission Removes Ban on Texting Orders
Prior to the new policy, hospitals and other medical "organizations" have been unable to send and receive patient orders via text messaging. That has now changed. The new Joint Commission policy reads: "Licensed independent practitioners or other practitioners in accordance with professional standards of practice, law and regulation,…
Credentialing Applications May Contain Waiver of Peer Review Protections
It has been brought to the attention of AMS legal counsel that at least one hospital, as part of their credentialing process, is requiring physicians to sign language agreeing that the hospital's internal peer review hearing and appeals process will be the physician's sole and exclusive remedy. AMS…
Arkansas One of 14 Regions Selected for CPC+
CPC+ is a nationwide, 5-year patient-centered medical home model that will include up to 5,000 practices across 14 regions, and includes Medicare, Medicaid, and private payers. The AMS was instrumental in supporting the application submitted by Arkansas Medicaid and a group of private payers in Arkansas. Arkansas was…
Revalidation Efforts Underway for Medicaid and Medicare
Arkansas physicians will begin to receive letters of revalidation from both Medicare and Medicaid. Instructions on how to complete the revalidation process will be included in the letter. AMS advises physicians to begin the process as soon as you receive the notification. A physician has 90 days from…
Changes for Novitas Providers
Provider Enrollment Revalidation Cycle 2 All Medicare Part A and B providers are required to recertify the accuracy of their enrollment information every five years through a process known as revalidation. The initial five-year revalidation cycle was completed in 2015 and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services…
Vast majority of people very interested in accessing electronic medical records, survey finds
Healthcare IT News (7/29, McCarthy) reported a new CareCloud survey of 1,443 patients found that close to “75 percent of patients expressed a high level of interest in accessing their electronic medical records...and 33 percent indicated that EHRs have already changed their experience for the better.” The survey…
Five Gray Areas of HIPAA You Can’t Ignore
With the U.S. Office for Civil Right’s Phase 2 HIPAA audits now underway, there’s no room for complacency when it comes to HIPAA compliance. A new white paper from Scrypt Inc. highlights five areas of HIPAA compliance that have room for misinterpretation. Scrypt Inc. helps practices protect sensitive…
Court case examines telemedicine safety regulations
A case before a United States Court of Appeals could restrict a state medical board from protecting patient safety through the regulation of telemedicine in that state. {click to view the latest telemedicine news in Arkansas} At stake in Teladoc, Inc. v. Texas Medical Board is whether the…
3 Useful Changes to Meaningful Use
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed changes to the Meaningful Use program that are intended to relieve physician reporting burdens. Those changes include reducing the 2016 reporting period to 90 days. Based on feedback from the health care community, the proposed changes "better support…
House passes long-delayed mental health reform legislation
Article from the AMA Morning Rounds, 7/7/2016 The Wall Street Journal (7/6, Radnofsky, Subscription Publication) reports that on July 6, by a vote of 422 to 2, the House of Representatives passed HR 2646, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act. The Hill (7/6, Sullivan) reports that…
New eBook guides providers in assessing security risks
Download CYBER WAR: Securing Patient Health Information in Today’s Electronic Environment A new eBook by Ancil Lea, former executive director of the Regional Extension Center for the state of Arkansas, helps medical providers by guiding them in assessing security risks in relationship to Patient Health Information (PHI). The book…