Managed Care Organizations Met With Skepticism by Some Health Care Professionals
Article from Arkansas Business, by Sarah Campbell, 7/4/16. Health care professionals in Arkansas are voicing skepticism that bringing managed care organizations into the state-run Medicaid program will stem the rising costs of government-provided health care. Their arguments are two-fold: The measures that MCOs employ to lower costs in…
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…
Opioid addiction related insurance claims rose by 3,204% from 2007 to 2014
(AMA Morning Rounds, 8/2/16) - On its website, CNBC (8/1, Mangan) reports a new analysis conducted by FAIR Health found that healthcare claims for people addicted to prescription pain medications “and heroin skyrocketed as the number of Americans who fatally overdosed on those opioids hit record highs.” Data…
CDC HEALTH ADVISORY: ZIKA
Following last week's confirmation of the first continental US cases of Zika caused by local mosquitoes, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised Monday that all pregnant women in the U.S. should be assessed for possible Zika exposure during every prenatal visit. The agency explained that pregnant…
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…
Visitors to Dominican Republican make up over 20% of Zika cases in US
Kaiser Health News (7/22, Galewitz) reports that “visitors to the Dominican Republic account for more than a fifth of the confirmed Zika cases in the U.S. through mid-July, according to data from state health departments.” According to Kaiser Health News, “in part, it reflects travel patterns between people…
Obama signs legislation to curb opioid addiction
The AP (7/22) reported President Obama on Friday “signed into law a bill to curb abuse of heroin and opioid drugs, even as he expressed bitter disappointment with Republicans for not providing more money for addiction treatment.” In a statement, Obama said, “Given the scope of this crisis,…
Proposed Arkansas telemedicine regulations stall in legislative panel
By John Lyon, Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK — A legislative panel declined Monday to sign off on proposed regulations to allow doctors to treat Arkansas patients remotely using audio and video technology. During a joint meeting of the House and Senate committees on public health, welfare and labor,…