By Matt Fisher – National Health IT Week was a busy time with regard to government announcements. First, the final rule for Meaningful Use Stage 3 and Modifications was released and second, on the same day, the OIG released a reminder about information blocking concerns.
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By Art Gross – The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General has issued a report that is critical of the Office for Civil Rights. OIG concluded that OCR is not fulfilling its responsibility to enforce HIPAA regulations that safeguard protected health information (PHI) and to ensure that organizations protect patient’s privacy.
By Matt Fisher – The Office of the Inspector General HHS recently released the review results from its assessment of the Office for Civil Rights oversight of the HIPAA Compliance Rule. Not too surprisingly, the OIG found weaknesses in the way in which OCR oversees compliance with the HIPAA Privacy Rule.
By Matt Fisher – A practical guide for the governing boards of healthcare organizations was recently released through the joint effort of the Office of the Inspector General (“OIG”) of the Department of Health and Human Services, the American Health Lawyers Associated, the Association of Healthcare Internal Auditors and the Health Care Compliance Association.
By Jim Tate – The Office of Inspector General (OIG) continues to aggressively audit eligible hospitals (EH) for their CMS EHR Incentive attestations. This week I received documents related to an audit recently initiated against a Medicaid EH. As far as the location goes, let’s just say it is west of the Mississippi River.
By Elana Zana – At HIMSS15 in Chicago I had the pleasure of speaking with my colleague, Dave Schoolcraft, regarding the OIG Security Audits. These in depth security audits conducted not by the OCR or CMS, but rather the Office of Inspector General, delve into the security systems of Eligible Hospitals (and potentially Eligible Professionals) participating in the EHR Incentive Program.
By Jim Tate – Most of us have gotten pretty used to the Meaningful Use (MU) audits being conducted by Figliozzi & Company. They are the folks that have been conducting the CMS EHR Incentive audits for both eligible hospitals (EH) and professionals (EP) involved in the Medicare or dually-eligible Medicare/Medicaid EHR incentive programs.
By Jim Tate – Lost in the furor and excitement of the recently released Proposed Stage 3 MU Rule something slipped by us. Robert Frost would say it “came on little cat feet”. John Lennon would say it came in “like a lizard on a window pane”. What is it that crept in through the cracks in the floor and why should we care?
By Matt Fisher – Advisory Opinion 15-04 issued by the Office of the Inspector General (“OIG”) on March 25, 2015 offers some warnings when entering into preferred provider agreements. The new Advisory Opinion arose in the context of laboratory services, but the principles discussed are easily applicable to any preferred provider arrangement. The advice and insight are important in light of the increasing desire among providers to identify and enter into preferred provider agreements.