HHS Puts Industry on Notice: OCR is Serious About HIPAA Enforcement

Posted by Jason Greis on March 2, 2011 under Articles | Be the First to Comment

On Feb. 22, 2011, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that it had issued a civil money penalty (CMP) of $4.3 million against Cignet Health of Prince George’s County, MD., the first imposition of a CMP by OCR for a violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy Rule. Two days later, HHS announced that General Hospital Corporation and Massachusetts General Physicians Organization, Inc., collectively referred to as Mass General, agreed to pay $1 million to settle potential violations of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. Read More...

Health Reform: Is the Hospital Industry Misapplying Congressional Intent?

Posted by Jason Greis on October 13, 2010 under Articles | Be the First to Comment

Thunder rolled down from Capitol Hill last week when Sen. Charles Grassley (R–Iowa) claimed that certain hospital systems and associations were misapplying the intent of Section 501(r)(5)(B) that prohibits the use of gross charges under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. In their comments to the IRS regarding implementing regulations, the American Hospital Association (AHA) urged the IRS to apply a “gross charges” basis to charge those who do not qualify for financial assistance, and to use it as a starting place for calculating assistance to those who do. Read More...

ACOs and the Shared Savings Program: Some Common Misconceptions

Posted by Jason Greis on October 2, 2010 under Articles | Be the First to Comment

Section 3022 of the Patient Protection and Accountable Care Act (the Act) creates the Shared Savings Program for Medicare. Under the Shared Savings Program, which is to take effect no later than Jan. 1, 2012, Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) that meet certain requirements established by the Secretary of Health and Human Services will be eligible to receive additional payments from Medicare where certain performance guidelines are met and cost-savings targets are achieved. The amount of the additional payment will be a percentage of the difference between the estimated per capita Medicare expenditures for patients assigned to the ACO and the cost-savings per capita Medicare expenditures threshold. Read More...

Complimentary McGuireWoods Webinar: The Impact of Healthcare Reform on Hospital Consolidation

Posted by Jason Greis on August 24, 2010 under Events | Be the First to Comment

Thursday, September 16, 2010
Noon – 1 p.m. (ET) | 11 a.m. – Noon (CT) | 9 a.m. – 10 a.m. (PT)
Complimentary Webinar
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Strategies for Hospital Leadership – Identifying Strengths, Allocating Hospital Resources and Focusing on Profitable Niche Leadership

Posted by Jason Greis on August 16, 2010 under Whitepapers | Be the First to Comment

This is a great time for hospital leadership and boards to reevaluate their strategies.   The attached whitepaper written by two of my colleagues, Scott Becker and Bart Walker, contains eight core thoughts and concepts on strategic planning for hospitals. Read More...

2011 Medicare Payment Update for Post-Acute Care Providers

Posted by Jason Greis on August 3, 2010 under Articles | Read the First Comment

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) has recently released various notices and final rules updating 2011 Medicare payment rates for post-acute care providers, including long-term acute care hospitals (“LTACHs”), inpatient rehabilitation facilities (“IRFs”), skilled nursing facilities (“SNFs”), home health agencies (“HHAs”) and hospices.  These Medicare rate updates generally implement negative payment adjustments mandated by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Pub. L. No. 111-148), as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (Pub. L. No. 111-152) (together, “PPACA”).  Yet in spite of these adjustments, SNFs, hospices, IRFs and LTACH have fared relatively well with collective Medicare payment increases totaling $919 million, with HHAs offsetting these reimbursement gains by suffering a proposed $900 million Medicare reimbursement cut for calendar year 2011. Read More...