Nov 28, 2012 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Uncategorized
Unexpected opposition to EHR incentive program should be watched by pathologists and clinical laboratory managers
Questions about the value of the federal government’s program to encourage provider adoption of electronic health record (EHR) systems were raised by Republican leaders in both houses of Congress just weeks before the election on November 6.
Because clinical laboratories and pathology groups have a big stake in interfacing their laboratory information systems to physicians’ EHRs, this new development bears watching.
In October, GOP Senators and House Republicans joined together and issued a call for an immediate halt to distribution of incentive payments to providers for implementing electronic health record (EHR) systems. This program is now in its second full year of implementation. (more…)
Sep 19, 2012 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, Uncategorized
Pathologists and clinical laboratory administrators have an opportunity to add value to physicians who are transitioning to new ACO model
It is good news for advocates of accountable care organizations (ACOs). Since the beginning of 2012, an ever-growing number of provider organizations have signed up to participate in Medicare ACO contracts.
This steady increase in the number of hospitals and health systems participating in Medicare and private payer ACOs will have at one interesting consequence. It means that the clinical laboratories will be part of the clinical service mix for the ACOs operated by the hospitals and health systems. (more…)
Jan 27, 2012 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Experts predict employers will use this data to create “report cards” on individual physicians
In a big step forward for public access to data about provider outcomes, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will make its enormous Medicare claims database more broadly available to the public. Both the press and the public will be able to search for information about individual physicians. It is likely that information about pathologists will be searchable in this manner.
Specifically, Medicare will relax its restrictions on the release of information about individual doctors who participate in Medicare. This development was reported recently by The Wall Street Journal, which played a role in getting HHS to make physician data available to the public.
“This is a giant step forward in making our health care system more transparent,” stated Marilyn Tavenner, Medicare’s Acting Administrator. (more…)
