On June 13, 2016 the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it is proposing to revise the conditions of participation (CoPs) for hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs). 

“Speaking frankly, I really don’t care all that much about records security – but I know that I have to do it.”  - Charge Nurse at an Ambulatory Surgery Center

And in a nutshell, that is the game.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires that physicians (and their counterparts) who certify Medicare beneficiaries as eligible for home health services document their face-to-face encounters. In order for payments to be rendered, physicians must prove that these face-to-face encounters actually occurred. In order to validate compliance with this condition, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted a study in 2014 and recently released its findings. The study found limited compliance with Medicare’s Home Health face-to-face requirement. 

Compliagent was a proud supporter and participant at the National Bundled Payment Collaborative's 2016 C-Suite Invitational. 

As part of the Affordable Care Act’s effort to make the healthcare system more transparent and informative for the public, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have prepared a public data set with information on services provided to Medicare beneficiaries residing in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). CMS Chief Data Officer Niall Brennan states that, “The Skilled Nursing Facility data released is yet another example of our commitment to greater data transparency.”

We are all exposed to warnings that stress the importance of protecting electronic healthcare data, which most healthcare organizations interpret to mean Protected Health Information, or PHI.  But who thinks about the other categories of sensitive data that require high security and strong protection?  Let’s review the most obvious four categories: the Four Ps. 

During the week of March 20, 2016, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Civil Rights (OCR) announced that the second phase of HIPAA audits will focus on healthcare providers as well as business associates. 

The Yates Memo was written by Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates and was issued on September 9th 2015.  The memo outlines guidelines for Department of Justice (DOJ) attorneys, specifically relating to the definition of cooperation credit for corporations.  The memo largely calls for increased transparency regarding individuals that are accused of wrongdoing. 

On March 4, 2016, Compliagent was proud to co-host the mHealth Israel delegation along with Nelson Hardiman, LLP  in Los Angeles.