The Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that public disclosure of information about adverse events was limited, according to its review of 17 state adverse event report systems, eight Patient Safety Organizations overseen by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

A Department Appeals Board (DAB) order upholding the finding of an immediate jeopardy level violation and the imposition of $3,500 per day civil money penalty (CMP) against a skilled nursing facility (SNF) was vacated by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals because the DAB's finding was based on pure

The HIT Standards Committee met on October 29, 2009 and formed an "Implementation Workgroup" which is charged with bringing forward “real-world” implementation experience to the HIT Standards Committee recommendations.  The Implementation Workgroup will have a special emphasis on strategies to accelerate the adoption of proposed standards, or mitigate barriers, if any.  In addition to public meetings designed to uncover new strategies, the Committee also launched a blog. Industry groups, including the AHA, are encouraging hospital leader's to partic

Home Health and Durable Medical Equipment (“DME”) can’t seem to get out of the spotlight and who can blame the government for scrutiny. Back in the day when Home Health charged on a “per visit” basis, we saw independent Home Health agencies in abundance across the United States, company CEOs using Medicare dollars to purchase airplanes and living in mansions as they reaped the benefits of what was found to be Home Health fraud and abuse. In the late 90’s  an “interim payment system” was implemented pri

In response to compliants from medical practitioners, patients, and technology engineers that Health Information Technology (HIT) and Computer Physician Order Entry Systems (CPOE) software programs are often faulty and that the manufacturers' shift blame to the medical facility when errors are found, Senator Grassley, on behalf of the Senate Finance Committee, sent a letter on October 16, 2009, to the CEO of 3M Company requesting information and documentation about 3M's software policies and programs.

Are we ready for the impending flu season?  What about an influenza pandemic?  The OIG recently released a duo of reports addressing preparedness for an influenza pandemic.  In one of the reports, the OIG examined the extent to which states and localities have prepared for a medical surge in response to an influenza pandemic and whether they have conducted and documented exercises that test their medical surge

Flu season is coming and concerns over an H1N1 resurgence are rising.  To make sure hospitals understand their obligations under EMTALA during a disaster or a pandemic, CMS issued, on August 14, 2009, a Survey and Certification Letter.  See CMS S&C-09-52.  The letter has an attached Fact Sheet, which addresses planning for a surge in ED services and waiver rules.

Coders learn early on “to assign procedural codes based on the documentation noted in the medical record.”  Sound easy?

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In a report issued on August 5, 2009, the OIG examined days that Medicare allows more than 24 hours of services billed by a single physician and sought to identify the services physicians bill to Medicare but do not perform personally and the qualifications of nonphysicians performing "Incident To" services.  The OIG found that: