As part of the implementation of site-neutral rule contained in the final 2019 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) rule, effective July 1, 2019,

Networked device innovations have transformed healthcare by empowering patients and providers to more closely monitor health, enhancing quality of life and improving clinical outcomes.

The tool provides coding and coverage information and has a new feature which identifies the services that can be provided via telehealth.

On March 15, Eric Fader presented a live webinar for The American Society of Neurophysiological Monitoring (ASNM) entitled "Navigating Legal Issues in Neuromonitoring."

A March 31 article published in Bloomberg BNA's Privacy Law Watch and other publications reports that the pace of HIPAA privacy audits is expected to remain the same under a newly appointed HHS civil rights director.

An April 4 article in Bloomberg BNA's Health IT Law & Industry Report and other publications, "New HHS Technology Office Leader Has Health-Care Industry Experience," discussed the appointment of former Siemens Chief Medical Officer Donald Rucker, MD, as head of the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office of the National Coordinator for Healthcare Information Technology (ONC).

On June 19, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a proposed rule to update e-prescribing standards under Medicare Part D by adopting standards

The federal Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) recently released The Guide to Getting & Using Your Health Records to provide patients, or their caregivers, with information on how to obtain, check, and use their health records.

A new survey report released by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) entitled "Examining the 'Copy and Paste' Function in the Use of Electronic Health Records" supports the fear that the common shortcut of cutting and pasting text into electronic health records (EHRs) can jeopardize patient safety.

A new study by researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, found that the rate of paid medical malpractice claims in the U.S. has declined by 55.7% over the past two decades ...

The guidance, issued as an FAQ, describes how the HIPAA Rules apply to situations where a BA terminates or blocks a covered entity's access to ePHI.

On July 25, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that it has implemented several changes to its web-based breach-reporting portal (commonly referred to as the "Wall of Shame"), which lists healthcare data breaches of 500 or more patient records dating back to 2009.

On June 6, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a request for information (ROI) for ideas on putting patients over paperwork and reducing the administrative burdens on healthcare providers.

The extension of the reporting deadline is sure to be welcomed by hospitals and physicians, Eric told Bloomberg BNA, but it may not be long enough.

On October 24, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a record-breaking $145 million settlement with Life Care Centers of America Inc. (Life Care), marking the largest settlement with a skilled nursing facility chain in the DOJ's history.

According to a study published this month in Health Affairs, although the number of ACO contracts and the proportion of ACOs with multiple contracts have grown, the proportion bearing downside risk has only increased slightly.

On May 15, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Kentucky nursing home's use of mandatory arbitration agreements in nursing home admissions.

Susan Huntington authored a chapter, "Enterprise Risk Approach to Successful Population Management," in the recently published third edition of the "Enterprise Risk Management Handbook for Health Care Entities."

Eric Fader was quoted in a January 27 article, "Trump DOJ Likely to Keep Heat on Individuals for Health-Care Fraud," in Bloomberg BNA's Health Care Daily Report and other publications. The article discussed the U.S. Department of Justice's so-called Yates memo which, among other things, encouraged federal prosecutors to focus on individual accountability in enforcement actions against corporations.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on June 24, 2019, seeking, among other things, disclosure of hospital pricing for common tests and procedures.