There are now 62 federally funded Regional Extension Centers (RECs) that will help you and your peers achieve meaningful use with electronic health record (EHR) systems, HHS announced today. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) selected two additional organizations that will cover Orange County, Calif. and the entire state of New Hampshire. They are the CalOptima Foundation and Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative, respectively (read more on RECs and what they do) ...

It's now been six months since Congress passed the sweeping health care reform bill, after a heated and heavily partisan public debate.

To mark this milestone, HHS released a well-crafted promotional video on Sept. 23, when an additional eight provisions of the reform law went into effect.

Here's a quick rundown on the newly active health reform measures (read more on health reform law provisions) ...

The House of Representatives approved a bill that would prevent executives and managers involved in a Medicare fraud case from coming back and leading another company billing Medicare services.

Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) sponsored the Strengthening Medicare Anti-Fraud Measures Act of 2010 to give HHS the power to permanently exclude any officer or managing employee involved in instances of fraud from the Medicare program. Currently, only individuals with an ownership or controlling interest of a company can be banned, the bill says.

"This bill is an important, bipartisan measure that will protect Medicare beneficiaries and taxpayers," Stark says. "It closes two loopholes that allow executives and corporations who defraud Medicare to keep doing business."

Click here to read more on Medicare fraud bill

CMS's public outreach efforts now include several social media tools. The agency overseeing the Medicare and Medicaid programs has launched Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts, but don't expect CMS to respond to comments or complaints on these social media sites.

A review of the agency's utilization of social media shows CMS isn't taking full advantage of the capabilities of each account. Mainly, there's a lack of socializing going on. CMS is using the channels to push out information to its followers and account subscribers, and that's it. You won't find members of the general public interacting with the agency.

You'll find other government agencies, such as the EPA's Twitter account, at times interacting with other Tweeters. But most other government social media sites, like the State Department and HHS Twitter accounts, aren't doing much interaction, either.  

Click here to read more on CMS social media

Medicare Advantage (MA) premiums will be 1% lower and patient enrollment is projected to increase by 5% in 2011, CMS announced Tuesday.

"Despite the claims of some, Medicare Advantage remains strong and a robust option for millions of seniors who choose to enroll or stay in a participating plan today and in the future," said CMS Administrator Donald Berwick, MD, in a statement. "The Affordable Care Act gave us new authority to negotiate with health plans in a competitive marketplace. As a result, our beneficiaries will save money and maintain their benefits."

Your Medicare patients will have access to most of the Medicare Advantage plans you currently accept. CMS says 99.7% of plans available today will be available in 2011. The health care reform law does allow patients to disenroll from a MA plan and return to the traditional fee-for-service program between Jan. 1 and March 15 of each year.