Independent diagnostic testing facilities are on the hook for the $505 enrollment fee that also affects durable medical equipment (DME) suppliers, according to the CMS transmittal. The fee was announced March 23 in Transmittal 371 to the Medicare Program Integrity Manual. According to the health care reform bill, the fee will be used to cover the cost of the program and to screen enrollment applications to curb fraud.

You and your peers may be able avoid the 1% e-Prescribing (e-Rx) Medicare payment penalty if you qualify for one of CMS’s new proposed hardship exemptions outlined in its May 26 proposed rule. If finalized, the wil give providers a more flexible timeline and more options to claim a hardship exemption for not being able to meet the e-Rx requirement by June 30. 

CMS released a new batch of FAQs Friday regarding Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs, which could aid your eager pursuit of attesting meaningful use. Some of CMS's responses include clarification on what "exchange of electronic information" means in the “capability to exchange key clinical information” objective, how to count patients in “swing beds” and in nursery day care as part of the meaningful use denominator and more.

CMS is launching three new initiatives relating to Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) that have nothing to do with the ACO proposed rule, but come instead from the agency's new Innovation Center. Remember: The Innovation Center was established by the health reform law as a testing ground for new Medicare payment models aimed at curbing the unsustainable cost of the nation's priciest entitlement program.

CMS has designated June 15 as National Testing Day to ensure your practice will be HIPAA 5010 compliant come January 2012.

The decision came as a response to the Medical Group Management Association’s (MGMA) letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius from October 2010.

“Designating a national testing period in advance of the compliance date will focus the industry’s attention to prepare internal systems for the move to Version 5010 and begin testing electronic transactions with trading partners,” MGMA wrote in its letter.