Part B News | Editors' Blog

Facing erroneous Open Payments data? You'll have 45 days to dispute it

by: Richard Scott Mar 31, 2017

Any payments or gifts that you received from health vendors in 2016 will appear live on the Open Payments website on June 30. Starting April 1, you'll be on a 45-day countdown to review the data and ensure its accuracy.

HHS, DOJ report singles out fraud-and-abuse rackets in 2016

by: Richard Scott Feb 14, 2017

Be on the lookout, fraudsters: The federal governent is bearing down hard on misappropriated Medicare funds. A new report shows that the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program (HCFAC), combining efforts of HHS and the Department of Justice (DOJ), returned $1.7 billion to the Medicare Trust Fund in 2016.

As value grows, small practices struggle with IT adoption, risk sharing

by: Richard Scott Dec 12, 2016

Investments in health IT and financial risk-sharing are two big obstacles standing in the way of many small practices getting on board with value-based payment models, states a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Just in time for the holidays: OIG increases allowed amount for patient gifts by 50%

by: Julia Kyles, CPC Dec 7, 2016

You know the drill - giving your patients gifts or other forms of inducement can influence their decisions to receive health care, which can in turn trigger civil money penalties against the provider who offered the goody. However there are a few safe harbors - for example, inducements to encourage patients to receive preventive services.

'It ain't me': OCR warns of phishing email masquerading as official OCR contact

by: Julia Kyles, CPC Nov 29, 2016

Employees at your organization may have received an email that appeared to be from the HHS Office for Civil Rights that invites them to click on a link for inclusion in the “HIPAA Privacy, and Breach Rules Audit Program.” However, there is no such thing (although it does sound a lot like the OCR's HIPAA Privacy, Security and Breach Notification Audit Program) and the email isn’t from the OCR. It’s from a website that is marketing the services of a cybersecurity firm.

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