Part B News | Editors' Blog

HHS announces 8 new “conditional” approvals for state exchanges; total now 19 + DC

by: Roy Edroso Jan 3, 2013

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced today it had approved or conditionally approved a total of 19 states and the District of Columbia for health insurance exchanges. More may be on the way.

Will HHS prevent EHR vendors from allowing software shortcuts?

by: Ben Penn Oct 19, 2012

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is reviewing whether software functions that lead to cloned notes “should be off limits.”

HHS National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Farzad Mostashari told the Center for Public Integrity that a “policy-setting committee of experts” will “examine the issue and make recommendations on how to address it.”

Check out your providers’ PTANs and ID reports on PECOS online

by: Ben Penn Oct 12, 2012

You may now view providers’ Personal Transaction Account Numbers (PTANs) and Medicare ID reports on the Provider Enrollment Chain Ownership System (PECOS) online, the latest CMS upgrade that eases the electronic enrollment process (9/5/12, 8/24/12, 7/9/12, 3/5/12).

MedPAC will examine geographic adjustments to physician payments

by: Karen Long Oct 2, 2012

The committee that advises Congress on Medicare policy will meet this week to discuss possible changes to physician payments.

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) will consider “whether certain payments under the physician fee schedule ... should be adjusted geographically,” according to a MedPAC’s own brief for the meetings Oct. 4 and 5.

Investigative report suggests suspicious E/M upcoding

by: Ben Penn Sep 20, 2012

A scathing investigative report from the Center for Public Integrity repeats OIG’s E/M utilization trend findings from this past May, while also refuting physician claims that patients got sicker and older in the past decade.

But, as reported in Part B News, the Center finds that CMS is not likely to target possible E/M upcoding in a widespread review.

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