After a bruising hearing before the Senate HELP Committee, President Trump's HHS Secretary nominee, Rep. Tom Price (R.-Ga.), provided mostly general answers to specific questions when grilled Jan. 24 by senators on the Finance Committee, the last stop before the full Senate floor vote on his nomination.

Understand how CMS will score the clinical practice improvement activity (CPIA) category under the merit-based incentive payment system (MIPS) and draw up a game plan to easily reach maximum points.

OIG's  Dec. 7 update should serve as a reminder to practices and other providers of the OIG’s original guidance from 2002 about the rationale for permitting items of nominal value to be provided. It’s also a good opportunity for practices to re-evaluate what the OIG considers appropriate items and services to provide beneficiaries.

While ransomware and cybersecurity are making headlines, the majority of HIPAA complaints and breaches coming to the attention of HHS involve everyday, familiar violations that can — and do — occur in the ordinary course of business.

Question: The patient was diagnosed with breast cancer and is status post mastectomy. There is no active chemotherapy or radiation being administered. However, the patient is receiving tamoxifen therapy. The oncologist believes the diagnosis should be coded as active (C50-), while the gynecologist believes it should be personal history of breast cancer (Z85.3). Which is it?

A new survey from Merritt Hawkins shows that while more physicians are joining practices owned by hospitals, nearly half of physicians believe the increase in health system–owned practices is a negative trend for the industry.