The President signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act on Friday, March 27, formalizing a piece of legislation meant to support and stimulate the economy in the midst of the global pandemic, to the tune of over $2 trillion. This article will address provisions of the CARES Act that will assist healthcare […]
Last week, I encouraged you all to comply with the recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This week, I would like to share some thoughts about how we can improve our health and maintain our sanity while working remotely and practicing social distancing. My first concern is that sitting is […]
As with last week, RACmonitor asked Dr. Ronald Hirsch, vice president of R1 RCM, to summarize the most pertinent regulatory changes recently arising. The following is a transcript of his reporting today on Monitor Mondays. “First, thank you, everyone, for continuing to care for patients and continuing to take this pandemic seriously,” Dr. Ronald Hirsch […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule that would update Medicare Advantage plan (MA, or Part C) and the Medicare prescription drug benefit (Part D) program. In years past, CMS has also issued a “call letter,” not subject to the regulatory process, to provide additional information for plans to use […]
In November 2019, CMS published the 2020 Quality Payment Program Final Rule (the “2020 MIPS Final Rule Changes”). Below is a summary of some of the most notable changes to the Merit-Based Incentive Payment Program (MIPS). For a complete list of changes, please review the 2020 MIPS Final Rule or CMS’ Quality Payment Program Resource […]
With an election year just about upon us, there are a number of changes coming from the current administration that are going to impact healthcare in 2020. Changes in allowable benefits, home health, hospice carve-ins, and new CPT codes for remote home monitoring are just a sample of these. There are an additional set of fundamental […]
Among the proposed new rules is one intended to clarify the contentious “Stark Law” On Oct. 9, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule to modernize and clarify the regulations that interpret the Medicare physician self-referral law (often called the “Stark Law”). The law prohibits physicians from making referrals for […]
The implementation of artificial intelligence into healthcare is becoming more widespread by the day. EHRs may have worked to improve data use among medical providers, but these tools are still far from perfect. Digital medical records have introduced a host of problems, including disrupting clinician workflows, limited interoperability, and creating data overload. But with the […]
CMS on Friday issued its 2020 final rules for the Physician Fee Schedule, including a streamlining of evaluation and management services (E/M) reporting that was rolled back from an earlier proposal in a change providers applauded. The final rule, which is mostly unchanged from the proposed rule put forward in July, also cuts payments to physical therapists […]
CMS just released the 2020 final rule with changes to remote patient monitoring (RPM), officially titled “Chronic Care Remote Physiologic Monitoring,” reimbursed under the Medicare program, as part of the Physician Fee Schedule changes. The changes, proposed earlier this year, have been hotly-anticipated by digital health companies hoping to see more clarity and flexibility for RPM services. CMS […]