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By: Janice Simmons, for HealthLeaders Media, October 5, 2009
With the Senate Finance Committee's approval of healthcare reform legislation last week, Congress is getting closer to overhauling the American healthcare system. But what could happen if the reform efforts eventually stall and the current system remains in place?
By: Kristen Kohrt, for HealthLeaders Media, October 5, 2009
Hospital readmissions, adverse events, and issues related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 are some of the highlights of the 2010 OIG Work Plan. "These are relatively new issues so this is pretty proactive on the OIG's part," says Steve Miller, JD, chief compliance and privacy officer at Capital Health in Trenton, NJ.
By: Janice Simmons, for HealthLeaders Media, October 5, 2009
New final interim rules have been issued by the departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury to ensure that individual genetic information will not be used adversely when determining healthcare coverage. The new rules are seen as a way to encourage more individuals to participate in genetic testing in order to identify and prevent various illnesses, according to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
By: Janice Simmons, for HealthLeaders Media, October 5, 2009
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) needs to do a better job "of providing guidance and regulatory enforcement" for detecting the abuse of controlled substances by Medicaid beneficiaries, said Sen. Thomas Carper (D-DE), chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee on federal financial management, at a hearing last week.
By: MacKenzie Kimball, for HealthLeaders Media, October 5, 2009
The Office of Inspector General released its fiscal year (FY) 2010 Work Plan October 1, which listed the issues OIG plans to investigate in the coming fiscal year, including a variety of focus areas related specifically to nursing homes. All nursing homes should be aware of the issues included in the Work Plan and ensure they are complying with the regulations. Otherwise, facilities run the risk of being audited by the OIG.
By: Dom Nicastro, for HealthLeaders Media, October 2, 2009
Health and Human Services posted instructions this week for submitting a privacy or security breach of protected health information to the secretary of HHS.
By: John Commins, for HealthLeaders Media, October 2, 2009
Disruptive employees aren't commonplace in most healthcare settings. But they aren't so rare that you shouldn't have a plan in place for how to deal with them. Unfortunately, that's a message a lot of medical groups and hospitals aren't getting.
By: Philip Betbeze, for HealthLeaders Media, October 2, 2009
They're still not the majority in terms of hospital leadership, but maybe it's time to pay a little more attention to women and healthcare.