After requesting--then receiving--a contingency plan from the federal government so health insurers can pay claims that don't follow the ANSI X12 version 5010 transaction standards after the January 1 compliance deadline, the Medical Group Management Association is asking for more leniency. The MGMA asked the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to double its grace period to six months, citing new data showing that few physician practices are ready for the change. The organization, which represents group physician practices, issued data from a survey of members showing that just 13.9% of respondents consider their 5010 preparations "fully complete."
Thanks to smartphones, the Internet, and streaming Netflix, the general public no longer draws the traditional distinctions among data, voice and video. They're all just one big stream of information and communication-a stream that users expect to be able to tap at will from wherever they are, with whatever gadget is handy. And hospital CIOs are scrambling to meet that expectation, not only for their clinicians but for the many devices that generate data, images and alerts for those clinicians to use in patient care.
This was a year full of healthcare information technology news. Vendors worked hard to develop and upgrade products designed to be compatible with ICD-10 coding and make the transition easier. But more importantly were the non-HIT developments. There were stories that shaped perceptions of ICD-10 coding and how it will be implemented. Here are the top five stories of 2011:
Walgreens' recent acquisition and immediate closure of three independent community pharmacies in the St. Louis area has raised questions about the privacy of customers' prescription records. Some former customers of the three sold pharmacies have complained that, as part of the Nov. 30 sale, their medical files were transferred to Walgreen Co. without their consent, violating their privacy. Other former customers of the sold pharmacies say they encountered difficulty and delays in arranging for Walgreens to transfer their prescription records to another pharmacy of their choice.
When Florida officials announced last week that the federal government had extended the state's Medicaid reform test program for three years, they failed to note the many strings attached. Florida Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Elizabeth Dudek declared herself "pleased" at Washington's "approval to continue this effective pilot program." Whether it has been effective is debatable. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services took 18 months to approve the state's request suggesting that there were concerns. Also, the CMS based the extension on several "special terms and conditions."
Paul Anderson, an orthopedic surgeon at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, gets so much money from the medical device firm Medtronic that the university put its most stringent oversight on the relationship. One of the requirements is that Anderson, who has received $225,000 in consulting fees from Medtronic in 2008 through 2010, has to meet annually with his department chairman to review the relationship and its potential influence on his university activities. But the chairman, Thomas Zdeblick, got more than 25 times that amount from Medtronic himself during the three years. And a new accounting by the Journal Sentinel and MedPage Today shows he received more than $25 million in royalties from the company since 2003.