The 2020 IPPS final rule made major changes to the hospital wage index and new technology payments. Brush up on the details to ensure your organization is ready.
Q: Is there anything that a hospital needs to do regarding HIPAA and the confidentiality of famous patients? Obviously employees shouldn’t snoop, but can you recommend any added protections?
Facility evaluation and management (E/M) coding is based on the facility resources utilized to provide medical care. Because CMS has not created national E/M guidelines for emergency department (ED) services, providers must create their own criteria for each visit level. Review your organization’s ED E/M leveling policies to ensure compliance.
CMS’ inpatient-only rule seems simple enough on the surface—certain specified procedures, all noted in the OPPS inpatient-only list, must be performed on an inpatient basis regardless of the patient’s expected length of stay. But as with anything in healthcare, implementing this rule is hardly simple, and many organizations continue to misapply it and lose revenue as a result. Get expert answers to common inpatient-only compliance stumbling blocks.
Q: Research coordinators are tasked with finding suitable candidates for research studies. Because our coordinators work for a hospital, is the work they do in finding candidates for research an activity that is subject to HIPAA? What do we need to do to ensure HIPAA compliance?
Starting January 1, 2020, the education and operations testing period will kick off, and organizations will be required to report appropriate use criteria (AUC) consultation information. Learn what you can do now to help your organization prepare to report AUCs in 2020 and beyond.
CMS released the 2020 OPPS proposed rule July 29, proposing to refine previous policies related to price transparency and the 2-midnight rule, while also asking for comments on how to potentially undo its policy that reduced payments for drugs purchased under the 340B drug discount program by nearly 30%.
The January 1, 2020, deadline for reporting Appropriate Use Criteria (AUC) for advanced diagnostic imaging is fast approaching—but organizations can’t wait until the new year to prepare.
Facilities need to know how to respond to documentation requests as part of any Medicare audit or review. Preparing a complete and proper reply makes all the difference in the outcome or results of those audits and reviews.
