The HITECH Act, which included changes to the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules, was signed into law by President Obama in February 2009?a full five years ago.
The role of the utilization review (UR) committee has changed as facilities transition from reporting condition code 44 for concurrent reviews to condition code W2 for post-discharge reviews.
When outpatient hospitals and physicians switch to ICD-10-CM diagnosis codes October 1, they will still continue to use CPT® codes to report procedures. But some facilities are planning to use the new procedure code set, ICD-10-PCS, as well.
In January, I wrote about the perfect storm that led to the release of the 2014 OPPS final rule.
We endured a later-than-usual release, errors in the data files and a release of updated files, a government shutdown, and a vastly shortened window between the release of the final rule and implementation on January 1. Judging by the confusion among providers?and corrections and clarifications coming from CMS on what seems like a weekly basis on a wide range of issues?we're still not in the clear.
