Primary Health Care in Des Moines, Iowa, recently announced an email breach of its system one year after discovery. This exceeds the timeframe outlined in the HIPAA Breach Notification Rule, which states that organizations are required to report a breach within 60 days of discovery.
This week's note from the instructor highlights billing and coding regulations for specimen validity tests billed in combination with urine drug tests in the wake of an OIG audit which found a 99% error rate for these claims.
Q. I’ve been taught to tell our patients, “We look forward to seeing you on x day at x time with x doctor.” This has always been left on cell phone voice mails or home phones. Is this a HIPAA-compliant practice?
CMS reminded organizations to pay attention to billing and coding for specimen validity testing done in conjunction with drug testing. The agency reviewed recent code changes and billing guidelines for these lab tests in Special Edition MLN Matters 18001 released on March 29. CMS emphasized that providers that perform validity testing on urine specimens cannot separately bill the validity testing.
This week’s Medicare updates include a final rule on various policies throughout the Medicare program involving drug pricing, the final 2019 Medicare Advantage rate announcement and call letter, a list of newly added waived test codes, and more!
