The Office of the Inspector General (OIG), which provides oversight of other government entities, released a report in September 2015, OCR Should Strengthen Its Followup of Breaches of Patient Health Information Reported by Covered Entities, that included recommendations on how the entity charged with administering the HIPAA privacy and security rules should improve.
The 2016 OPPS final rule includes the first negative payment update for the system, but CMS also listened to commenters' suggestions to make a variety of proposals less onerous either operationally or financially.
CMS finalized its proposals regarding the 2-midnight rule, including moving responsibility for rule enforcement and education from Recovery Auditors to Quality Improvement Organizations (QIO). This latter change occurred October 1, 2015.
This week’s updates include Advance Care Planning (ACP) as an optional element of an Annual Wellness Visit (AWV); a request for information regarding the awarding and the administration of MAC contracts; and more!
