CMS announced revised pricing for covered drugs and biologicals in the July 2018 update to the OPPS. Hospitals should thoroughly review all of the updates to ensure any required changes are in place by the stated effective dates.
Q: If a patient comes into an outpatient facility for a surgical procedure and the physician evaluates the patient before performing the procedure, can you append modifier -25 to the E/M service?
The number of data breaches in the first quarter of 2018 marked a four-year low with a total of 685 breaches. This number is down from 1,444 breaches in the first quarter of 2017 and 1,153 in the first quarter of 2016.
Case managers must be positioned (through the organizational structure) and must position themselves (through skills and knowledge) to be an instrumental and influential member of the team to support and monitor the development of a comprehensive and sustainable plan for the patient.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has urged CMS to renew prior authorization programs slated to expire. The GAO made its case for continuing the programs in a report released in April, arguing that the programs reduced spending by nearly $2 billion since 2012.
The National Association of Social Workers is speaking out against the U.S. Department of Commerce’s decision to include a question about citizenship on the 2020 Census, stating that it would deter some from completing the census.
Since the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act was implemented in 2009, HHS' Office for Civil Rights has received a total of 347,090 reports on breaches of patient data, according to a report published by Health Information Privacy/Security Alert.
