The Ball is Now in Play to Extend the EHR Safe Harbor!

April 13, 2013March 12, 2014 Kathie McDonald-McClure Electronic Health Records, Fraud and Abuse, Health Information Technology, HITECH Law Anti-Kickback Statute safe harbor for EHR donations, EHR donations, Electronic Health Records, Health Information Technology, HITECH Act, linkedin, ONC, Stark Law exception for EHR donation

By Ann F. Triebsch and Kathie McDonald-McClure

Barely two weeks after Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash) sent a letter to the HHS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) requesting that the Anti-Kickback Statute’s “safe harbor” allowing hospitals to donate electronic health record (EHR) items and services to physicians be extended, the OIG has proposed a rule to do exactly that. On April 10, 2013, the OIG proposed a rule to extend the Anti-Kickback Statute safe harbor from December 31, 2013, to December 31, 2016. On the same date, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed a complementary rule to extend the Stark Law’s similar EHR exception to December 31, 2016.

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House Calls for Suspension of EHR Incentive Payments under HITECH Act

October 5, 2012April 16, 2013 Kathie McDonald-McClure EHR Certification Standards, Eligible Professional Incentives, Federal Law Resources, Health care reform, Health Information Technology, HITECH Law, Hospital EHR Stimulus, Meaningful Use EHR Certification Standards, Electronic Health Records, eligible professional incentives for electronic medical records, Health care reform, Health Information Technology, HITECH Act, hospital incentives for EHRs, linkedin, Meaningful Use, ONC, privacy and security of health information exchange, Stage 2

On Thursday, October 4, 2012, in a letter to Secretary Sebelius of the United States Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), the United States House GOP called on HHS to suspend incentive payments for the adoption and implementation of electronic health records (EHRs) otherwise authorized under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 (HITECH Act). The GOP also asked HHS to delay the imposition of penalties on providers who choose not to use EHRs in their practice (such penalties that pursuant to the HITECH Act provisions are to take the form of reductions in Medicare reimbursements in 2015). Continue reading →

Proposed Federal Regulation Requires HIPAA-Covered Labs to Release Test Results to Patients

September 14, 2011September 18, 2011 Kathie McDonald-McClure Electronic Health Records, Federal Law Resources, Health Information Technology, HITECH Law, Meaningful Use, Privacy & Security Federal Law Resources, Health Information Technology, HITECH Act, linkedin, ONC, Patient Access to Health Information

On September 12, 2011, the Office of National Coordinator (ONC) for the United States Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) announced a Proposed Rule that will enable direct access to laboratory test results by patients. Under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA), laboratories must hold a CLIA certificate in order to perform one of three levels of complex laboratory tests regulated by CLIA. Even before the passage of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act), concerns have been expressed regarding the lack of clarity under state law, and the literal prohibition in some states, regarding whether a CLIA laboratory that is independent (as opposed to hospital based) may release laboratory test results directly to a patient. Continue reading →

Farzad Mostashari, MD, speaks at 2011 Kentucky eHealth Summit

September 2, 2011October 31, 2011 Kathie McDonald-McClure EHR Certification Standards, Electronic Health Records, Eligible Professional Incentives, Health Information Technology, HITECH Law, Hospital EHR Stimulus, Meaningful Use, State HIT Grants & Loans Electronic Health Records, Health Information Technology, HITECH Act, linkedin, meaningful use of certified EHR, ONC

On September 6 and 7, 2011, the Kentucky Governor’s Office of Electronic Health Information hosted the 4th annual Kentucky eHealth Summit at the METS Center, 3861 Olympic Boulevard, Erlanger, KY 41018 in northern Kentucky.

Farzad Mostashari, MD, ScM, the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology for the United States Department of Health & Human Services, addressed attendees of the Summit. Dr. Mostashari discussed the Office of National Coordinator’s initiatives and the future of health information technology, including the launch of a Consumer Health IT Program on September 12, 2011. More information about the Kentucky eHealth Summit can be found here.

Kentucky was the first state in the United States to award Medicaid incentive money to a hospital and quickly followed in awards to other healthcare providers who completed an attestation of their plan to adopt, implement, or upgrade an Electronic Health Record (EHR) system. For more information about the Kentucky Medicaid EHR Incentive program, and to read the FAQs and access additional helpful links, click here .

Health IT Policy Committee Recommends Delay for Stage 2 Meaningful Use

June 29, 2011July 7, 2011 Kathie McDonald-McClure Electronic Health Records, Eligible Professional Incentives, Health Information Technology, HITECH Law, Hospital EHR Stimulus, Meaningful Use, Physician EMR Stimulus Electronic Health Records, eligible professional incentives for electronic medical records, Health Information Technology, HITECH Act, hospital incentives for EHRs, linkedin, meaningful use of certified EHR, ONC

UPDATE: On July 6, 2011, Farzad Mostashari, M.D., ONC Chief, backed the ONC Policy Committee’s recommendation to delay implementing Stage 2 meaningful use criteria.

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On June 16, 2011, Paul Tang, M.D. , as Vice Chair of the Health IT Policy Committee for the Office of National Coordinator (ONC), wrote a letter to Farzad Mostashari, M.D., the ONC National Coordinator, requesting a delay in implementing Stage 2 of the meaningful use criteria that eligible healthcare providers must meet in order to obtain the monetary incentives for adoption of electronic health records (EHRs). The monetary incentives were established pursuant to the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 (HITECH Act), which was part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). Dr. Tang states in the letter:

The HITPC has heard from both the vendor community and the provider community that the current schedule for compliance with stage 2 meaningful use objectives in 2013 poses a nearly insurmountable timing challenge for those who attest to meaningful use in 2011. With the anticipated release of the final rule for stage 2 in June, 2012, it would require EHR vendors to design, develop, and release new functionality, and for eligible hospitals to upgrade, implement and begin using the new functionality by the beginning of the reporting year in October of 2012. After careful consideration of the trade-offs between the urgency with which new functionality is needed and the ability to safely deliver and to effectively use the new functionality, the HITPC recommends that—only for those who begin to attest to MU in 2011—an extra year be provided to phase in the stage 2 expectations (ie., Stage 2 for those who attest in 2011 would begin in 2014).

The Committee asserts that the delay would only affect providers who implement Stage 1 in 2011. This assumes that providers who wait until 2012 to implement Stage 1 would not have been ready to implement Stage 2 until 2014 anyway. The letter also sets forth the proposals for stengthening Stage 1 criteria in Stage 2. The Committee voted 12 to 5 in favor of the recommendations in the letter. To read the entire 14-page letter, click here.