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| January 21, 2010 | |
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New in this IssueNetherlands reactor to be closed for six months in 2010 Funding OpportunitiesNIH Funding for Development of Systems for Image-Guided Interventions for Cancer
Health and Human ServicesReport on State Medical Record Access Laws Report on State Law Requirements for Patient Permission to Disclose Health Information Releasing Clinical Laboratory Test Results: Report on Survey of State Laws Report on State Prescribing Laws: Implications for e-Prescribing Perspectives on Patient Matching: Approaches, Finding, and Challenges Health ReformHouse, Senate Begin Ironing Out Major Differences In Health Reform Bills Lawmakers Seek More Money From Drug, Device, Other Stakeholders To Fund Health Reform Senate GOP: SGR Fix Bill Will Ride With Debt Limit Increase Under Reconciliation Option, House Would Have To Accept Senate’s Insurance Reforms Senate Eyes 5-Year SGR Fix, Pay Commission As Part Of Debt Limit Expansion IAEAInstitute of MedicineJoint CommissionJoint Commission Online - January 6, 2010 Issue Available Joint Commission Online - January 13, 2010 Issue Available Joint Commission Annual Report Shows Gains in Patient Care Quality Joint Commission Online - January 20, 2010 Issue Available Online MedicareCMS Updates 2010 Payments to Freestanding Centers & Physicians Based on Technical Errors NRC |
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Health and Human ServicesReport on State Medical Record Access LawsThis report analyzes state laws that are intended to require health care providers (specifically, medical doctors and hospitals) to afford individuals access to their own health information and to identify potential barriers to the electronic exchange of health information. Specific state law provisions examined: scope of medical records to which patients are afforded access, format of information furnished, deadlines for responding to requests, fees for furnishing copies, record retention laws and access to records of minors... [see full article] Report on State Law Requirements for Patient Permission to Disclose Health InformationIn Phase I of the HISPC project a majority of participants reported significant variation in the business practices and policies surrounding the need for and process of obtaining patient permission to use and disclose personal health information for a variety of purposes, including for treatment. This report furthers the initial work of this project by collating and analyzing state laws that govern the disclosure of identifiable health information for treatment purposes to identify commonalities and differences... [see full article] Releasing Clinical Laboratory Test Results: Report on Survey of State LawsFor this report, state statutes and regulations were analyzed to determine to whom clinical laboratories may release test results. This report focused on clinical laboratory and hospital licensing laws (that contain standards for hospital laboratories). It also examined general state medical record access laws to determine whether they provided an avenue for patients to access their clinical laboratory results directly... [see full article] Report on State Prescribing Laws: Implications for e-PrescribingThis report identifies and analyzes the impact and variation of state laws related to e-prescribing. The report addresses state laws related to the e-prescribing of controlled and non-controlled substances as well as topics such as record keeping and content requirements, out-of-state prescriptions, and generic substitution laws... [see full article] Perspectives on Patient Matching: Approaches, Finding, and ChallengesThis report analyzes various approaches to matching patients to their health information in the context of electronic health information exchange. Current and potential methods for matching patients to their health records are discussed, challenges to performing patient matching such as scalability and ease of use are analyzed, and the types of information some HIOs use to match patients to their health records is described ... [see full article] Health ReformHouse, Senate Begin Ironing Out Major Differences In Health Reform BillsDemocratic lawmakers began the process of reconciling the differing House and Senate health reform bills this week, starting with a series of meetings Tuesday (Jan. 5) involving congressional leaders and the White House. House leaders have already acknowledged their readiness to forgo a public option -- a non-starter in the Senate -- but are signaling they may keep fighting on some major issues, including extending drug rebates to dual eligibles and nixing the Senate’s provision that would tax high-cost health plans... [see full article] Lawmakers Seek More Money From Drug, Device, Other Stakeholders To Fund Health ReformSenators negotiating on health reform have asked the medical device and drug industries to each contribute an extra $10 billion, and have also approached home health, nursing home and other industry sectors to offer up cuts, Washington analysts say. House and Senate negotiators are seeking additional cuts to pay an estimated $60 billion pricetag to close the Medicare Part D doughnut hole, among other policies... [see full article] Senate GOP: SGR Fix Bill Will Ride With Debt Limit IncreaseRepublicans sent out a warning to their members shortly before 5 p.m. Thursday (Jan. 14) that Senate Democrats intend to take up an unpaid for Medicare “Doc fix” bill next week as part of a measure to increase the debt limit... [see full article] Under Reconciliation Option, House Would Have To Accept Senate’s Insurance ReformsHouse Democrats would have to accept the Senate’s more insurance-friendly reforms on everything from age rating to medical loss ratios if lawmakers decide to use the budget reconciliation process to pass health reform after losing their filibuster-proof majority in Tuesday’s Massachusetts Senate race... [see full article] Senate Eyes 5-Year SGR Fix, Pay Commission As Part Of Debt Limit ExpansionSenate leadership along with the chairmen of the Finance and Budget committees are working on a five-year fix to Medicare physician payment reductions -- including addressing a 21.2 percent cut that is scheduled to kick in at the end of February, a top Democratic senator confirmed earlier today... [see full article] Institute of MedicineThe IOM is proud to announce the launch of its website and to tell you about its brand new, customizable newsletterOur new website provides a fresh new look as well as more information about our work than ever before, including better search to help you find the information you need, improved navigation to make it easier to browse, quick access to the IOM’s most recent and popular reports, and RSS feeds on the topics you care about most. Customize your newsletter to include information on the topics that are most relevant to you. Update your information today so we know what to include. Sign up to: Find out immediately when we issue a new report or launch a new activity. Learn about meetings you may want to attend. Keep up with news from individual activities... [see new website] Joint CommissionJoint Commission Online - January 6, 2010 Issue AvailableIn this issue
MedicareCMS Updates 2010 Payments to Freestanding Centers & Physicians Based on Technical ErrorsThe AAPM website provides recently updated relative value units (RVUs) and 2010 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule payments for all radiation oncology codes. This file reflects technical corrections to HDR brachytherapy procedure codes, 3,500 malpractice relative value units and a legislative change to the 2010 conversion factor update. The 2010 conversion factor is $36.0846. Please note that this file contains the revisions identified in the Physician Fee Schedule Final Regulation published November 2009 and subsequent revisions and was updated 12/23/2009. The 2010 conversion factor is likely to change again based on Congressional legislation and this information will be updated accordingly. To see current 2010 payments for freestanding centers and physicians effective January 1st go to: [spreadsheet] MedPAC Draft RecommendationsHospitals would see a full market basket update, but skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) would not under draft recommendations voted on Jan. 14 by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission that are expected to be part of an annual March report to Congress. Commissioners’ discussions on home health agency (HHA) recommendations, however, spurred a possibly policy-changing debate over physician certification and the panel held two home health recommendations for a later date. All others passed unanimously... [see full article] |
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