Today, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announces the resolution of two religious discrimination complaints ensuring clergy access to patients for religious purposes during the COVID-19 pandemic, one involving MedStar’s Southern Maryland Hospital Center (MSMHC) that is part of the MedStar Health System, and the second one involving Mary Washington Healthcare (MWHC) in Virginia.
Resources
10/222020
09/252020
Today, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a document entitled, Today, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a document entitled, Effective Practices for Preventing Sexual Harassment. The document includes examples of sexual harassment, provides specific actions that HHS-funded programs, universities and university health and medical offices can take to reduce or prevent occurrences of sexual harassment, and identifies protective protocols that can be implemented by university health and medical professionals to protect students, employees, patients and others from sexual harassment. The document and additional information about sex-based harassment may be found on OCR’s website.
OCR enforces Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 (Title IX) and it’s implementing regulations. Title IX requires universities and other recipients of federal financial funding to ensure all their programs are administered free of sex discrimination, including sexual harassment.
OCR is available to offer technical assistance to university Title IX Coordinators and staff on all civil rights obligations. If you would like assistance, please contact your Regional office or email OCR’s main mailbox at [email protected].
08/172020
Dive Brief:
Dive Brief:- President Donald Trump late Monday signed an executive order directing the administration to permanently extend Medicare’s broader telehealth coverage after the public health emergency, and CMS followed by proposing a rule that does so — albeit on a piecemeal, service-by-service basis.
- The proposed changes, in its 2021 physician fee schedule released Monday night, would allow Medicare providers to conduct evaluation and management (E/M) home visits for established patients virtually, allow an emergency room E/M virtual visit for minor to moderately severe health issues and expand some telehealth services similar to telehealth services already covered by Medicare, like for group psychotherapy or care for patients with cognitive impairment. Nine new telehealth codes will be permanent, and 13 will be covered through the calendar year in which the public health emergency ends, to give physicians a chance to deliver services virtually before CMS decides whether or not to permanently allow them.
- Notable exclusions are payment for audio-only telehealth visits conducted over the telephone, though CMS noted consumer demand could remain as Medicare beneficiaries, of which an estimated 40% don’t have access to a computer with internet, look to receive care while avoiding potential infection. CMS asked for public input on any services it temporarily included for the scope of the emergency that it’s not proposing to cover permanently. Comments are due Oct. 5.
Dive Insight:
07/162020
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has published the Quality Reporting Document Architecture (QRDA) Category III Implementation Guide (IG), Schematron, and Sample Files for Eligible Clinicians and Eligible Professionals Programs. The 2021 CMS QRDA III IG outlines requirements for eligible clinicians and eligible professionals to report electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs), improvement activities (IA), and promoting interoperability (PI) measures for the calendar year 2021 performance period for these programs:
- Quality Payment Program: Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and Advanced Alternative Payment Models
- Comprehensive Primary Care Plus (CPC+)
- Primary Care First (PCF)
- Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program
The 2021 CMS QRDA III IG contains these high-level changes as compared with the 2020 CMS QRDA III IG:
- Clarification of CPC+ QRDA III requirements in section 4.1
- Preliminary QRDA III requirements for PCF have been defined
- Updated eCQM universally unique identifiers for the 2021 performance period
Note: A subsequent publication will follow the publication of the 2021 Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule to update MIPS eCQM, PI measures, and IA identifiers in Section 7 of this IG.
Changes to the 2021 CMS QRDA III Schematron:
- Addition of conformance statements to support PCF requirements0
Changes to the 2021 CMS QRDA III Sample Files:
- Addition of a PCF QRDA III sample file
Additional QRDA-Related Resources:
Additional QRDA-related resources, as well as current and past IGs, are found on the Electronic Clinical Quality Improvement Resource Center QRDA page. For questions related to this guidance, the QRDA IGs or Schematrons, visit the ONC Project Tracking System (Jira) QRDA project.
The Quality Measurement and Value-Based Incentives Group (QMVIG) is part of the CMS Center for Clinical Standards and Quality. QMVIG brings you programs on meaningful measure development, health information technology, quality compare programs (etc.).
07/122020
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the HHS announced that it will not impose penalties for noncompliance with HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules regarding the good faith provision of telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The announcement looks like a “get out of jail free” opportunity but the reality is far from that interpretation. The key we need to focus is on the “good faith provision” wording which can be interpreted in multiple ways.
To keep it simple, the intent of this announcement was to allow some freedom to facilitate contact with patients through telecommunications platforms. It is particularly important to remember that the announcement does not mean that HIPAA requirements no longer apply. Also, implementing telecommunications technology opens the door to new risks as it regards protecting patient information.
Our basic recommendation is to complete your annual SRA as normal with an emphasis in overlooking the technologies you are using for telecommunications. If using telecommunications in your business, make sure to obtain a signed business associate agreement (BAA) from your telecommunications Provider. Make sure that in addition to the standard BAA wording your agreement covers information such as where and how (ie, encrypted format) any video conferences are stored and that all connections are encrypted.
We understand that you have a lot on your mind, but this is not the time to get caught in something this simple so schedule the SRA early and get it out of your mind.
https://www.tainoconsultants.com/2020/07/12/covid-19-and-hipaa-security-security-risk-assessments/
07/062020
The Deadline for Eligible Hospitals to Submit their Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program Hardship Exception Application is Tuesday, September 1
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) requires that all eligible hospitals use 2015 Edition certified electronic health record technology (CEHRT) to meet the requirements of the Promoting Interoperability Programs. CMS mandates downward payment adjustments be applied to eligible hospitals that are not meaningful users of CEHRT.
06/162020
UPDATED: Monday, June 22, at 3:21 p.m.
CMS: 325K Medicare beneficiaries diagnosed with COVID by May 16
The Trump administration released new data Monday examining how COVID-19 has impacted Medicare beneficiaries, saying that 325,000 were diagnosed with the virus between Jan. 1 and May 16.
06/152020
Medical groups and integrated health systems say in a recent survey it will take at least a year for revenue to return for pre-pandemic levels, underscoring the need for more relief funding from Congress.
06/152020
Congress took steps to quickly expand access to telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now 30 senators are calling for those changes to become permanent.
06/042020
Dear Clients & Friends,
On Wednesday, June 3, 2020 the Senate unanimously approved H.R. 7010 which was passed by the House last week. This bill now heads to the President for signature. We expect it to already be signed by the time of this distribution or signed very soon. The heart of H.R. 7010 is to achieve 100%, or close to 100%, forgiveness for PPP loan proceeds. The original CARES Act instituted very stringent rules, which would make it virtually impossible to achieve 100% loan forgiveness for most borrowers. We know that most of you are very well versed in the world of PPP loans, so the highlights of H.R. 7010 are listed below: