HEALTHCARE NEWS

Congress passed a bill to delay a scheduled 27% cut in Medicare payments by 10 months, and the president released his 2013 proposed budget, which requests a slight increase for health programs. Congress Passes SGR Deal The House of Representatives voted 293-132 late Friday morning to pass a ...

 The Office of E-Health Standards and Services (OESS) announced on November 17, 2011, that although the 5010/D.0 compliance date of January 1, 2012 will not change, HIPAA enforcement of compliance with the standards will be deferred until March 31, 2012. The 5010 versions of ...

MEDPAGE TODAY - 9/8/2011The CMS is proposing to offer coverage for behavior modification and weight-loss counseling among older, highly obese Medicare patients. The counseling will involve a weekly primary care office visit in the first month, one office visit every other week in the second to sixth...

Adequate and proper medical documentation is essential for quality medical care. We conduct audits to review practitioner documentation and ensure compliance with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) regulatory requirements and to meet Nat...

Kaiser Permanente    Kaiser Permanente of Colorado hopes a new incentive--cold, hard cash--will motivate people to lose weight. Although other insurers have offered similar programs, Kaiser is one of the first to make a weight loss program available to all adult members, the Associated...

National Government Services12/28/11  National Government Services will deactivate the telephone line and e-mail box that are currently used for Clinical Education effective July 1, 2011. Providers who direct messages to this e-mail box or phone line on or after July 1 will not receive a r...

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield.    Beginning January 1, 2012, physicians, other health care professionals and facilities that participate in the Horizon Managed Care Network may see patients, who are New Jersey residents, enrolled in several new out-of-state national account groups.
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Massachusetts-based Harvard Pilgrim has started paying patients $10 to $75 each time they get medical tests at a lower cost provider. Under Harvard Pilgrim's SaveOn program, when members get referrals from their doctors, they can call the insurer's "clinical concierge" line that directs ...

 National Government Services 01/04/12        Are you looking for more information on the Provider Enrollment revalidation effort? The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has recently added to their list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) specific to...