Health Beat: HHS Issues Rules To Advance Electronic Health Records Availability
by October 7, 2015 6:15 am 140 views
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HHS ISSUES RULES TO ADVANCE ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS AVAILABILITY: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) on Tuesday (Oct. 6) released final rules that could simplify requirements and add new flexibilities for providers to make electronic health information available for health care providers and consumers to be able to readily, safely, and securely exchange that information.
The final rule for 2015 Edition Health IT Certification Criteria (2015 Edition) and final rule with comment period for the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Records (EHRs) Incentive Programs will help continue to move the health care industry away from a paper-based system, where a doctor’s handwriting needed to be interpreted and patient files could be misplaced, CMS officials said.
MEDICAID, PRIVATE OPTION REINSTATEMENTS GROW BY 2,734: The number of Arkansans removed from the state Medicaid rolls has increased by 51 in the past week, but the number reinstated has increased by 2,734. That’s according to figures supplied Monday by Amy Webb, Department of Human Services spokesperson, following a meeting of the House and Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committees.
REP. COLLINS: HEALTH CARE REFORM REPORT PROCESS PREVENTS BLINDSIDING – Legislators are getting a sneak peek at a consultant’s health care report in a controlled access setting so they won’t be “blindsided” with questions before having a chance to study it, the chairman of the Health Care Reform Legislative Task Force said. Rep. Charlie Collins said the long-awaited report was delivered as expected last Thursday by The Stephen Group consulting firm. The Bureau of Legislative Research produced hard copies and opened a room at the Capitol on Monday and Tuesday for legislative members to review it there. The report will be revealed publicly today at an all-day task force meeting starting at 10 a.m.
FAST-GROWING HEALTHSCOPE BENEFITS NAMES NEW COO: HealthScope Benefits has named Matt Gray as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the fast-growing Little Rock-based insurance claims administration and healthcare management services firm, the company recently announced. In his new role, Gray will lead and direct the third-party administrator’s (TPA) six lines of business, which include medical management, network services, claims administration, HSB Datascope, consumer drive health and benefits administration.
According to the company’s website, HealthScope is the fourth-largest TPA in the United States based on administrative fee revenue. The company has more than 700 workers and has additional offices in Columbus, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Nashville, St. Louis and El Paso. The Little Rock TPA administers benefits in all 50 states for over 200 companies and more than 500,000 members with greater than $1.3 billion in annual healthcare expenditures.