Topic:

Regulatory & Risk Management

Latest Headlines

Latest Headlines

State legislators advance health data security bill

In the wake of several security breaches in Utah in which personal information was compromised for hundreds of thousands of Medicaid participants, state lawmakers are taking steps to ensure that such participants are more aware of how their information is stored.

Hospitals fight for millions in Medicaid underpayments

Two Houston hospitals are asking Texas to change the Medicaid reimbursement rates 14 hospitals received for fiscal years 2008 and 2009.

Obama renominates Tavenner to head CMS

President Obama yesterday renominated Acting Administrator Marilyn Tavenner to head the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and oversee health reform implementation.

Is there any hope for the Medicare system?

A few key pieces came into place this week that sound promising: White House support, a new bipartisan bill and new Congressional Budget Office estimates that could usher in a permanent solution to the sustainable growth rate.

Data transfer issues for HIT systems a major safety concern

Data transfer between health IT systems often is inadequate from a patient-safety perspective, according to a new analysis of HIT-related safety events by the ECRI Institute Patient Safety Organization.   In its report, for which 171 health IT events were examined at 36 facilities between April and June of last year, the nonprofit organization identified five potential problem areas for such events: the aforementioed data transfer issues; systems not functioning as intended; poor system configurations; inaccurate data entry in patient records; and data entry in the wrong patient records.

House introduces bill to fix Medicare cuts for good

The House yesterday introduced bipartisan legislation to permanently repeal the sustainable growth rate formula.

7 hospitals fined $775K for patient safety violations

Seven California hospitals face a combined $775,000 in fines for risking patient safety, including delayed emergency treatment, the California Department of Public Health reported yesterday.

Obama urges sequestration fix to avert Medicare cuts

President Obama yesterday urged Congress to avoid automatic cuts set to take effect next month, including a 2 percent reduction in Medicare reimbursements.

Catholic hospital makes about-face on wrongful death defense

A Catholic hospital is taking back its controversial legal argument that a fetus is not a person, calling the statement "morally wrong."

Renown hospital to pay $4.2M in cardiology noncompete case

Renown Regional Medical Center agreed to pay $4.2 million to resolve allegations the Nevada-based health system forced 12 cardiologists to sign non-compete agreements.