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HIPAA requirements document with hand holding magnifying glass - to avoid HIPAA violations

Avoid These Common HIPAA Violations

More than twenty years since its inception, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) has made significant strides in keeping patients’ healthcare information private. However, even now, HIPAA violations still occur on a regular basis—often as a result of unintentional actions, leading to fines that can range from $100 to $1.5 million. In addition, providers may be at risk for sanctions or even loss of license. Here, in no particular order, are the 10 most common reasons for HIPAA violation citations; it’s worth reviewing these with your staff periodically to remind them to be careful with discussions, files, and devices. Read more

Approved stamp

CMS Approves Telemedicine for Medicaid Encounters

Just this week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a final rule proclaiming that telemedicine for Medicaid home health services may qualify for reimbursement. CMS urges individual states to determine specifically the types of telemedicine that will be authorized. Read more

reimbursement for telemedicine

Medicare Falls Behind in Reimbursement for Telemedicine

You might think that the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010 and the resulting opportunities for telemedicine would have led to widespread telemedicine usage to increase access to healthcare while reducing costs, but the reality is that reimbursement from government agencies—such as Medicare—has fallen far behind the rhetoric. And when good intentions aren’t backed up with adequate funding, progress can become slower than molasses.

Telemedicine has certainly grown steadily, but the impact has been felt more significantly among those with private insurance that provides reimbursement for telemedicine visits. Among Medicare beneficiaries, less than 1% have coverage for telemedicine (1). And of those who are fortunate enough to enjoy such coverage, particularly those in rural areas, Medicare often requires the beneficiary to already be at a clinic. So much for making healthcare more convenient. Read more

Past the Tipping Point

tipping point

Last Thursday I promised to discuss our takeaways from the ATA conference individually in more detail, starting with

#1 We’re past the tipping point.

I won’t belabor the point of the overall importance of this takeaway, as you can read about it here.  However, I will re-quote ATA CEO Jonathan Linkous because his numbers make a good launching point: “Today, 20 million Americans get some part of their healthcare remotely, and that number will grow as telemedicine expands its reach.”  And the ATA President, Edward Brown, believes that mHealth/Telemedicine will grow by 50% every year.

According to a study by IHS Technology and published in January, the almost 350,000 telehealth patients in 2013 will swell to Read more