Contact Us
Categories
- Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Civil Rights
- Medical Residents
- DEI
- Medical Cannabis
- SB 47
- Workplace Violence
- Assisted Living Facilities
- EMTALA
- FDA
- Reproductive Rights
- Roe v. Wade
- SCOTUS
- Medical Spas
- medical billing
- No Surprises Act
- Mandatory vaccination policies
- Workplace health
- Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act
- Code Enforcement
- Department of Labor ("DOL")
- Employment Law
- FFCRA
- CARES Act
- Nursing Home Reform Act
- Acute Care Beds
- COVID-19
- Families First Coronavirus Response Act
- Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”)
- KBML
- medication assisted therapy
- SB 150
- Clinical Support
- Coronavirus
- Emergency Medical Services
- Emergency Preparedness
- Department of Health and Human Services
- Legislative Developments
- Corporate
- United States Department of Justice ("DOJ")
- Employee Contracts
- Non-Compete Agreement
- Opioid Epidemic
- Sexual Harassment
- Health Resource and Services Administration
- Litigation
- Medical Malpractice
- House Bill 333
- Senate Bill 79
- Locum Tenens
- Senate Bill 4
- Physician Prescribing Authority
- Chronic Pain Management
- HIPAA
- Prescription Drugs
- "Two Midnights Rule"
- 340B Program
- Drug Screening
- EHR Systems
- Electronic Health Records (“EHR")
- Hospice
- ICD-10
- KASPER
- Kentucky minimum wage
- Mental Health Care
- Minimum wage
- Primary Care Physicians ("PCPs")
- Skilled Nursing Facilities (“SNFs”)
- Uncategorized
- Urinalysis
- Accountable Care Organizations (“ACO”)
- Affordable Care Act
- Affordable Insurance Exchanges
- Anti-Kickback Statute
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”)
- Certificate of Need ("CON")
- Compliance
- Data Breach
- Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
- Electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI)
- False Claims Act
- Federally Qualified Health Centers (“FQHCs”)
- Fee for Service
- Fraud
- Health Care Fraud
- Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act)
- Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)
- Health Professional Shortage Area ("HPSA")
- HIPAA Risk Assessment
- Hospitals
- HPSA
- Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure
- Kentucky’s Department for Medicaid Services
- Medicaid
- Medical Staff By-Laws
- Medically Underserved Area ("MUA")
- Medicare
- Office for Civil Rights ("OCR")
- Office of Inspector General of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (OIG)
- Part D
- Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”)
- Pharmacists
- Physician Assistants
- Qui Tam
- Rural Health Centers (“RHCs”)
- Rural Health Clinic
- Stark Laws
- Telehealth
- Alternative Payment Models
- American Telemedicine Association (“ATA”)
- Charitable Hospitals
- Criminal Division of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”)
- Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (“HEAT”)
- HRSA
- Hydrocodone
- Kentucky Board of Nursing
- Kentucky Pharmacists Association
- Limited Services Clinics
- Mid-Level Practitioners
- Qualified Health Care Centers (“FQHC”)
- Telemedicine
- Agreed Order
- APRNs
- Chain and Organization System (“PECOS”)
- Douglas v. Independent Living Center of Southern California
- Drug Enforcement Agency ("DEA")
- Emergency Rooms
- Enrollment
- Hinchy v. Walgreen Co.
- Jimmo v. Sebelius
- Kentucky Senate Bill 7
- Maintenance Standard
- Medicare Part D
- Minors
- Overpayments
- Re-validation
- United States ex. Rel. Kane v. Continuum Health Partners
- Vitas Innovative Hospice Care
- Webinar
- 2014 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (“PFS”)
- 501(c)(3)
- All-Payer Claims Database ("APCD")
- Appeal
- Cadillac tax
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Chiropractic services
- Chronic Care Management
- Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (“CLIA”)
- Compliance Officer
- Compounding
- CPR
- Denied Claims
- Dispenser
- Drug Quality and Security Act (“DQSA”)
- Essential Health Benefits
- Federation of State Medical Boards (“FSMB”)
- Food and Drug Administratio
- Grace Period
- HealthCare.gov
- House Bill 3204
- ICD-9
- Individual mandate
- Kentucky Medical Practice Act
- Kindred v. Cherolis
- Kynect
- Long-term care communities
- Mobile medical applications ("apps")
- Model Policy for the Appropriate Use of Social Media and Social Networking in Medical Practice (“Model Policy”)
- National Drug Code ("NDC")
- National Institutes of Health
- New England Compounding Center ("NECC")
- Ophthalmological services
- Outsourcing facility
- Physician Compare website
- Physician Payments
- Ping v. Beverly Enterprises
- Power of Attorney ("POA")
- Prescriber
- Qualified Health Plan ("QHP")
- Social Media
- Spousal coverage
- State Health Plan
- Sustainable Growth Rate (“SGR”)
- Texting
- UPS
- "Plan of Correction"
- Advanced Practice Registered Nurses
- Affinity Health Plan
- Arbitration
- Audit
- Business Associate Agreements
- Business Associates
- Call Coverage
- Community health needs assessment (“CHNA”)
- Condition of Participation ("CoP")
- Daycare centers
- Decertification
- Department of Medicaid Services’ (“DMS”)
- Division of Regulated Child Care
- Doe v. Guthrie Clinic
- EHR vendor
- Employer Group Health Plans
- Employer Mandate
- ERISA
- Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
- False Billings
- Form 4720
- Group Purchasing Organizations ("GPO")
- Health Professional Shortage Areas (“HPSA”)
- Health Reform
- Home Health Prospective Payment System
- Home Medical Equipment Providers
- Hospitalists
- House Bill 104
- Inpatient Care
- Intermediate Sanctions Agreement
- Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange
- Kentucky House Bill 217
- Licensed practical nurses (LPN)
- Licensure Requirements
- List of Excluded Individuals and Entities
- LLC v. Sutter
- Long-Term Care Providers ("LTC")
- Low-utilization payment adjustment ("LUPA")
- Meaningful use incentives
- Medicare Administrative Coordinators
- Medicare Benefit Policy Manual
- Medicare Shared Saving Program (MSSP)
- Network provider agreement
- Nonprofit hospitals
- Nonroutine medical supplies conversion factor (“NRS”)
- Nurse practitioners (NP)
- Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (“ONC”)
- Part A
- Part B
- Patient Autonomy
- Patient Privacy
- Payors
- Personal Health Information
- Personal Service Entities
- Physician Recruitment
- Physician shortages
- Provider Self Disclosure Protocol
- Quality reporting
- Registered nurses (RN)
- Residency Programs
- Self-Disclosure Protocol
- Senate Bill 39
- Senate Finance Committee Report
- State Medicaid Expansion
- Statement of Deficiency ("SOD")
- Trade Association Group Coverage
- Upcoding
- “Superuser”
- Abuse and Waste
- Autism/ASD
- Center for Disease Control
- Compliance Programs
- Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan programs (“CO-OPS”)
- Critical Access Hospitals (“CAHs”)
- Essential Health Benefits (“EHBs”)
- Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act ("GINA")
- Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS)
- Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services
- Kentucky Health Care Co-Op
- Kentucky Health Cooperative (“KYHC”)
- Kentucky House Bill 159
- Kentucky Primary Care Centers (“PCCs”)
- Managed Care Organizations (“MCOs”)
- Medicare Audit Improvement Act of 2012
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”)
- Recovery Audit Contractors (“RAC”)
- Small Business Health Options Program (“SHOP”)
- Sunshine Act
- Employee Agreement
- Free Conference Committee Report
- Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program
- Health Insurance
- Healthcare Regulation
- House Bill 1
- House Bill 4
- Kentucky “Pill Mill Bill”
- Pain Management Facilities
- Health Care Law
McBrayer Blogs
Showing 8 posts from August 2013.
PHI May Be In More Places Than You Think
A recent HIPAA settlement serves as an important reminder that protected health information (PHI) may be stored on “ordinary” office equipment such as printers, photocopiers, scanners and fax machines, and not just on computer hard drives. On August 14, 2013, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a settlement with the not-for-profit managed care plan Affinity Health Plan, Inc. (“Affinity”) for over $1.2 million in connection with HIPAA Privacy and Security breaches stemming from PHI stored on a photocopier hard drive. More >
Licensure Requirements for Home Medical Equipment Providers, Personal Service Agencies
It is no surprise that, given the current health care climate, providers who were unregulated just a few years ago are now subject to certification and licensure requirements. More >
Final Rule for Long-Term Care Facilities and Hospice Providers Becomes Effective August 26th
On June 27, 2013, CMS published its final rule for hospice agreements with long-term care (“LTC”) providers. LTC facilities are now required to have written agreements specifying what services the hospice and LTC provider will provide to nursing home residents receiving hospice care. This new Condition of Participation (CoP) aims to improve the quality and consistency of care between LTC and hospice providers by specifically defining responsibilities and roles. The agreement must be signed by authorized representatives for both the LTC facility and hospice before hospice care can be provided to patients. The effective date is August 26, 2013. More >
Beyond Making the Rounds: Hospitalists & Quality of Care under the ACA, cont.
On Tuesday, I discussed how hospitalists play a vital role in meeting the ACA's quality of care standards for the inpatient setting. Now, let's take a look at how PCPs must also work to meet these same standards. More >
Beyond Making the Rounds: Hospitalists & Quality of Care under the ACA
By now, everyone knows the Affordable Care Act’s (“ACA”) motto is “increase quality, decrease costs.” As providers transition from the fee for service payment model to new payment systems that are tied to quality, one subset of providers will play a pivotal role in bringing health care into a new era: hospitalists. More >
Kentucky Selected To Participate in ER “Superusers” Program
If you have ever visited an emergency room in the Commonwealth, chances are that you have seen a “superuser” – a person who uses the emergency room for regular health care instead of opting for a lower-cost alternative such as a primary care physician. Whether Medicaid recipients or uninsured, superusers (also known as “super-utilizers” or “frequent flyers”) increase Medicaid expenditures and drive up the overall costs of health care. In 2012, 4,400 Medicaid recipients used an emergency room ten or more times, and Kentucky Medicaid spent more than $219 million on emergency room use. Superusers, however, do not just waste money. They also waste the valuable time and resources of emergency room providers, creating longer wait times for those experiencing true emergencies. More >
The Pioneer Program Report Card
In 2012, thirty-two organizations were selected to participate as “Pioneers” in a pilot Accountable Care Organization (“ACO”) program created through the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”). The program’s goals were to revolutionize the health system and reduce medical costs by basing physician and hospital pay on quality rather than quantity. More >
Proposed Payment Changes for Medicare Home Health Agencies, cont.
Earlier this week, I discussed CMS’ proposal to rebase the payment rates for home health services. Here I will discuss CMS’ other proposed changes to home health payment. More >

