Contact Us
Subscribe to this blog via RSS
Join us on LinkedInCategories
- Data Privacy
- Kentucky Consumer Data Protection Act
- 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
- Clinical Support
- Coronavirus
- COVID-19
- Emergency Medical Services
- Emergency Preparedness
- Families First Coronavirus Response Act
- Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”)
- KBML
- medication assisted therapy
- SB 150
- 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
- House Bill 333
- Litigation
- Medical Malpractice
- Senate Bill 79
- Locum Tenens
- Physician Prescribing Authority
- Senate Bill 4
- Chronic Pain Management
- HIPAA
- Prescription Drugs
- "Two Midnights Rule"
- 340B Program
- Drug Screening
- EHR Systems
- Electronic Health Records (“EHR")
- Hospice
- ICD-10
- Kentucky minimum wage
- Minimum wage
- Primary Care Physicians ("PCPs")
- Skilled Nursing Facilities (“SNFs”)
- Uncategorized
- Urinalysis
- Accountable Care Organizations (“ACO”)
- Affordable Insurance Exchanges
- Anti-Kickback Statute
- Certificate of Need ("CON")
- Compliance
- Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
- Federally Qualified Health Centers (“FQHCs”)
- Fee for Service
- Fraud
- Health Care Fraud
- HIPAA Risk Assessment
- HPSA
- KASPER
- Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure
- Kentucky’s Department for Medicaid Services
- Mental Health Care
- Office for Civil Rights ("OCR")
- Office of Inspector General of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (OIG)
- Part D
- Pharmacists
- Physician Assistants
- Qui Tam
- Rural Health Centers (“RHCs”)
- Stark Laws
- Telehealth
- Affordable Care Act
- Alternative Payment Models
- American Telemedicine Association (“ATA”)
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”)
- Charitable Hospitals
- Criminal Division of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”)
- Data Breach
- Electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI)
- False Claims Act
- Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (“HEAT”)
- 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")
- Hospitals
- HRSA
- Kentucky Board of Nursing
- Limited Services Clinics
- Medicaid
- Medical Staff By-Laws
- Medically Underserved Area ("MUA")
- Medicare
- Mid-Level Practitioners
- Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”)
- Qualified Health Care Centers (“FQHC”)
- Rural Health Clinic
- Telemedicine
- Agreed Order
- APRNs
- Chain and Organization System (“PECOS”)
- Drug Enforcement Agency ("DEA")
- Hydrocodone
- Jimmo v. Sebelius
- Kentucky Pharmacists Association
- Maintenance Standard
- Overpayments
- 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
- Chiropractic services
- Chronic Care Management
- Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (“CLIA”)
- Compliance Officer
- Compounding
- CPR
- Dispenser
- Douglas v. Independent Living Center of Southern California
- Drug Quality and Security Act (“DQSA”)
- Emergency Rooms
- Enrollment
- Essential Health Benefits
- HealthCare.gov
- Hinchy v. Walgreen Co.
- House Bill 3204
- ICD-9
- Kentucky Senate Bill 7
- Kindred v. Cherolis
- Long-term care communities
- Medicare Part D
- Minors
- Mobile medical applications ("apps")
- National Drug Code ("NDC")
- New England Compounding Center ("NECC")
- Ophthalmological services
- Outsourcing facility
- Physician Compare website
- Ping v. Beverly Enterprises
- Power of Attorney ("POA")
- Prescriber
- Re-validation
- State Health Plan
- Sustainable Growth Rate (“SGR”)
- Texting
- "Plan of Correction"
- Advanced Practice Registered Nurses
- Affinity Health Plan
- Arbitration
- Audit
- Business Associate Agreements
- Business Associates
- Cadillac tax
- Call Coverage
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Community health needs assessment (“CHNA”)
- Condition of Participation ("CoP")
- Daycare centers
- Decertification
- Denied Claims
- 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
- Federation of State Medical Boards (“FSMB”)
- Food and Drug Administratio
- Form 4720
- Grace Period
- Group Purchasing Organizations ("GPO")
- Health Professional Shortage Areas (“HPSA”)
- Health Reform
- Home Health Prospective Payment System
- Home Medical Equipment Providers
- Hospitalists
- House Bill 104
- Individual mandate
- Inpatient Care
- Intermediate Sanctions Agreement
- Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange
- Kentucky House Bill 217
- Kentucky Medical Practice Act
- Kynect
- 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)
- Model Policy for the Appropriate Use of Social Media and Social Networking in Medical Practice (“Model Policy”)
- National Institutes of Health
- 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 Privacy
- Payors
- Personal Health Information
- Personal Service Entities
- Physician Payments
- Physician Recruitment
- Physician shortages
- Provider Self Disclosure Protocol
- Qualified Health Plan ("QHP")
- Quality reporting
- Registered nurses (RN)
- Residency Programs
- Self-Disclosure Protocol
- Social Media
- Spousal coverage
- Statement of Deficiency ("SOD")
- Trade Association Group Coverage
- Upcoding
- UPS
- “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”)
- Patient Autonomy
- Recovery Audit Contractors (“RAC”)
- Senate Bill 39
- Senate Finance Committee Report
- Small Business Health Options Program (“SHOP”)
- State Medicaid Expansion
- Sunshine Act
- Employee Agreement
- Free Conference Committee Report
- Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program
- House Bill 1
- House Bill 4
- Kentucky “Pill Mill Bill”
- Pain Management Facilities
- Health Care Law
- Health Insurance
- Healthcare Regulation
McBrayer Blogs
New Rule Brings Sweeping Changes to Physician Privacy
On January 17, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) would begin granting Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for Medicare reimbursement to individual physicians on a “case-by-case basis.” The new policy, effective March 18, 2014, is a departure from CMS’ long-standing practice of withholding information on physician reimbursement under the Medicare program. More >
The Affordable Care Act & Small Business Recap
On February 4, McBrayer and Business Lexington presented a panel discussion on how small businesses can navigate the Affordable Care Act. I was honored to moderate the event and hope that attendees benefited from the panel’s real-world advice on how to traverse the new landscape of health insurance. A huge thank you to the panelists: Jon Carroll, Beverly Clemons, Betsy Johnson, Cris Miller, and Garry Ramsey. More >
Small Devices & Big Consequences: Why Medical Practices Need Encryption
On Tuesday, I shared information about the U.S. Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office of Civil Rights’ (“OCR”) first settlement with a medical practice for alleged violations of the breach notification provisions of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (“HITECH”) Act. The $150,000 settlement was made with Adult & Pediatric Dermatology, P.C., (“the Practice”) after the entity reported a stolen jump drive that contained PHI of approximately 2,200 patients. More >
Coming to a Medical Practice near You: HIPAA and Hi-Tech Audits
On December 26, 2013, the U.S. Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced its first settlement with a covered entity for not having policies and procedures in place to address the breach notification provisions of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (“HITECH”) Act. Adult & Pediatric Dermatology, P.C., (“the Practice”) of Concord, Massachusetts agreed to settle potential violations with a $150,000 penalty and corrective action plan. More >
Part II: Understanding All-Payer Claims Databases
Earlier this week, we discussed the benefits of all-payer claims database (“APCD”) systems. Nine states currently have APCDs in place, but Kentucky is not one of them. These systems provide a multitude of information on the cost, use, and quality of health care in a given state, but the question remains: how do providers feel about APCDs? More >
Part I: Understanding All-Payer Claims Databases
Over the last decade, many states have established all-payer claims database (“APCD”) systems that collect medical, pharmaceutical, and dental eligibility and claims information. Payers, including insurance providers, third-party administrators, prescription drug plans, Medicaid, and Medicare, are responsible for depositing eligibility and claims data into a collective system. The data can then be used to generate important information about cost and quality of care. By gathering detailed information in one place, a statewide picture emerges – information on service providers, patient demographics, and other important healthcare data. More >
Major Money Marked for Addiction Treatment in Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky has long suffered from a prescription drug abuse and methamphetamine problem, and heroin use has also been on the rise recently. As a result, more than $32 million is being set aside to help address the growing substance abuse problem in Kentucky. The much-needed funds are a result of settlements with two pharmaceutical companies, according to Attorney General Jack Conway. More >
Part II: Are U.S. Providers Ready to Catch Up in Medical Coding?
If you are a provider and are unsure about the differences in ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes or why there is a need for implementation, I highly suggest you read Tuesday’s post. More >
Are U.S. Providers Ready to Catch Up in Medical Coding?
After the bungled introduction of HealthCare.gov, providers are unquestionably leery of other technical health care-related requirements on the horizon. If there is a lesson to be learned in the wake of the Health Exchange debacle, it is this: it is never too early to prepare for change. More >
The Sun is Not Setting on the EHR Safe Harbor
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) and the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office of the Inspector General (“OIG”) recently announced that the regulation allowing certain health care entities to donate electronic health records (with the entity subsiding up to 85% of the donor’s costs) to physicians has been extended to December 31, 2021. The regulation, which provided a safe harbor from the Stark Law and Anti-kickback statute, was set to expire on December 31, 2013. More >
