Government News of the Week: Latest Issue

Feb. 20, 2012

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(1) HHS will postpone the Oct. 1, 2013, implementation date for ICD-10 diagnosis and procedure codes, HHS Sec. Kathleen Sebelius said Feb. 16 in a press release .... (more)

(2) HHS on Feb. 16 denied Wisconsin’s request for a waiver from the medical loss ratio provision of the reform law, and provided a partial waiver to North Carolina .... (more)

(3) In a case that involved a patient’s death, Vanderbilt University Medical Center and one of its physicians entered into separate monetary penalty settlements for alleged violations of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act .... (more)

In the White House’s proposed 2013 budget, “Pain is felt by pharma, providers, states and the ‘rich,’” say equity analysts Tom Carroll and Mark Kelly at Stifel Nicolaus. That may indicate that “regulators continue to be satisfied with the level of pain already inflicted to payers.” What do you think? Have payers suffered enough already? Join the conversation at the AIS Blogs.

(4) Long-awaited HIPAA regs are scheduled for release in March .... (more)

(5) The OIG warned physicians that they could be liable for false claims allegations if they assign their provider number for payment purposes and the assignee submits inaccurate claims .... (more)

(6) Four physicians, one physician’s assistant and four other people were indicted on Jan. 24 on conspiracy to violate the federal anti-kickback law .... (more)

(7) HHS on Feb. 15 issued two reports trumpeting the favorable impact of the preventive services provisions of the reform law. The results include about 54 million Americans with private insurance and 26 million in Medicare fee-for-service who received “at least one new free preventive service” last year. (Reprinted from AIS’s Health Reform Week's e-News Alert)

(8) Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) issued a cautionary letter to the FTC expressing doubts about the pending acquisition of Medco Health Solutions, Inc. by Express Scripts .... (more)

(9) Lawmakers in Alaska are pushing an insurance exchange bill to the floor for a vote .... (more)

(10) Michigan’s Republican-majority House is holding up legislation pushed by Republican Gov. Rick Snyder to create a health insurance exchange in the state .... (more)

(11) Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin (D) on Feb. 6 proposed that businesses with more than 50 employees be allowed to purchase health coverage outside of the state’s exchange until 2016 .... (more)

Have breaking news or an editorial question? E-mail BJ Taylor, editor of GOVERNMENT NEWS OF THE WEEK, at bjtaylor@aishealth.com. If you are interested in sponsoring GOVERNMENT NEWS OF THE WEEK please contact Bailey Sterrett at bsterrett@aishealth.com.

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