Regulatory Incentives

Last week, the U.S. Senate unanimously approved a bill that would ease federal requirements that professionals seeing patients at ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) “meaningfully use” certified electronic health records (EHRs). The measure would sunset after certified EHR technology is applicable to the ASC setting.
Continue Reading Senate Approves Bill to Ease Meaningful Use Requirements In Ambulatory Surgery Setting

* Jack Lund is a summer associate and student at the University of Virginia School of Law       

The “21st Century Cures Act” (Cures) cleared its first major hurdle last month when the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted unanimously in favor of the legislation.  Among other things, Cures helps to modernize Medicare by including mandatory interoperability for electronic health records (EHR), study of and support for telehealth, and the creation of a pharmaceutical and technology ombudsman.Continue Reading 21st Century Cures Act with EHR and Telehealth Provisions Passes Through Committee with Flying Colors

* Gabriel Kohan is a summer associate and student at Harvard Law School.        

States are continuing to debate the role telehealth services should play in the health care system. Thus far in 2015, several States have enacted parity laws requiring that certain telehealth services be reimbursed to the same extent as in-person services. While on the whole more states are moving toward parity and encouraging or requiring reimbursement for telemedicine, that trend is not universal, and many of the States with parity laws only extend parity to telehealth services that meet certain conditions.Continue Reading Several States Enact Telehealth Parity Laws in 2015

Late last month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) with broad bipartisan support. MACRA would permanently repeal the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) for Medicare physician reimbursement and extend federal funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program for two additional years. The legislation also includes three telehealth provisions.
Continue Reading House Bill Repealing the Medicare SGR Includes Telehealth Provisions

Earlier this month, the National Law Journal published its annual Special Report on Health Care Law. Included in this Special Report is an article written by CovingtonEHealth contributors Caroline Brown, Anna Kraus, and Phil Peisch, entitled, The Cyber Future of Long-Term Care: Applying Health Care Laws
Continue Reading The Cyber Future of Long-Term Care: Applying Health Care Laws to Aging in Place Technologies

Yesterday, CMS extended the meaningful use attestation deadline for the 2014 reporting year for eligible professionals in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program from February 28 to March 20.  In an email, CMS stated that it “extended the deadline to allow providers extra time to submit their meaningful use data.”  Medicare
Continue Reading CMS Extends Meaningful Use Attestation Deadline to March 20 for Eligible Professionals

At the ONC’s HIT Committee meeting on February 10, 2015, CMS presented data about the Electronic Health Records (EHR) Incentive Program.  The presentation included CMS’s estimate that over two hundred and fifty thousand professionals participating in Medicare will receive a downward payment adjustment for failing to meet meaningful use standards in 2015, which is the EHR Incentive Program’s first penalty year.
Continue Reading CMS Estimates that Medicare EHR Incentive Program Will Penalize Hundreds of Thousands of Eligible Professionals

Telehealth legislation circulated earlier this month has been included in the draft House 21st Century CURES bill.  Groups commenting on the telehealth provision have generally supported the effort to expand telehealth services under Medicare, but are divided about whether the measure goes far enough.

The “Advancing Telehealth Opportunities in Medicare”
Continue Reading Draft 21st Century CURES Bill Includes Telehealth Provisions