On September 15, 2021, CMS published a proposed rule to repeal the Medicare Coverage of Innovative Technology (MCIT) and Definition of “Reasonable and Necessary” Final Rule (“MCIT/RN Rule”), which was published on January 14, 2021 and was set to take effect on December 15, 2021. The MCIT/RN Rule would have
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HHS Announces Enforcement Discretion Over the Implementation of Interoperability Final Rules Due to COVID-19 Public Health Emergency
On April 21, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) announced that, as a response to the COVID-19 public health emergency, it will exercise enforcement discretion to “permit compliance flexibilities” regarding the implementation of the interoperability final rules issued on March 9th, 2020. This joint announcement was made
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Update: HHS Extends Comment Period for Interoperability Proposed Rules
On April 19, 2019, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a 30-day extension to the comment period for two rules proposed by the HHS Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), originally published on March
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Patient Access to Electronic Health Data at the Forefront of Two HHS Proposed Rules
On March 4, 2019, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published two proposed rules to improve patient access to personal health data. The two rules, issued by the HHS Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC),
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CMS Expands Scope of Enhanced Match for Promotion of Health IT
On February 29, 2016, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a State Medicaid Directors Letter (SMDL) that expands the scope of expenditures eligible for the 90 percent federal match for activities to promote the use of a health information exchange (HIE) and the adoption of certified electronic health record (EHR) technology by Medicaid providers.
Specifically, this updated guidance permits States to claim the enhanced match for expenditures that promote coordination of care between entities eligible for EHR incentive payments and other Medicaid providers who may not necessarily qualify for such payments. This SMDL supersedes earlier guidance that did not permit the enhanced match for these activities.Continue Reading CMS Expands Scope of Enhanced Match for Promotion of Health IT
Senators Request Information from HHS About Medical Identity Theft Efforts
Last week, the chairmen and ranking members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and the Senate Committee on Finance sent a letter to Andy Slavitt, Acting Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”), and Jocelyn Samuels, Director of the Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”), requesting information on how HHS “is working to support and protect victims of medical identity theft” in order to “assess the adequacy of current efforts.”
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