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More HIPAA Goes to Rights Office
The Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights will now enforce the confidentiality of electronic health information as well as other patient records, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced. The office already had responsibility for enforcing the HIPAA's “privacy” rule, which guards nonelectronic personal health information. But enforcement of HIPAA's “security” rule for electronic health information had been delegated to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Legislation approved as part of the Recovery Act of 2009 mandated better enforcement of both rules. Ms. Sebelius noted in a statement that electronic and nonelectronic health information increasingly overlaps. “Combining the enforcement authority [for both rules] in one agency within HHS will facilitate improvements by eliminating duplication and increasing efficiency,” she said. CMS will continue to have authority for the administration and enforcement of other HIPAA regulations.
HHS Issues Privacy Breach Rules
The federal government is requiring physicians and other HIPAA-covered entities to notify individuals when their protected health information has been breached. The interim final rule, issued in August, goes into effect this month. Under the rule, physicians have up to 60 calendar days from when they detect unauthorized access of protected health information to notify the patient. If the breach involves more than 500 individuals, the HHS secretary and a major media outlet in their area must be notified. “This new federal law ensures that covered entities and business associates are accountable to [HHS] and to individuals for proper safeguarding of the private information entrusted to their care,” said Robinsue Frohboese, acting director of the Office of Civil Rights at HHS. There are exceptions: Notifications are not necessary if the information that was disclosed is unlikely to be retained. For example, if a nurse gives a patient the wrong discharge papers but quickly takes them back, it's reasonable to assume that the patient could not have retained that protected information, according to HHS. More information about the regulation is available at
Public Is Biggest ED Payer
More than 40% of the 120 million visits that Americans made to hospital emergency departments in 2006 were billed to Medicare and Medicaid, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. In all, 34% of visits were billed to private insurance companies, 18% weren't covered at all, and the rest were billed to workers' compensation, Tricare, and other payers. However, uninsured people were 1.2 times as likely to visit the ED than were people with public or private insurance, AHRQ said. The uninsured also were the most likely to be treated and released. About 38% of the 24.2 million visits billed to Medicare ended with the patients being admitted, compared with 11% of the 41.5 million visits billed to private insurers, fewer than 10% of the 26 million visits billed to Medicaid, and 7% of the 21.2 million visits by the uninsured, the report found.
Obesity Medicine Exam to Come
Ten professional societies are jointly developing an Obesity Medicine Physician Certification Examination to credential physicians who care for obese adults and children. Last year, the group began assembling the body of knowledge that physicians need to be experts in obesity. The societies have now begun writing questions for the exam, which is scheduled to be completed by March 2010, according to the Obesity Society. The 10 groups are the Obesity Society, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, the American Diabetes Association, the American Gastroenterological Association, the American Heart Association, the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, the American Society for Nutrition, and the Endocrine Society.
Bill Seeks Pay for Performance
A small bipartisan group of senators has cosponsored legislation that would pay a physician for work under part of Medicare only if a patient's health status improves. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), and Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) offered the Take Back Your Health Act of 2009 (S. 1640) to create a new Medicare program based on “comprehensive lifestyle programs.” Such treatment plans would be designed by physicians specifically for each patient in the program. The plans can include nutritional therapy, exercise, medication management, care coordination, and tobacco-use cessation. Physicians wouldn't be paid if a patient were rehospitalized for a chronic illness accounted for in his or her plan. Sen. Wyden said in a statement that several trials of such a system, including those at Mutual of Omaha Insurance Co. and Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, have shown that comprehensive lifestyle programs can result in up to 50% reductions in medical costs.
More HIPAA Goes to Rights Office
The Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights will now enforce the confidentiality of electronic health information as well as other patient records, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced. The office already had responsibility for enforcing the HIPAA's “privacy” rule, which guards nonelectronic personal health information. But enforcement of HIPAA's “security” rule for electronic health information had been delegated to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Legislation approved as part of the Recovery Act of 2009 mandated better enforcement of both rules. Ms. Sebelius noted in a statement that electronic and nonelectronic health information increasingly overlaps. “Combining the enforcement authority [for both rules] in one agency within HHS will facilitate improvements by eliminating duplication and increasing efficiency,” she said. CMS will continue to have authority for the administration and enforcement of other HIPAA regulations.
HHS Issues Privacy Breach Rules
The federal government is requiring physicians and other HIPAA-covered entities to notify individuals when their protected health information has been breached. The interim final rule, issued in August, goes into effect this month. Under the rule, physicians have up to 60 calendar days from when they detect unauthorized access of protected health information to notify the patient. If the breach involves more than 500 individuals, the HHS secretary and a major media outlet in their area must be notified. “This new federal law ensures that covered entities and business associates are accountable to [HHS] and to individuals for proper safeguarding of the private information entrusted to their care,” said Robinsue Frohboese, acting director of the Office of Civil Rights at HHS. There are exceptions: Notifications are not necessary if the information that was disclosed is unlikely to be retained. For example, if a nurse gives a patient the wrong discharge papers but quickly takes them back, it's reasonable to assume that the patient could not have retained that protected information, according to HHS. More information about the regulation is available at
Public Is Biggest ED Payer
More than 40% of the 120 million visits that Americans made to hospital emergency departments in 2006 were billed to Medicare and Medicaid, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. In all, 34% of visits were billed to private insurance companies, 18% weren't covered at all, and the rest were billed to workers' compensation, Tricare, and other payers. However, uninsured people were 1.2 times as likely to visit the ED than were people with public or private insurance, AHRQ said. The uninsured also were the most likely to be treated and released. About 38% of the 24.2 million visits billed to Medicare ended with the patients being admitted, compared with 11% of the 41.5 million visits billed to private insurers, fewer than 10% of the 26 million visits billed to Medicaid, and 7% of the 21.2 million visits by the uninsured, the report found.
Obesity Medicine Exam to Come
Ten professional societies are jointly developing an Obesity Medicine Physician Certification Examination to credential physicians who care for obese adults and children. Last year, the group began assembling the body of knowledge that physicians need to be experts in obesity. The societies have now begun writing questions for the exam, which is scheduled to be completed by March 2010, according to the Obesity Society. The 10 groups are the Obesity Society, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, the American Diabetes Association, the American Gastroenterological Association, the American Heart Association, the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, the American Society for Nutrition, and the Endocrine Society.
Bill Seeks Pay for Performance
A small bipartisan group of senators has cosponsored legislation that would pay a physician for work under part of Medicare only if a patient's health status improves. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), and Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) offered the Take Back Your Health Act of 2009 (S. 1640) to create a new Medicare program based on “comprehensive lifestyle programs.” Such treatment plans would be designed by physicians specifically for each patient in the program. The plans can include nutritional therapy, exercise, medication management, care coordination, and tobacco-use cessation. Physicians wouldn't be paid if a patient were rehospitalized for a chronic illness accounted for in his or her plan. Sen. Wyden said in a statement that several trials of such a system, including those at Mutual of Omaha Insurance Co. and Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, have shown that comprehensive lifestyle programs can result in up to 50% reductions in medical costs.
More HIPAA Goes to Rights Office
The Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights will now enforce the confidentiality of electronic health information as well as other patient records, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced. The office already had responsibility for enforcing the HIPAA's “privacy” rule, which guards nonelectronic personal health information. But enforcement of HIPAA's “security” rule for electronic health information had been delegated to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Legislation approved as part of the Recovery Act of 2009 mandated better enforcement of both rules. Ms. Sebelius noted in a statement that electronic and nonelectronic health information increasingly overlaps. “Combining the enforcement authority [for both rules] in one agency within HHS will facilitate improvements by eliminating duplication and increasing efficiency,” she said. CMS will continue to have authority for the administration and enforcement of other HIPAA regulations.
HHS Issues Privacy Breach Rules
The federal government is requiring physicians and other HIPAA-covered entities to notify individuals when their protected health information has been breached. The interim final rule, issued in August, goes into effect this month. Under the rule, physicians have up to 60 calendar days from when they detect unauthorized access of protected health information to notify the patient. If the breach involves more than 500 individuals, the HHS secretary and a major media outlet in their area must be notified. “This new federal law ensures that covered entities and business associates are accountable to [HHS] and to individuals for proper safeguarding of the private information entrusted to their care,” said Robinsue Frohboese, acting director of the Office of Civil Rights at HHS. There are exceptions: Notifications are not necessary if the information that was disclosed is unlikely to be retained. For example, if a nurse gives a patient the wrong discharge papers but quickly takes them back, it's reasonable to assume that the patient could not have retained that protected information, according to HHS. More information about the regulation is available at
Public Is Biggest ED Payer
More than 40% of the 120 million visits that Americans made to hospital emergency departments in 2006 were billed to Medicare and Medicaid, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. In all, 34% of visits were billed to private insurance companies, 18% weren't covered at all, and the rest were billed to workers' compensation, Tricare, and other payers. However, uninsured people were 1.2 times as likely to visit the ED than were people with public or private insurance, AHRQ said. The uninsured also were the most likely to be treated and released. About 38% of the 24.2 million visits billed to Medicare ended with the patients being admitted, compared with 11% of the 41.5 million visits billed to private insurers, fewer than 10% of the 26 million visits billed to Medicaid, and 7% of the 21.2 million visits by the uninsured, the report found.
Obesity Medicine Exam to Come
Ten professional societies are jointly developing an Obesity Medicine Physician Certification Examination to credential physicians who care for obese adults and children. Last year, the group began assembling the body of knowledge that physicians need to be experts in obesity. The societies have now begun writing questions for the exam, which is scheduled to be completed by March 2010, according to the Obesity Society. The 10 groups are the Obesity Society, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, the American Diabetes Association, the American Gastroenterological Association, the American Heart Association, the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, the American Society for Nutrition, and the Endocrine Society.
Bill Seeks Pay for Performance
A small bipartisan group of senators has cosponsored legislation that would pay a physician for work under part of Medicare only if a patient's health status improves. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), and Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) offered the Take Back Your Health Act of 2009 (S. 1640) to create a new Medicare program based on “comprehensive lifestyle programs.” Such treatment plans would be designed by physicians specifically for each patient in the program. The plans can include nutritional therapy, exercise, medication management, care coordination, and tobacco-use cessation. Physicians wouldn't be paid if a patient were rehospitalized for a chronic illness accounted for in his or her plan. Sen. Wyden said in a statement that several trials of such a system, including those at Mutual of Omaha Insurance Co. and Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, have shown that comprehensive lifestyle programs can result in up to 50% reductions in medical costs.