Vital Lines: April 16, 2009
The Economic Stimulus Package: How It Will Affect You and Your Practice
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Look for...
Invitations to Society webinars addressing new stimulus provisions: May 7 on EHR incentives and May 21 on new privacy requirements
A survey that the governor’s Office of Health Care Reform will use to identify the amount of stimulus money needed for provider information technology grants and loans
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On Feb. 17, President Barack Obama signed the economic stimulus package, or American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), into law. The Pennsylvania Medical Society has put together information to help you navigate the complexities of the new law.
EHR Incentives
Incentives are available through Medicare and Medicaid to encourage providers to adopt electronic health records (EHR) systems.
Eligible providers can receive up to 75 percent of allowable Medicare charges beginning in 2011, with early qualifiers receiving up to $44,000 over five years. Incentives phase down for 2013 and 2014 adopters and are eliminated in 2015, when Medicare will begin reducing reimbursements for those who aren’t meaningful users.
Physicians also can qualify for incentives under Medicaid if a percent of their patients are on Medicaid. These incentives will likely start in 2011 as well.
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Summit Focuses on HIT Adoption
Learn how the federal government’s plan to broaden adoption of health information technology (HIT) will affect Pennsylvania physicians at the Pennsylvania eHealth Initiative’s HIT Summit on May 4 in Harrisburg.
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Privacy Rule
With the passing of ARRA, the HIPAA Privacy Rule will change for the first time. Some new requirements include:
- Physician practices must notify patients when the privacy of their unencrypted PHI has been breached.
- Physicians who use electronic medical records systems must provide a full accounting of disclosures of PHI via those systems upon the patient’s request.
- Individual staff members may be subject to sanctions if they disclose PHI in violation of the HIPAA Privacy Rule.
Each privacy change within ARRA has its own timetable—some of which span several years—and our understanding of specific requirements and how to comply will develop over time. Check www.pamedsoc.org/stimulus for updates as we learn more.
COBRA Subsidies
The federal government will subsidize 65 percent of COBRA premiums for nine months to help terminated employees afford health insurance. Physicians and medical practices need to be aware of this law if they offer a group health plan and have terminated an employee. For information on complying with the new rules, visit our FAQ.
The May 1 deadline is looming for medical practices to develop identity theft prevention programs required under the new federal “red flags” rule.
Medical practices that submit insurance claims and then bill patients for the remaining balance must develop policies that include:
- Indicators, or red flags, that will alert the practice to identity theft
- How the practice will detect these flags
- What the practice will do when a flag is identified
- How the practice will reevaluate and update its program
Get information and tools for your practice at
www.pamedsoc.org/redflags.
Last Updated: 8/18/2009