Archive for November 2017
When Social Media and Patient Privacy Collide
Earlier this month, three employees of an assisted living facility in Glendale, Arizona were let go after allegedly videotaping patients and posting them to Snapchat. The video shows employees making fun of elderly residents in their care and, instead of taking care of one woman asking for help, the employee continues to film and make…
Read MoreHHS Takes Another Shot at Reducing Medicare Appeals Backlog
In an effort to clear the ever-growing Medicare appeals backlog, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services has announced the launch of two new settlement options for providers and suppliers: a low-volume appeals (LVA) settlement and an expanded Settlement Conference Facilitation (SCF) process. LVA will be limited to appellants with a low volume of…
Read MoreHHS Offers New HIPAA Guidance in Light of Opioid Crisis
Shortly after President Donald Trump declared a nationwide public health emergency to combat the opioid crisis, the HHS Office for Civil Rights released new guidance on when and how healthcare providers can share a patient’s health information when that patient may be in crisis and incapacitated, such as during an opioid overdose. HIPAA regulations already…
Read MoreFeds Continue to Root Out Hospice Fraud
Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Chemed Corp., the parent company of VITAS Healthcare Corp., agreed to pay $75 million to resolve a government lawsuit alleging that the hospice provider violated the False Claims Act (FCA) by submitting false claims for services to Medicare. The settlement resolves allegations that between 2002 and…
Read More