The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General have released a set of proposed regulations that extend the existing protection from the Anti-Kickback Statute and physician self-referral law (Stark Law) for donations of electronic health records.

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The final rule for Stage 2 of Meaningful Use (“MU”) included an outline of the timeline for reviewing and publishing updates to the Clinical Quality Measure (“CQM”) specifications used in the EHR Incentive Program with the determination that the specifications should be updated more frequently than the rulemaking cycle for the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs in order to ensure that specifications continue to be aligned with current clinical guidelines and to ensure that the CQM remains relevant and actionable within the clinical care setting.

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ONC is seeking comments on how ONC and CMS policies could result in routine exchange of patient clinical data across care settings.  The deadline to submit comments is April 22, 2013.

Click here for more information and procedures for comment submission.

Should you have questions, please contact Alisa Kuehn at akuehn@hallrender.com or (317) 977-1475.

The ONC has made available on its website (healthit.gov) a variety of resources to assist those working toward Meaningful Use.  Below are links to a few of these resources:

• Click here for information on attestation, tipsheets, FAQs, tools and regulations related to Meaningful Use Stage 2.
• Click here to access the 2014 Edition Test Method for Certification of EHR technology.
• Click here for Interoperability training courses that have been developed around the Stage 2 Meaningful Use Rule to train Eligible Professionals and Critical Access Hospitals how to implement the new standards.

For more information on Meaningful Use Stage 2, contact Alisa Kuehn at akuehn@hallrender.com or (317) 977-1475.

On March 12, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) published new guidance detailing how advertising disclosures should be made online.  Disclosures are necessary to qualify or limit advertising claims that would otherwise be deceptive, unfair or give misleading impressions.

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Governmental and nonprofit health care providers may begin applying for funding under the Federal Communications Commission Rural Health Care Program on Monday, April 8 for funding year 2013 (July 1, 2013 - June 30, 2014). The Rural Health Care program provides funding to governmental and nonprofit eligible health care providers for telecommunications services, including broadband, necessary for the provision of health care. The goal of the program is to improve the quality of health care available to patients in rural communities by ensuring that eligible health care providers have access to affordable telecommunications services.

If you have any questions regarding the Healthcare Connect Fund, the Telecommunications Program or communications infrastructure, please contact Michael T. Batt at 317.977.1417 or mbatt@hallrender.com or William A. Dummett at 317.977.1427 or wdummett@hallrender.com.

Bureau of National Affairs is reporting that CMS and the OIG have submitted proposed regulations to extend the exception from the physician self-referral law and the safe harbor under the anti-kickback statute for EHR donations.  The report indicates that proposed regulations have been sumitted to the White House Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) for review.  Submission to the OMB is typically the final step to proposed regulations being issued.

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On February 1, 2013, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued two publications recommending ways that key players in the mobile marketplace, such as operating system providers, application developers, advertising networks and analytics companies, can promote mobile privacy and security.

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ECRI Institute has released its list of the Top 10 Health Technology Hazards for 2013.  The annual report is based on the prevalence and severity of incidents reported by health care facilities and information found in the Institute’s medical device problem reporting databases.

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In support of the health IT certification program, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) developed the conformance test method (test procedures, test data and test tools) to ensure compliance with the meaningful use technical requirements and standards. (more…)