Part B Insider (Multispecialty) Coding Alert
In other news
PDF
HIPAA isn’t your only compliance worry when it comes to patients’ health information. Plaintiffs are filing lawsuits — and winning settlements — against health care providers for data breaches under other federal and state laws.
After the billing vouchers of more than 13,000 patients went missing from an off-site storage vendor, plaintiffs filed a class action lawsuit against the University of Miami Health System. The vouchers included patients’ names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, physician names, insurance company names, medical record numbers, and procedure and diagnostic codes.
UMHS has requested that a Florida judge approve a proposed settlement in the class action lawsuit, according to attorney Linn Foster Freedman in a post for law firm Nixon Peabody. Under the settlement agreement, UMHS will pay $100,000 in individual claims, $90,000 in attorneys’ fees, and $1,500 to the named plaintiff. UMHS would also conduct risk assessments and remediation.
What’s especially curious about this lawsuit is that the plaintiff filed the action under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and Florida state law, alleging that she suffered financial harm because money was withdrawn from her bank account following the breach, Freedman states. “This is the first time we have seen a settlement by a health system for a data breach under the FCRA, nor do we see how the FCRA can be relevant to the facts of this case.”
Moreover, patients’ financial information does not appear to have been included in the breached data from the billing vouchers.
Warning: “This settlement is an unfortunate precedent on two levels — first, it appears to be a settlement under the FCRA, which is a first to our knowledge,” Freedman states. “And second, it is a settlement of a case where there does not appear to be any relationship between the data breach and the alleged harm and where the attorneys received almost as much as the settlement on the merits.”
Bottom line: “Opening these doors in the data breach arena is discouraging,” Freedman concludes.
Part B Insider (Multispecialty) Coding Alert
- Audiology:
Listen for Medicare Approvals When You Report Audiology Codes
Remember physician order to ensure you’ll collect for these services. If your practice includes an [...] - E/M Coding:
You Must Meet Both the "Critical" Illness and the Time Thresholds to Accurately Report Critical Care
Review these strategies to avoid auditors’ scrutiny. Critical care coding is often the target of [...] - Reader Question:
Know How to Prep for 2015 Advanced Planning Codes
Question: I saw that CPT® 2015 includes advance care planning codes. Can you explain how we’ll [...] - Reader Question:
Remember to Report Primary Reason for Procedure First
Question: Our GI just performed a colonoscopy on a Medicare patient for control of bleeding. [...] - Part B Coding Coach:
Expect Contrast Bundles Thanks to New CCI Release
Include venous access, radiology in many procedures. You’re facing the last annual update before CPT® [...] - Physician Notes:
CMS Keeps Part B Deductibles at Same Level
Plus: Look beyond HIPAA when data breaches occur. You won’t have a new number to [...] - In other news
HIPAA isn’t your only compliance worry when it comes to patients’ health information. Plaintiffs are [...]