Part B Insider (Multispecialty) Coding Alert
Government Fights EHR 'Information Blocking'
PDF
Plus: No family history? Explain why.
On the one hand, the government is pushing all medical practices to adopt electronic health records (EHRs) as quickly as possible. On the other, federal agencies are looking into how some medical practitioners are blocking other doctors from electronically sharing health information with them.
“We have received many complaints of information blocking,” Karen B. DeSalvo, MD, national coordinator for health information technology, told the New York Times in a May 26 article on the topic. At issue is whether some practitioners are refusing to share health information electronically with medical professionals who they deem to be competitors, the Times noted.
Physicians are reporting that they are unable to send records to partnered hospitals where they refer patients, which slows down the patient admission process and may even cause multiple practitioners to have to repeat work unnecessarily. To stem the issue, Congress approved a bill last month restricting doctors and hospitals from blocking information sharing if they accept federal bonuses for their EHR use. Another bill proposes fining those who use information blocking up to $10,000 per offense, according to the Times report.
Related Articles
Part B Insider (Multispecialty) Coding Alert
- Code Additions:
CMS Announces Debut of 5 New Codes
Look to your MAC for payment information. Although most practices don’t typically equate May with [...] - Compliance:
OIG: Just 6 Line Items Caused $1.7 Million Overbilling
Pay special attention to the codes you assign to drugs and biologicals. If you got [...] - Patient Interaction:
Handle These 3 Medicare Patient Questions Like A Pro
If beneficiaries have Part B questions, you’ll need to have answers. You can probably answer [...] - Injections:
3 Tips Lead You to Antibiotic Injection Pay
Medicare typically does cover these shots for certain conditions. It’s a common scenario: A patient [...] - Part B Coding Coach:
CMS Radically Adjusts Ob-Gyn CCI Edits
Here’s what to do if you have a retroactive claim these changes impact. Remember those [...] - Reader Question:
Modifier 50 May Not Apply to All Bilateral Claims
Question: Our specialist administered several facet joint injections and appended modifier 50 to represent multiple levels, [...] - Physician Notes:
Government Fights EHR 'Information Blocking'
Plus: No family history? Explain why. On the one hand, the government is pushing all [...]