Tag: COVID-19 pandemic

How a Pandemic Impacts HIPAA Requirements

How a Pandemic Impacts HIPAA Requirements

As healthcare business professionals, we have been trained in the importance of following HIPAA privacy and security requirements. As coders, auditors, and health information services professionals we are bound by the HITECH Act of 2009, which outlines the responsibilities of “business associates” with respect to HIPAA requirements. As business associates, we are required to “appropriately […]
CMS Guidance for Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM)

CMS Guidance for Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM)

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has provided some guidance within the “Medicare and Medicaid Programs Policy and Regulatory Revisions in Response to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency” interim final rule (IFR), allowing for remote patient monitoring, or RPM. This type of patient care is very helpful for ongoing treatment during the COVID-19 […]
Telemedicine Reimbursement and Health Policy

Beyond the Pandemic: Telemedicine Reimbursement and Health Policy

Telemedicine reimbursement and other regulatory flexibilities enabled providers to quickly pivot operations for COVID-19, but temporary policies also poised the health policy landscape for significant change after the pandemic. In the wake of the first confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the US, policymakers quickly relaxed long-standing healthcare regulations, including telemedicine reimbursement and healthcare fraud prevention […]
HHS Issues Requirements for Additional Data and Timely Submission of COVID-19 Testing

HHS Issues Requirements for Additional Data and Timely Submission of COVID-19 Testing

With concerns of COVID-19 having a disproportionate impact on certain individuals, such as minorities and the elderly, public health experts are requiring more detailed data, provided on a real-time basis – further supporting the reliability and integrity of data being central to healthcare. Though rates of new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. have somewhat stabilized, […]
Health System Financial Stability After COVID-19

Efficiency Key to Health System Financial Stability After COVID-19

As Eisenhower Health reopens following the peak of COVID-19, leaders are leaning on technology and strategies that improve efficiency to ensure health system financial stability during the recession. When COVID-19 really hit the Coachella Valley area of California in mid-March, volumes dropped by as much as 60 percent at Eisenhower Health. For a health system […]
Medicare Reimbursement for Telehealth Services

Providers Want Equal Telehealth Reimbursement Beyond COVID-19

With telehealth reimbursement flexibilities set to expire following the public health emergency period, providers are calling on HHS and policymakers to continue payment parity beyond COVID-19. Telehealth use has increased dramatically in a matter of weeks, enabling providers to continue seeing patients despite social distancing and shelter-at-home restrictions due to COVID-19. But these advancements could […]
6 Strategies To Re-Invent The ASC Revenue Cycle

6 Strategies To Re-Invent The ASC Revenue Cycle

Ambulatory surgery centers have long faced challenges in collecting reimbursement, and that became increasingly difficult as patients shouldered more financial responsibility for their care. However, those challenges have intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic and have resulted in an increased need for centers to accelerate revenue collection due to temporary income loss from suspended procedures. During […]
Diagnosis Coding for COVID-19

Diagnosis Coding for COVID-19: Better to be Lucky Than Good

  Stakeholders need to work collaboratively to ensure that diagnostic information is complete and accurate. The COVID-19 pandemic has created many overwhelming and heartbreaking medical challenges. In theory, the easiest task is accurate diagnosis coding for suspected exposure, confirmed and presumed cases, and possible disease. The new ICD-10-CM codes are few and clearly defined.  However, […]