News From Around the Web
> The HIMSS Electronic Health Record Association (EHRA) has elected new leadership. Leigh Burchill, Vice President of Policy and Governmental Affairs at Allscripts, has been elected the new chair of the organization, and Sarah Corley, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of NextGen, has been elected as vice chair. Both also have been reelected to the Executive Committee, as has Richard Loomis, M.D., from Practice Fusion. Rick Reeves from Evident returned to the Executive Committee after a three year hiatus. Announcement
> The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT have posted an updated list of EHR products used for attestation in the Medicare and Medicaid Meaningful Use program. The information includes data on the EHR products used, the type of provider attesting, the stage being attested to, the month attestation was approved and other data. The agencies plan to update the list the first week of each month. The data is intended to help researchers and other interested parties analyze the data for trends and other information. Fact sheet and download access
> CMS has issued a news update that certain electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs) for 2016 reporting that had been posted on its website May 1 contain errors. Twelve eCQMs for eligible professionals and four for eligible hospitals are affected. Corrections for these measures should impact only those who are electronically consuming the Healthcare Quality Measures Format. CMS will repost corrected measures by July 1. Website
Health Finance News
> Despite millions more Americans having insurance under the Affordable Care Act, many still get hit with surprise bills from their carriers, prompting some states to study the phenomenon more closely and respond with legislation. Such bills come as a result of patients who unwittingly seek care outside of approved networks. Article
> Community hospitals may be on the healthcare industry's endangered species list, with their survival dependent on the action of their leaders. Organizations across the country face numerous financial challenges resulting in some facilities filing for bankruptcy and others to close. Particularly hard hit are rural hospitals, with 50 facilities closing since 2010. Article
Health Insurance News
> The alarming frequency of data breaches among health insurers has led some to wonder whether a massive data warehouse of Healthcare.gov customers' personal information is vulnerable to a cyberattack. The Multidimensional Insurance Data Analytics System (MIDAS) is a "perpetual central repository for capturing, aggregating and analyzing information on health insurance coverage," according to a fact sheet from the federal IT Dashboard program. Article
> In 2012 and 2013, South Florida cardiologist Asad Qamar, M.D., had been one of Medicare's highest paid physicians in the country. Now, following lawsuits alleging that he routinely billed for unnecessary cardiac procedures, he is banned from billing Medicare entirely. Article
And Finally... I wonder if he can play Kansas or Primus. Article