News From Around the Web
> Eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals in the first year of the Medicare Meaningful Use Incentive Program must begin their 90 days of reporting Meaningful Use by July 3. Sept. 30 is the last day of fiscal year 2013, as well as the reporting year. Hospitals in their second and third years of participating must demonstrate Meaningful Use for the entire year. Timeline
> The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services now has paid more than $14.6 billion in incentive payments in the Medicare and Medicaid Meaningful Use program, according to the agency's latest data through April 2013. CMS has already paid $437 million in 2013. A total of 394,840 hospitals and professionals are actively registered in the program. Statistics
> MMRGlobal, Inc., has agreed to dismiss its patent infringement lawsuit against WebMD to try to resolve the matter out of court. The company has reserved the right to refile its lawsuit if the two parties cannot agree to a settlement. Its lawsuit against Jardogs is still pending. Article
Health Finance News
> CMS has announced that $14.9 billion has been recouped as a result of bolstered Medicare fraud efforts under the Affordable Care Act. Altogether, CMS has barred nearly 15,000 providers from participating in Medicare over the past two years--more than double the rate of previous year. They were either convicted felons, gave false business addresses, or flouted CMS guidelines. In addition to tighter screenings, the CMS is also providing Medicare enrollees with expanded billing information in order to help them better spot potential fraud. Article
Provider News
> With physician turnover at an all-time high of 6.8 percent, physician practices need to develop contingency plans for the possibility a doctor could leave with little to no notice. Challenges to this often-unexpected situation include office disruption, productivity declines, compromised customer service and loss of profits. Article
And Finally... I'm sure there's a use for this somewhere, I'm just not sure where. Article