News From Around the Web
> The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has decided to delay release of the final rule pertaining to accounting of disclosures for electronic patient health information and will instead seek further public comment on the rule. The proposed rule, required by the HITECH Act and issued in 2001, had been widely decried by stakeholders as confusing and overbroad, according to a Lexology post. Article
> Twenty-two percent of eligible professionals and 5 percent of eligible hospitals have failed their Meaningful Use audit, according to an article at EHR Intelligence. The objective that providers are finding the most challenging is the security risk analysis of vulnerabilities of their electronic records and health IT. Conducting security risk analyses is also a requirement of HIPAA's security rule. Article
Health Finance News
> Challenged by insurers ratcheting down their payments, hospitals and medical groups are creating more fees and charges for patients to pay as part of the care they receive, the New York Times reported. For example, providers are getting patients to agree to pay for slings if their insurer will not cover the item. They also may charge an "activation fee" for the use of trauma and other medical teams or fees for services that had previously been provided without specific charges. Article
> The average hospital liability claim is approaching $500,000, according to new data from the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management. ASHRM presented the data trend at its annual meeting earlier this week in Southern California and noted that the average claim, at $492,000 in 2013, was up 2 percent from the prior year. That was slower than the 2012 trend, when the average claim rose by 6 percent. Article
Health Insurance News
> Individual market enrollees are paying higher monthly premiums on average after Affordable Care Act implementation, according to results from a new HealthPocket study. HealthPocket, a technology company that compares and ranks available health plans, compared average monthly premium costs before and after ACA implementation. Using data for on-exchange and off-exchange plans in the two largest metropolitan areas of each state, HealthPocket calculated average, unsubsidized monthly premium costs in 2013 and 2014 across all plans for three demographic profiles: Non-smoking men and women (without spouses or children) ages 23, 30 and 63. Premiums climbed by double digits for each group, the study found. Article
And Finally... Sounds like he was arrested by the fashion police. Article