> The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is giving hospitals impacted by Hurricane Sandy extra time to attest to the Medicare Meaningful Use incentive program requirements. A message sent to hospital associations in New York and New Jersey by CMS this week said eligible hospitals that are unable to meet the Nov. 30, 2012, deadline for submitting Fiscal Year 2012 attestation should submit an extension application to the agency that explains why they can't attest. "Qualifying eligible hospitals will be able to enter their complete attestation data … in spring of 2013 and receive their full Fiscal Year 2012 EHR incentive payment thereafter," the letter says. Letter
> Prime Healthcare Services faces a $95,000 fine for what state officials say is a violation of patient confidentiality, the Los Angeles Times reported. In response to reports by California Watch about alleged upcoding, executives from one of the hospitals under the California-based health system emailed the patient records of Darlene Courtois to nearly 800 employees and shared the patient information with two newspapers. FierceHealthcare
> Patients want strict control over the health information contained in providers' electronic health records, according to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. They found that sharing preferences varied by the type of information to be shared and the recipient. FierceEMR
And Finally… Those who cannot remember the past--no matter how recent--are condemned to repeat it. Article