Dept. of Health and Human Services Issues New Privacy Rule

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Published 09/25/2009 - 5:48 a.m. CDT

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The Federal Register, Volume 74, Number 162, issued on Monday, August 24, 2009 reports that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is issuing an interim final rule with a request for comments to require notification of breaches of unsecured protected health information. Comments on the provisions of this interim final rule are due on or before October 23, 2009.

For purposes of determining what information is ‘‘unsecured protected health information,’’ in this document HHS is also issuing an update to its guidance specifying the technologies and methodologies that render protected health information unusable, unreadable, or indecipherable to unauthorized individuals.

This interim final rule is effective September 23, 2009.

The rule is lengthy and quite involved. You are urged to check this web site for the rule summaries, and the full details of the rule itself:
http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/coveredentities/index.html

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Input Sought on Osteoporosis Guidelines

Published 07/28/2010 - 3:00 p.m. CDT

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is considering whether to broaden the group of women it recommends to get routine screening for osteoporosis, and it wants physician input. Physicians and others can comment on the draft recommendations through 5 p.m. EST Aug. 3 online

ChiroVoice Registration is UP

Published 07/21/2010 - 3:00 p.m. CDT

ChiroVoice is growing ever larger now up to over 51,000 users. Texas still ranks seventh in the nation in ChiroVoice Registrations, but our chiropractic colleges rank 12 and 13.

It’s more important than ever that you ask your patients and colleagues to sign-up on ChiroVoice. Check it out HERE

Published 07/21/2010 - 8:02 a.m. CDT

This article, written by Susan McClelland and distributed by COCSA, reports that it's ok to waive the extra portion of the Medicare co-pay that the 2.2% Medicare pay increase has caused. Read more of the details in this article.

Published 06/22/2010 - 7:42 a.m. CDT

Each quarter the TCA meets with the Texas Department of Insurance to review with each other what is occurring within the respective professions. On June 3, 2010, representatives from the TDI met with the leadership of the TCA. Read more about the results of this meeting in this article.

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Published 06/14/2010 - 2:15 p.m. CDT

The Annual Convention of the Texas Chiropractic Association got underway on Thursday, June 10, 2010 and kicked off the events of the weekend with a board of directors meeting.

TCA Annual Convention Starts Today

Published 06/10/2010 - 2:00 p.m. CDT

The Texas Chiropractic Association's Annual Convention begins today. The meeting held at...

Published 07/28/2010 - 6:01 a.m. CDT

A Government task force now says all younger postmenopausal women should get checked if their risk of a broken bone is the same or greater than the average 65-year-old woman. Factors that can increase risk include low weight, certain drugs, smoking, heavy alcohol use and a parent who broke a hip.

Published 07/27/2010 - 11:53 a.m. CDT

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An Australian study investigating this found that among patients with low back pain, negative beliefs and behaviors -- such as believing their problem will not get better -- are important correlates of increased disability.

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Published 07/27/2010 - 8:00 a.m. CDT

A watchdog group is urging a federal investigation of vaccine pricing polices of two large drugmakers. The two companies, according to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, give discounts on some vaccines to physician healthcare groups -- as long as they buy all their vaccines from the same company.

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Published 07/27/2010 - 3:58 p.m. CDT

Faced with a ballooning deficit in Germany's health care system, Chancellor Angela Merkel's government decided...to raise premiums and cut into the profits of doctors, dentists, hospitals and pharmaceutical manufacturers.

Germany's once highly regarded mandatory health insurance covers about 72 million people, or 90 percent of the population. It has already gone through a series of reforms to stabilize its financial base. Costs are rising swiftly because of ever more sophisticated treatments and an aging population.

Private Money?

Published 07/26/2010 - 8:00 a.m. CDT

New types of currency are popping up in the form of precious metal coins from private mints.

The U.S. Treasury Department says the Coinage Act of 1965 says 'private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether or not to accept cash. The metal, because it's a precious metal retains its value relative to today's dollar, which has deflated."

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No Health Insurance?

Published 07/25/2010 - 1:14 p.m. CDT

The health care overhaul passed earlier this year will help many uninsured get coverage starting in 2014. But until then, Americans who lose employer coverage may find buying insurance on their own unaffordable. That means many of the 46 million Americans uninsured have to foot the bill for medical care.

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Published 07/28/2010 - 1:02 p.m. CDT

Emergency rooms, the only choice for patients who can't find care elsewhere, may grow even more crowded with longer wait times under the nation's new health law. That might come as a surprise to those who thought getting 32 million more people covered by health insurance would ease ER crowding.

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Published 06/28/2010 - 7:40 a.m. CDT

The health reform law effectively will ban new physician-owned hospitals from starting up and existing ones from expanding. The hospitals already are fighting back announcing that they had filed suit jointly in U.S. Federal Court for the Eastern District of Texas, challenging the constitutionality of the reform law's physician-owned hospital section.

Published 06/12/2010 - 8:49 a.m. CDT

Starting June 15, CMS will begin processing physician Medicare claims for services provided on June 1 and later at the new, much lower rate, unless the Senate passes a bill before then. The Senate is out until the middle of Monday afternoon, it now looks as if the vote won't come until next Tuesday, the 15th, at the earliest.

As for whether CMS will extend the amount of time that claims are being held, an agency spokeswoman said she had no updated information on the subject.

Read more in this article.

Medicare Cuts DME Prices by 1/3rd.

Published 07/03/2010 - 3:06 p.m. CDT

Medicare cuts of some 32% will soon affect the suppliers of Durable Medical Equipment in nine major cities.

New Dietary Guidelines Proposed by USDA

Published 06/17/2010 - 6:00 a.m. CDT

A new set of national dietary guidelines acknowledges that many Americans are unhealthy and emphasizes efforts to battle the obesity epidemic. In addition to lower sodium and saturated and trans fat goals, the recommendations from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) also call for policymakers and the food industry to become engaged in the fight. The obesity epidemic is priority number one.

The new set of guidelines is open for public comment until July 15.

Published 05/27/2010 - 3:38 p.m. CDT

The National Institutes of Health have adopted a much stricter policy on reporting financial conflicts of interest. This article reports on the proposed new rules which should become final before the end of the year.

Published 07/29/2010 - 5:30 a.m. CDT

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Published 07/14/2010 - 10:27 a.m. CDT

Dr. Donald Patrick will join the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation as the Medical Advisor effective July 12, 2010.

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Published 06/17/2010 - 10:00 a.m. CDT

A new transfer program between Spartanburg Community College and Sherman College of Chiropractic has been made official. SCC students can now combine an associate of science degree with a 26-credit pre-chiropractic certificate that will fulfill Sherman's undergraduate requirements.

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NYCC Adds Master of Science Degree

Published 06/09/2010 - 10:00 a.m. CDT

New York Chiropractic College (NYCC) has received approval from the New York State Education Department to begin offering its new Master of Science in Human Anatomy and Physiology Instruction (MSHAPI) beginning January, 2011. Delivered primarily online, the Masters Degree is for Doctors of Chiropractic intended to help them become university instructors in anatomy and physiology instruction.

TCC Announces Scholarship Program

Published 06/01/2010 - 2:00 p.m. CDT

Texas Chiropractic College announced its new Pathway To Excellence Scholarship Program, which will begin with the Fall 2010 entering class. The program can lead to students receiving up to $20,000 in scholarship moneys over their 10 trimesters at TCC.

Quick, Dumb, Profitable?

Published 06/29/2010 - 5:38 a.m. CDT

A guest editorial by Dr. Clem Martin of Bonham, Texas asks a very good question: Have we succumbed to addictive simplicity which reduces our "science and art" to merely a mindless technique?

Nearing completion of 50 years of clinical chiropractic practice and 73 years of personal reliance on chiropractic application for comprehensive healthcare, Dr. Martin wonders whether treatment is nothing more than a "technique repeated" as so many seem to think. "If so," he wonders, "what is the science and art to something so ridiculously simple? Why the need for an academic degree, a graduate degree and continuing education."

"We must assert to the scientific community," says Dr. Martin, "that it is not merely subluxation reduction, but consequent modulation in Central Nervous System function at the core of chiropractic methodology."

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Some Future Objectives of the AMA

Published 06/22/2010 - 12:30 p.m. CDT

The American Medical Association met in convention this past week and set about establishing their officers, policies, and objectives for the coming year. We thought that we would share with you a very small amount of the wide ranging content that the AMA considered. These include:

on a 21 person board nearly 20% are from the State of Texas.
AMA says "we have the opportunity to assure that our county’s health care system bears the imprint of physicians..."
and that they..."focus on improving the health care system for patients and physicians"
AMA notes "four leading challenges to our health care system..." it is likely that medical physicians and their patients will seek to profit at the expense of other healing arts practitioners.
The AMA will seek public funding for medical physicians and their patients to the exclusion of other healing arts practitioners.
"Seniors deserve a Medicare benefit that allows them access to and choice of physicians." But, as the AMA sees everyone who is not an MD/DO as a "non-physician" don't expect the AMA to be inclusive of other healing arts providers.
"The AMA encourages physicians to develop medical-legal partnerships, and we will help them do this by creating a model agreement and working with key stakeholders on education." Watch for more litigation in the future.
The AMA is calling for support for "personalized medicine", but it seems, that command and control of new technologies and a new source of revenue is the aim of the AMA: "in order to maximize the benefit of PM...Adequate oversight and regulation must be implemented, and coverage of clinically useful PM should be considered by insurers."
The AMA has taken a positive stand on antibiotics recognizing that "over time antibiotics lose the ability to treat diseases", but they call for 10 new, more powerful, antibiotics in the next 10 years.

As the AMA states: "Since 1847 the American Medical Association (AMA) has had one mission: to promote the art and science of medicine and the betterment of public health. Today, the core strategy used to carry out this mission is our concerted effort to help [medical] doctors help [their] patients."

The mission of the AMA, the self-proclaimed "organized medicine" is "medicine" and not "healing arts" promotion. We can only hope that the leadership of our state and nation awaken to this fact as they develop public health policy.

Read more in this article.

Diagnosis and the "Cash Practice"

Published 06/17/2010 - 5:10 a.m. CDT

It has been common of late for some healing arts practitioners to state "so what if the TMA succeeds in hijacking the word diagnosis? It won't change how I practice--I just won't take insurances." The question is then will an adverse outcome on the ability of healing arts practitioners other than MD/DOs to render a "diagnosis" have an adverse effect on a practitioner who does not deal with third-party payers? The answer is yes it will.

Read more in this article.

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