An $8 billion Medicare demonstration program is poorly designed and should be cancelled, the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) said. The program is designed to reward the highest-quality Medicare Advantage plans, but instead pays out most of its award money to mediocre plans, according to a report.

Medicare is set to withdraw most coverage of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) for chronic low back pain, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services indicated.

Regarding Medicare Documentation, either an inaccurate message is being delivered to chiropractors regarding appropriate Medicare documentation requirements and/or chiropractors are misinterpreting the message.

This article provides a look into the requirements of Medicare and offers a "Medicare Documentation Simplified"  flow chart for explanation.

On Feb 14, 2012, CMS proposed that providers and suppliers must report and return self-identified overpayments either within 60 days of the incorrect payment being identified or on the date when a corresponding cost report is due, whichever is later.

The FDA's current mission statement focuses on safety, efficacy, and public health, but some think the agency's goals also should include promoting economic growth and spurring jobs -- specifically in the drug and device industries.

A proposed revision -- written by Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) -- says that the FDA "protects the public health and enables patients to access novel products while promoting economic growth, innovation, competitiveness, and job creation among the industries regulated by this Act."

March 2012 marked the two year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The act was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama on March 23, 2010.  This article provides a recap of what ACA, previously referred to as PACA, and commonly known as "health care reform" contains.

In an article by Peter Budetti, MD, JD titled 7 Ways to Protect Yourself from Medical Identity Theft, Dr. Budetti reports "physicians are also vulnerable to a type of fraud called 'medical identity theft.' Medical identity theft happens when a fraudster uses your unique medical identifiers to bill insurance for items or services that you never provided or prescribed.

Examples of these medical identifiers could be your National Provider Identifier (NPI), Tax ID Number (TIN), and medical licensure information. "

He offers some tips to protect yourself...

An expert panel convened by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and represented by 17 organizations has developed recommendations calling for collaboration between hospitals and public health practitioners that are intended to serve as an initial step in ensuring that the nation's hospitals are healthy environments that support preventing chronic disease in employees, patients, visitors and surrounding communities.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Office of E-Health Standards and Services (OESS) is announcing that it will not initiate enforcement action for an additional three (3) months, through June 30, 2012, against any covered entity that is required to comply with the updated transactions standards adopted under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). 

It will not initiate enforcement action against any covered entity that was not compliant with the updated versions of the standards by the January 1, 2012 compliance date.